PEARL HARBOR

                     ADMIRAL
          The Enterprise will ride shotgun when we
          launch the bombers.  They wanted our
          carriers at Pearl, and now we've come to
          them.  If the Japanese get us, they'll be
          having dinner in San Francisco next
          month.

EXT.  FLIGHT DECK - THE HORNET - DAY

The preparations begin.  Deck crews move the B-25's to the
rear of the flight deck.  Fueling teams top off the bomber's
gas tanks.  Ordnance men hoist four bombs into each aircraft,
and the army gunners load ammunition for the machine guns.
Greening checks the planes' mechanical and hydraulic systems.

And once again the pilots are out pacing the deck distance.
It's turned into a game for them, walking off nerves.  As
Rafe and Danny pass.

                     RAFE
          It's not getting any longer.

                     DANNY
          Longer?  It's getting shorter.

INT.  HORNET - BRIEFING ROOM - DAY

Doolittle is laying out the plan for all the pilots.

                     DOOLITTLE
          We'll take off late this afternoon.  I'll
          hit Tokyo at dusk, and drop incendiary
          bombs.  You'll come after me at night,
          guided by the fires.  Then it's on to
          China, where you'll arrive at dawn,
          guided to their airfields by the homing
          beacons the Chinese are going to switch
          on for us.  That's if everything is
          perfect -- like every other military
          mission I've ever been involved with.

Doolittle looks around the room.  No one's smiling.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Listen you guys.  I'm the first plane --
          then McCawley, Walker, the rest of you.
          I'll have the shortest run.  If I don't
          make it, you don't go.

                     RAFE
          Colonel...we're all going.  Whether you
          make it or not.

                     DOOLITTLE
          I know.

EXT.  BRIDGE OF THE CRUISER NASHVILLE - DAY

The cruiser Nashville is at the perimeter of the task force.
It's lookouts spot Japanese patrol boats ahead.

INT.  BRIDGE OF THE ENTERPRISE - DAY

The message is handed to Admiral Halsey.

                     OFFICER
          Sir, lookouts on the cruisers report
          patrol boats, ten miles away!

                     HALSEY
          The Japs have set up a picket line!
          Order the cruisers to open fire!  We've
          got to sink them before they get a
          message away.

EXT.  PACIFIC - DAY

The cruiser NASHVILLE begins firing rounds at the Japanese
patrol boat; round after round misses.

INT.  HORNET'S RADIO ROOM - DAY

The operators hear the excited voices of Japanese radio
traffic.

                     RADIO OPERATOR
          They've reported our position!  Tell the
          Admiral.

EXT.  HORNET - DAY

Doolittle hurries up to the command bridge, with the naval
officers sent by the Admiral to fetch him.  Doolittle sees
the cruisers next to the carrier firing its guns -- at
Japanese boats in the distance.

INT.  BRIDGE OF THE HORNET - DAY

Doolittle finds the Admiral gathered with his staff, their
mood is grim.

                     DOOLITTLE
          How far are we from Tokyo?

                     ADMIRAL
          Seven hundred miles.

INT.  PILOT'S WARD ROOMS - SERIES OF DISSOLVES

Rafe, Danny, and the other pilots are alone at their bunks,
taking advantage of the lull before the mission.

Rafe has paper and pen to write a letter, but he can't think
of anything to write.

Danny holds the "Picture of Paradise" that Sammy took, of
Evelyn and the nurses in the sun.  He tucks it inside his
shirt, when he hears --

                     LOUDSPEAKER
          Army pilots, man your planes!

EXT.  FLIGHT DECK - THE HORNET - DAY

The pilots run onto deck.  The cruiser next to the Hornet is
still firing away at the Japanese patrol boat.

Doolittle runs onto deck, shouting orders.

                     DOOLITTLE
          Load in every bit of extra gas you can
          carry!  And strip everything you don't
          need out of the planes.  I mean
          EVERYTHING!

EXT.  HORNET - FLIGHT DECK - STRIPPING THE PLANES - DAY

It's starting to rain but the guys don't notice at all.
They're stripping seats out of the planes, tossing out their
own gear.

Greening pulls the machine guns out of the rear of the planes
and puts in broomsticks painted black.

Off in the distance the Japanese patrol boat takes a hit and
explodes.  Rafe and Danny meet between their bombers.

                     DANNY
          Broomsticks instead of tail guns.

                     RAFE
          We'll get separated over the target, but
          you and I will rendezvous for the run to
          China.  I'm on your wing.

                     DANNY
          And I'm on yours.  Land of the free.

                     RAFE
          Home of the Brave.

They climb into their bombers.

EXT.  HORNET - FLIGHT DECK - DAY

The engines are revving.  The tachs are showing redline.  The
crews are in their planes.  Doolittle is first, just ahead of
Rafe and Danny's B-25's.

The battle pennants whip, the props blur, the wheels strain
against the brakes; from the cockpits the flight deck looks
impossibly short...and the American flag cracks in the wind.

And now every pilot looks at Doolittle's plane...

Doolittle starts the run down the flight deck...faster...the
end looming.  He turns the plane almost vertical, standing it
on its props...and lifts away smoothly.

The sailors on deck cheer, like the Japanese did before Pearl
Harbor.

Rafe, Danny, and the others take off too.

EXT.  SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The B-25's head toward Japan.

EXT.  PACIFIC - THE AMERICAN TASK FORCE - DAY

Admiral Halsey, on the deck of the ENTERPRISE, watches as the
last plane takes off.  The planes recede in the distance,
racing just a few feet over the water, toward Japan.

                     HALSEY
          Of all the other things this mission is
          doing that have never been done before...
          I've never sent out planes that I wasn't
          going to see safely home.  Let's get out
          of here.

The task force runs for home.

EXT.  SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

At first the planes are together; Rafe and Danny can see each
other off each other's wing, and Doolittle's plane is ahead.
The others are grouped after them.  They maintain strict
radio silence, and can communicate only with gestures, hand
signals, or a flasher for Morse code.  When Rafe speaks to
the crew of his own plane, it's by pressing an intercom
sender to his throat.

                     RAFE
          What's our ETA for Tokyo?

The bombardier/navigator is already working out the numbers
at his plotting table in the center of the plane.

                     NAVIGATOR
          Almost exactly at 12 noon.

                     RED
          High n-noon.  I k-kinda like that.

Rafe looks over to Danny and gives him a thumbs up.

INT.  DANNY'S PLANE - DAY

Danny calls back to his GUNNER, who is watching the fuel
supply.

                     DANNY
          We got a 25-mile-an-hour head wind.  How
          we doing with fuel?

                     GUNNER
          How do you think?

The gunner is already pouring gas into the tanks from the
extra cans.

Anthony stands and moves back to the rear of the plane, pulls
a piece of chalk from his pocket and writes on the nose of
the bombs -- "For America,"  "For Pearl Harbor,"  "For the
Arizona,"  "For Billy."

-- Rafe flies, lost in thought...

-- Evelyn is back at Pearl, struggling to keep her mind on
   her work.

-- Danny is looking at his gauges, then at the picture in
   his shirt.

EXT.  TOKYO - VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

It's a pleasant day, and the people of Tokyo are in a
confident, happy mood.  They're shopping, smiling, enjoying
beautiful spring weather.  The Emperor is on the garden of
his palace having lunch.

EXT.  SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The American planes are coming.

INT.  DOOLITTLE'S PLANE - DAY

He and his navigator confer.

                     DOOLITTLE'S NAVIGATOR
          Time for the others to break off.

His copilot uses the flashes to signal the other planes.
They break off for their individual targets, every plane now
on it's own.

INT.  JAPANESE AIR DEFENSE STATION - DAY

This is the nerve center of Tokyo's defense.  An OFFICER
receives a message and reports to his supervisor.

                     JAPANESE DEFENSE OFFICER
          Coastal stations report a low flying
          plane coming in off the sea.

                     SUPERVISOR
          From the sea?... That couldn't be right,
          it must be part of the air raid practice
          this morning.

EXT.  SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The planes reach the Japanese coastline, and start skimming
over treetop level.

EXT.  TOKYO - DAY

The office of an anti-aircraft battery blows its whistle; his
crew mount their guns and swerves them around.  The officer
whistle's again and checks his watch.

                     ANTI-AIRCRAFT OFFICER
          Not bad.

The crew dismount their guns; just a drill.

EXT.  TOKYO - VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

The Japanese people are unaware of the drill.  People are
browsing through open-air shops, where new radios are turned
on, playing music.  And Tokyo Rose is talking -- in English
and Japanese.

                     TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)
          It is another beautiful day in Tokyo, as
          all of Japan basks in a new day of
          victory.

INT.  THE PLANES - DAY

Coma, Danny's navigator, picks this up.

                     COMA
          Listen to this -- it's Tokyo Rose.

                     TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)
          Our brave sailors and soldiers, inspired
          by our divine Emperor, have pushed the
          Americans from the Pacific.

These words go through the plane; and in the other planes
they hear it too.

                     TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)
          But hiding at home will not save them.
          Each time the Americans have tasted the
          samurai spirit, they have learned the
          bitter taste of defeat, while Japan is
          embraced by the divine wind that has
          protected our island for seven centuries.

EXT.  TOKYO - DAY

The planes reach Tokyo, and flash across the rooftops.

INT.  DANNY'S PLANE - DAY

                     ANTHONY
          We'll give that bitch something to
          announce.

Danny and Rafe give each other a wave, and divert toward
their separate targets.  Each plane is on its own now.

EXT.  TOKYO - DAY

Doolittle's plane flashes right over the Emperor's palace.
The Emperor sits in the garden, meditating.

EXT.  TOKYO - VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

Mothers walking their children see the planes flash by
overhead, and like the people at Pearl, they think they are
friendlies.  A toddler points up and smiles.  His mother
picks him up and hugs him happily.

                     JAPANESE MOTHER
          Yes!  So beautiful!

INT.  THE PLANES - DAY

Rafe's bombardier works his 20-cent bombsight, as Rafe holds
the plane steady, bringing it up to 200 feet.

They scan for fighter or anti-aircraft fire.  There isn't
any.

                     RAFE
          Open bomb bay doors.

DANNY'S PLANE runs toward its target...

DOOLITTLE'S PLANE races over Tokyo...

                     GUNNER
          Bomb bay doors open, sir.

                     RAFE
          It's all yours.

The bombardier hits the first switch.  The bomb falls toward
a factory.

It strikes home, right on target.  The blast is shocking --
it blows debris higher than the plane.

EXT.  TOKYO - THE BOMBING - VARIOUS SHOTS

The individual planes drop their bombs, four per plane, on
shipyards, factories, oil supplies, weapons facilities.
Their bombing is highly accurate.

On the ground, at the open-air market, for a brief moment
Radio Tokyo goes silent; then --

                     TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)
          We interrupt this broadcast... Tokyo is
          being bombed!

EXT.  THE EMPEROR'S PALACE - DAY

The Emperor looks up at the sound of air raid sirens and
distant explosions.