Building a diorama depicting Hornet CV8 loading B 25s

I’d suggest doing a search for photos of the docks at Alameda NAS. While I have never seen any picture of this event, there are lots showing other aircraft being loaded on other ships around that time.

I would like to know how the aircraft were brought from the air field to the dock.

It all happened in a day.

I remember seeing some pics or footage of them being craned aboard, but it might have been from the movie.  Otherwise nothing comes to mind.  Might check NavSource to see what pics are in the Hornet file.

I've got a bunch of Doolittle books including his autobiography. Nothing until they were at sea.

There is a picture of a B-25 being craned aboard in Norfolk with here own deck crane, but that's one of only two loaded there for tests, and then landed on the ground, before she sailed for San Diego and San Francisco.

The various pictures from Alameda show fighters being loaded on Essex Class ships with dockside cranes.

I'd imagine photos may not have been allowed.

I gather 1/700 Mitchells are available.

This is a still from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. The scene in the movie shows a B-25 being lifted aboard the carrier from the air, supposedly Alameda NAS. The next scene shows some of the pilots walking along the pier looking at a B-25 from below being lifted aboard the Hornet. From the movie, there doesn't seem to be a lot of other activity going on other than the B-25 being lifted by the ship's crane.

Here's a photo from Navsource showing a fighter being loaded on CV-21 USS Boxer at Alameda NAS in 1950. I would say this most likely is what was done on 4/1/42, probably at the same dock.

Loose Cannon Productions made a great set of 1/700 dockyard buildings, with paper stick-on overlays that were extremely easy to paint and weather. I'm not sure if any are still available, check Ebay or maybe Freetime Hobbies.

Otherwise, for your dockyard needs, go here: http://www.am-works.com/.

Alliance Modelworks has an absolutely exquisite line of 1/700 PE dockyard buildings, cranes, rolling stock, etc. While I haven't used it, I sure wish it had been around when I did my own dockyard scene and had to scratchbuild 1/700 railcars and the like.