Mission to

I
t. was typical summer weather on
that fateful morning of 6 August
1945. The sun was shining and
the trees and flowers were in full
bloom displaying their vivid and
pastel colors. As the people of Hiro
hima began to stir, ma ny were al
ready beginning to think of how best
to cope with the heat for another
day. Although the air raid si rens
had sounded an alert and then an
all clear a full forty-five minutes
prior to the arrival of the bombers,
not many had paid much attention
to them. For, as in the past, many
8-29s ( 8-sQns as the J apanese called
Reinforced concrete buil dings still stood
2200 feet from ground zero in Nagasaki
after the dropping of Fat Man. (USAF /
60593)
A brief account of the 509th Composite Group
By Joseph F. Papalia Hiroshi
8-29 Superfortress ENOLA GAY returns
to Tinian aft er dropping the atomic bomb
on Japan. (USAF/A59476)
them) had flown over and totally
ignored their city. Even though sev
eral bombs had fallen on them dur
ing the parlier part of the year, and
mass evacua tion plans had been put
in effect and carried out, to the peo
pit - of Hiroshima the wa r was some
thing that they had heard of from
others traveling about the country
or read about in newspapers. As the
bombers approached, some looked
up, but mos t were preoccupied with
other thought s. Thoughts not rela tpd
to the war or to what had brought
these planes to their city. Wi thin
seconds of the passing of these air
cra ft , thE' city of Hiroshima ceased
to exi st. For at R: 16 a .m. on tha t d y,
wi thjn the instant of a bright f1a.o;h,
Hiroshima was reduced to rubbl e
a nd fir e. Within the sa me milli
second, many thousands of p{' ople
were al ready dead or dying. Thn't?
days later, on 9 August, the
snml' fa te was to befa ll the city of
Nagasaki.
The road to Hiroshima and Naga
saki had its beginning in December
1938, when a German scientist named
Ottu Hahn d i"c()ve l'l-d the fi ssion
process. Thi s process, which i::; com
and its historic bombing missions to Japan
monly known as splitting the atom,
triggered speculation as to whether
it would be possible to build an
atomic bomb. In 1939, a group of
scientists (along with a letter of
support from Albert Einstein) ap
proached President Franklin Roose
vel t in hopes of convincing him to
begin a program to develop an
atomic bomb. These scientists be
lieved that Germany was well on the
way to developing its own atomic
bomb and tha t if they did, Germany
would be in a position to win the
war and dominate the world. Acting
upon their recommendation, Roose
"Fat Man," the nuclear weapon detonated
over Nagasaki, Japan. The bomb was 60
inches in diameter and 128 inches long.
Fat Man weighed about 10,000 Ibs and
had a yield equivalent to approximately
20,000 tons of high explosive. (USAF /
164708)
Crew of BOCK'S CAR, kneeling left to
right: S/Sgt. John Kuharedk, Sgt. Abe
Spitzer, Sgt. Ray Gallagher, S/Sgt. Buck
ley, S/Sgl. Albert DeHart. Standing left
to right: Major Charles W. Sweeney, CO
393rd Bombardment Squadron and pilot;
Lt. Charles Alburgy, aircraft commander;
Lt. Fred Olivi, copilot; Capt. Kermit
Behan, bombardier; Capt. James Van
Pelt, navigator, and Lt. Beser. (USAF/
83305)
Close-up of the nose art of BOCK'S CAR
taken at Roswell AFB, New Vlexico, on
27 March 1946. (USAF/39807)
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24 air classics
velt appointed an advisory committee
to locate and acquire the needed
uranium for the development of the
bomb. By 1941, the need for uranium
was lessened wi th the discovery of
an artificial element known as plu
tonium. Scientists now had a product
that would fission better than U-235
(uranium) and with its discovery,
the United States now had the po
tenial to mass-produce it for use in
atomic weapons.
Progress was slow until September
1942, when General Leslie Groves
took over command of the newly
formed "Manhattan Project." As its
administrator, Groves was given al
most unlimited powers, to use the
military, scientific, and industrial
resources of the United 8tates, along
with an operating budget that even
tually came close to two billion dol
lars. The Manhattan Project was ac
tually a coordination of scientists
working across the United States in
such places as Berkeley, California;
Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford,
Washington; the University of Chi
cago and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
However, the actual design and con
struction of the bombs took place
a t Los Alamos, under the leadership
of J. Robert Oppenheimer. It was
on 16 July 1945, near Alamogordo,
New Mexico, that the first nuclear
test explosion, code named Trinity,
took place.
In September 1944, a full ten
months prior to the nuclear explo
sion at Alamogordo, a young Lieu
tenant Colonel by the name of Paul
W. Tibbets was selected to command
the organization that would drop the
atomic bombs on Japan. Tibbets se
lection was based in part on his
record as a bomber pilot in Europe,
his ability to command and his fa
miliarity with the newly developed
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air classics 25
B-29. As the commander of this new
ly formed group, it was his respon
sibility to select men and equipment
to carry out the tactical phase of
what the scientists were building at
Los Alamos.
Initially, Tibbets and his men (air
and ground crews for fifteen special
ly ou t[i tted B-29 Superfortresses)
trained at Wendover Field, located
in northwestern Utah. Tibbets per
sonally selected 'Wendover because
of its isolation and the need to main
tain as much secrecy as possible
concerning their mission. After sev
eral months of intense training and
final organizational completion, the
509th Composite Group was official
ly activated and thus became the
first United States Army Air Force
Group to be organized, equipped and
trained for atomic warfare. Shortly
thereafter, crews and aircraft from
the 509th were sent to Cuba. While
in Cuba, the .509th continued to train
[or their mission, using the Carib
bean and selected islands as target
areas. Bomb drops and violent high
speed turns away from the area of
impact were practiced daily. Upon
their return to Wendover, the routine
continued.
By early .June, 194.5, most of the
.509th had transferred to Tinian, an
island which is part of the Marianas
chain. The reason for the choice of
Tinian was because of its specially
constructed long runways and near
ness to Japan. During their stay at
Tinian, the strictest security con
cerning their purpose was maintain
ed. In order to assure this, the .509th
was isolated on the northern part
of the island, in an area which was
enclosed by fencing and patrolled by
security forces. No one was allowed
to enter without first showing proper
identificalion.
Initially, none of the B-29s as
si gned to the .509th were allowed
to participate in raids over Japan.
Instead, they continued to fly out
over safe areas and practice their
simulated atomic bomb drops from
30,000 feet up. Upon release of the
dummy bomb, the planes would im
mediately go into a 1.5.5 degree turn
which was necessary to avoid the
bomb blast and full impact of the
subsequent shock wave. Because of
their non-involvement in the bomb
ing over Japan, the .509th was much
resented by other B-29 squadrons,
especially since they were losing
planes and men over the empire.
Many high ranking officers tried to
discover what their purpose was,
only to be rebuffed. Secrecy was so
tight, that not even the officers ancj
crews of the .509th were aware of
what they were preparing for. Only
a very select few, including Tibbets
knew the details of the mission. The
secret was to remain so until Colonel
Tibbets announced it to his crew
while on their way to Hiroshima.
By the beginning of July, the .509tl1
began a series of combat strikes
over Japan so as to familiarize
crews with the target areas and tac
tics contemplated for the final mis
sion and to let the Japanese become
accustomed to the sight of small
formations of high flying B-29s.
As final preparatio were being
formulated for the delivery of the
atomic bombs to Tinian, the target
cities had been selected. Thpy ere
Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and
Nagasaki. Kyoto, which was a lso
given serious consideration, was
st.ricken from the list. The United
States now proceeded in earnes t be
cause it felt that Japan would not
submit to terms which call ed for
unconditional surrender.
On the morning of 26 Jul ', the
cruiser Indianapolis docked off shore
from Tinian and delivered pa rts
necessary for the first bomb, fol lowed
by several B-29s from ( ':.ilifornia
(Continued on page 80)
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HIROSHIMA
(Continued from page 26)
bringing the remaining components
needed for the final completion of
both devices. Several days later,
while on her way to the Philippines,
the Indianapolis was sunk with a loss
of life close to 900 sailors.
As final plans were being made
for the first bomb drop, it was de
cided that in all, seven planes would
take part. Three to proceed the
Enola Gay ( the plane which carried
the bomb was piloted by Tibbets and
named after his mother ) to report
on weather conditions, one on stand
by at Iwo Jima in the event the
Enola Gay developed mechanical
problems and the remaining two
were to accompany the Enola Gay
and take pictures and measure the
bomb blast's intensity.
In the early hours of 6 August,
after three days of delay due to bad
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weather, Superfortress Enola
Gay, seven tons overweight, with
yards to spare rose from the runway
at North Field, Tinian and headed
for Japan. On board with her crew
of ten, were an additional two scien
tists whose job it was to arm the
bomb in flight. Although Hiroshima
had been selected as the primary
target, Colonel Tibbets still had to
wait for the weather planes to con
firm clear visibility because he was
under strict orders to drop the bomb
visually and not by radar. Upon
confirmation of clear, the Enola Gay
set its heading for Hiroshima.
At an altitude of almost 31,000
feet and traveling at 285 miles per
hour, the Enola Gay approached
Hiroshima and began its bomb run.
At this point, the crew was ordered
to put on arc-welder's goggles to
protect their eyes from the bomb
flash. Major Thomas Ferebee, the
bombardier, guided the aircraft to

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\'I?-17
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the aJmmg point and at the pre
scribed moment, from a height of
nearly six miles, the bomb-bay doors
automatically opened and the world's
first atomic bomb, named Little Boy
began its descent.
Forty-three seconds later, as the
Enola Gay was rushing at full power
to escape the bomb's blast, the flash
occured. Before the tail gunner, Sgt.
George Caron, could fully warn the
crew of the upcoming shock waves,
they hit the plane with such force
that the crew first thought it was
flak. Being fore-warned that-for no
reason- was he to fly through, or go
near any part of the ascending mush
room cloud, Tibbets circled Hiro
shima at a safe distance. They saw
seething boiling fl ames within this
purple cloud moving upward, a tur
bulent cloud of white smoke mush
rooming at the top which
reached a height of 60,000 feet. At
its base, two things were happening,
an unbelievable firestonn was raging
and a pall of dark grey dust covered
the whole city with flashes of bright
colored fires within it. The cloud
could still be seen by the crew at a
dist ance of 400 miles away on their
return flight to Tinian.
The second atomic bomb which
fell on the city of Nagasaki was
delivered by pilot Major Charles
Sweeney in another B-29 named
Bocll's Car. After a harrowing flight
which almost ended in disaster for
the aircraft, it landed safely at Oki
nawa, refueled and continued back
to Tinian. Ironically, Nagasaki was
not the primary target, Kokura was.
Had the aiming point, the Kokura
Arsenal, not been covered by haze
and smoke, it would have suffered
the same fate as Hiroshima.
On 15 August 1945, the Emperor
of Japan announced to the people
of his country that the government
would accept the terms of surrender
set forth by the Allies. Regardless
of what personal feelings one might
have concerning the use of atomic
bombs, one thing we might all agree
on is that it brought an abrupt end
to one of the bloodiest and costliest
episodes in warfare.
Most of the crew of both aircraft
are alive and well today. None have
suffered any psychological problems
as some previous reports have stated.
To the contrary, they feel that be
cause of what they did many lives
both American and Japanese were
saved. Had the Allies been forced to
invade Japan, projected casualties
of the invading forces alone would
have been a million and Japanese
losses in the ensuing battle would
have far exceeded this. ...,.
60 air classics