(U.S. Air Force illustration by Tech. The grand opening was a part of the Raiders’ final reunion tour. At a ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, not far from where he watched Doolittle circles the skies as a boy, Cole lifted a goblet of cognac aloft and toasted his 79 comrades that were lost on the mission or had passed away since. At each reunion, the raiders raised their goblets and toasted each other with a sip of 1896 Hennessy VS cognac, its vintage matching Doolittle’s birth year, before turning upside down the goblets of any men who had died since their last meeting.The Doolittle Raider goblets on display in the Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. “Our only course of action was to climb up to what we thought was a safe altitude and fly until we ran out of fuel and bailed out,” Cole said in an oral history,All but one of the 16 planes in the Doolittle Raid crashed-landed on or near the Chinese coast. (Prior to that, they had been kept at the Air Force Academy. In November 2013, three of the four remaining Raiders celebrated their final reunion at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The Doolittle Raiders held their 71st and final public reunion in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, April 16-20. David Thatcher, center, and Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, right, all of the Doolittle Raiders, answer questions from Hurlburt Field airmen at the 319th Special Operations Squadron auditorium at Hurlburt Field, Fla., April 18, 2013. This heroic attack against the major cities was accomplished through coordination between the Army Air Forces and the U.S. Navy, which carried the 16 North American B-25 medium bombers aboard the carrier USS Hornet to a location within take-off distance from the Japanese Islands. - The surviving Doolittle Raiders visited Fort Walton Beach, Fla., for their reunion tour as part of the 71st anniversary of this historic mission. Three were able to attend this final reunion: Lt. Col. Richard Cole, 97, co … Admittedly, it can be done like the Raiders did it, in that the modifications were simplifications of the aircraft – more fuel, dropping weight, removal of the Norden bombsights – making the resulting mission aircraft more primitive than before. The meeting marked the last planned gathering of the living Raiders and was celebrated by the opening of an 1896 bottle of Hennessy cognac, originally given to Jimmy Doolittle on his 60th birthday. Col. Richard Cole at Arlington National Cemetery, May 23, 2014. In 1959 a new tradition began after the city of Tucson, Arizona, presented the Doolittle Raiders … The reunions, which began as a birthday party Doolittle hosted in Florida in 1947, have evolved into an annual gathering of one of the most elite military fraternities in the world. They had the job of that first take-off from the carrier, the USS.Doolittle Raider, Lt. Col. Ed Saylor, and Col. Andrew Toth, the 33rd Fighter Wing commander, unveil the honorary plaque during a hangar dedication in honor of Saylor April 17 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. After unveiling the plaque, Saylor spoke about his experiences in the military and with the historic Raiders. Starting in 1946, to celebrate the birthday of Jimmy Doolittle, the Raiders held an annual celebration that eventually evolved into their annual goblet ceremony and reunion. (Credit: U.S. Air Force photo),Cole built a portable, velvet-lined display case that was used to transport the goblets each year to the reunion locations, which moved around the country. (Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images).After graduating from high school, Cole took to the skies himself and was a member of the U.S. Army Air Forces when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. David Thatcher (center) cuts the ceremonial ribbon during the Doolittle Raider exhibit grand opening on April 17 at Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, Fla. Thatcher was a Doolittle Raider Crew 7 engineer-gunner. Listen to the entire podcast on Youtube:Need some motivation to get your week started off right? Every Doolittle Raider was also decorated by the Chinese government. Each had his own story and place in the formation of 16 bombers, each with a 5-man crew. The meeting marked the last planned gathering of the living Raiders and was celebrated by the opening of an 1896 bottle of Hennessy cognac, originally given to Jimmy Doolittle on his 60th birthday. The reunion was hosted by the Children of the Doolittle Raiders, a nonprofit organization that continues traditions and educates people about the Doolittle Raiders. Dick Cole had always dreamed of soaring into the clouds, but he never dreamed that one day he would fly into the history books alongside his boyhood idol.As a youngster growing up outside Dayton, Ohio—hometown of the Wright Brothers—Cole pasted newspaper articles chronicling the exploits of pioneering aviators into his scrapbook and often made the 30-minute bike ride to McCook Field where he sat and watched daredevil pilots such as James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, who in 1922 made the first cross-country flight in under 24 hours, train and test new aircraft at McCook Field.Lt. (Video by Staff Sgt. Telling about the take-off and saying how the winds helped. (U.S. Air Force courtesy graphic).In choppy, frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean and more than 10 hours out from their planned takeoff, the Doolittle Raid task force was spotted. A violent thunderstorm and fuel gauges running close to empty, however, testified that the intended plan was not possible. SAN ANTONIO (AFNEWS) -- Seven surviving members of the famed "Doolittle Tokyo Raiders," will descend on San Antonio, this week for a series of events marking the 65th anniversary of one of the most notable airpower missions in military history. I didn’t know that until the fog cleared away and the rain stopped the next morning,” Cole told the San Antonio Express-News. Starting in 1946, to celebrate the birthday of Jimmy Doolittle, the Raiders held an annual celebration that eventually evolved into their annual goblet ceremony and reunion. “My parachute drifted over a pine tree and left me hanging about 12 feet off the ground. Two members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, seated front, and retired Staff Sgt.