Ruptured Duck (aircraft)

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This article is on the aircraft nicknamed "Ruptured Duck". For the decoration called the "Ruptured duck", please see Ruptured duck (military decoration).

An American B-25-B Mitchell medium bomber aircraft called the "Ruptured Duck" was flown by First Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson during the famous Doolittle Raid of 18 April 1942. The "Ruptured Duck" was the seventh plane of the sixteen total bombers in the strike force to take off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). Lt. Lawson crash-landed the Ruptured Duck in the East China Sea a quarter mile from the Chinese shore after a successful bombing run over Tokyo. Lt. Lawson and his copilot (Second Lieutenant Dean Davenport) were ejected through the front windshield of the aircraft during the landing, causing both to sustain serious injuries. Of the other three crewmembers on board, only one of them (Corporal David Thatcher, the gunner) escaped injury. While recovering from the amputation of his left leg, the newly promoted Capt. Lawson wrote "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," which was made into a movie in 1944 (still viewed as the definitive movie about the raid). The nose-art of the crashed bomber was salvaged by the Japanese and put on display in Tokyo. The other members of the crew were 2nd Lt. Charles McClure (Navigator) and 2nd Lt. Robert Cleaver (Bombadier).