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Vanishing ACT: The Enduring Mystery Behind the Legendary Doolittle Raid Over Tokyo

by Dan Hampton

A hidden route within the Doolittle Raid

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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Author recognition

    New York Times bestselling author

    The metadata describes Dan Hampton as a New York Times bestselling author.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A hidden route within the Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid’s celebrated attack on Japan provides the backdrop for a narrower historical investigation: the unexplained course of Plane 8, which separated from the other bombers and flew toward the Soviet Union. Dan Hampton examines why this aircraft carried Soviet maps, what its route suggests, and how its mission may have differed from the raid’s public purpose. The account draws on documents and photographs described as previously unpublished, along with collaboration with Japanese researchers and the Raiders’ descendants. Its central subject is the gap between the raid’s familiar outline and the still-contested questions surrounding one plane and its two pilots.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in the Doolittle Raid and the Pacific Theater of World War II.
  • Readers drawn to military history centered on archival evidence and unresolved historical questions.
  • Readers interested in the history of covert missions and wartime intelligence.

Themes

The Doolittle RaidMilitary historyArchival researchSecret missions and wartime deception

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Book overview

From New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes the gripping, untold story of a vital secret mission set during the darkest days of the Second World War.

In the dark days after the devastating Pearl Harbor attacks during the spring of 1942, the United States was determined to show the world that the Axis was not invincible. Their bold plan? Bomb Tokyo. On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25s, known as the Doolittle Raiders, hit targets across Japan before escaping to China.

The eighth plane, however, did not follow the other raiders. Instead, Plane 8's pilots, Captain Edward "Ski" York and Lieutenant Bob Emmens, never attacked Tokyo, but headed across Japan to the Soviet Union, supposedly due to low fuel. Yet, this bomber was the only plane on the mission with maps of the Soviet Union aboard. And why did Plane 8's route, recently discovered in the Japanese Imperial Archives, show them nowhere near their target? Uncovered facts reveal that bombing Tokyo was merely a cover for Plane 8's real mission, but what was their secret objective? No one, aside from the two pilots and whomever sent them on this mission, truly knew why they were there, nor has the reason ever been revealed.

Until now.

In Vanishing Act, for the first time, New York Times bestselling author and former fighter pilot Dan Hampton definitively solves the final mystery of the Doolittle Raid with never-before-published documents and photographs in exclusive collaboration with Japanese researchers and the Raiders' descendants.


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