TYPE: Long-range fighter and fighter bomber
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: One Packard (Rolls Royce) V-1650-7 Merlin liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,720 hp at WEP (War Emergency Power)
PERFORMANCE: 440 mph
COMMENT: The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The commission approached NAA to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, NAA proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was completed on September 1940, 102 days after contract signing, achieving its first flight on October same year.
The Mustang was designed to use the Allison V-1710 engine without an export-sensitive turbosupercharger or a multi-stage supercharger, resulting in limited high-altitude performance. The aircraft was first flown operationally and very successfully by the RAF as a tactical-reconnaissance aircraft and fighter-bomber (Mustang Mk I). In mid 1942, a development project known as the Rolls-Royce Mustang X, replaced the Allison engine with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 65 two-stage inter-cooled supercharged engine. During testing, it was clear the engine dramatically improved the aircraft’s performance at altitudes above 15,000 ft without sacrificing range. Following receipt of the test results and after further flights by a number of USAAF pilots, the results were so positive that North American began work on converting several aircraft developing into the P-51B/C (Mustang Mk III) model, which became the first long range fighter to be able to compete with the Luftwaffe‘s fighters. The definitive version, the NAA P-51D Mustang, was powered by the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the two-speed, two-stage-supercharged Merlin 66, and was armed with six .50 caliber AN/M2 Browning machine guns. Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew.
Following combat experience the P-51D series introduced a “teardrop”, or “bubble”, canopy to rectify problems with poor visibility to the rear of the aircraft. In the United States, new moulding techniques had been developed to form streamlined nose transparencies for bombers. North American designed a new streamlined plexiglass canopy for the P-51B which was later developed into the teardrop shaped bubble canopy. In late 1942, the tenth production P-51B-1-NA was removed from the assembly lines. From the windshield aft the fuselage was redesigned by cutting down the rear fuselage formers to the same height as those forward of the cockpit; the new shape faired in to the vertical tail unit. A new simpler style of windscreen, with an angled bullet-resistant windscreen mounted on two flat side pieces improved the forward view while the new canopy resulted in exceptional all-round visibility. Wind tunnel tests of a wooden model confirmed that the aerodynamics were sound. The new model Mustang also had a redesigned wing; alterations to the undercarriage up-locks and inner-door retracting mechanisms meant that there was an additional fillet added forward of each of the wheel bays, increasing the wing area and creating a distinctive “kink” at the wing root‘s leading edges.
Other alterations to the wings included new navigation lights, mounted on the wingtips, rather than the smaller lights above and below the wings of the earlier Mustangs, and retractable landing lights which were mounted at the back of the wheel wells; these replaced the lights which had been formerly mounted in the wing leading edges. The engine was the Packard V-1650-7, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60 series, fitted with a two-stage, two-speed supercharger.
The P-51D became the most widely produced variant of the Mustang. The P-51D started arriving in Europe in mid-1944 and quickly became the primary USAAF fighter in the theater. It was produced in larger numbers than any other Mustang variant. Nevertheless, by the end of the war, roughly half of all operational Mustangs were still P-51B or P-51C models.
The aircraft shown here belonged to the 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF, stationed at Wormingford, Essex, United Kingdom, in September 1944 (Ref.: 24).
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
North American P-51D-5 Mustang, 343rd FS, 55th, FG, 8th USAAF
POWER PLANT: Two Allison V-1710 (-89 left hand rotation and -91 right hand rotation) liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged piston engine, rated at 1,425 hp each at 26,000 ft
PERFORMANCE: 420 mph
COMMENT: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P-38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night-fighter, and a long-range escort fighter when equipped withdrop tanks The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bpmbers, or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of American aerial film captured over Europe. Although it was not designated a heavy fighter or a bomber destoyer by the USAAC, the P-38 filled those roles and more; unlike German heavy fighters crewed by two or three airmen, the P-38 with its lone pilot was nimble enough to compete with single-engine fighters.
The P-38 Lightning was used most successfully in the Pacific and the China-Burma-India Theaters of Operation. In the South-West Pacific Theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of USAAF until the introduction of large numbers of North American P-51 Mustangs toward the end of the war.
Like many Second World War fighter aircraft the Lockheed P-38 Lightning soon developed into a formidable fighter bomber, capable of carrying two 2,000lb bombs on internal fuel. This 4,000lb payload was the same as that carried by early Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers or by the de Havilland Mosquito B Mk XVI. However, while the bomber Mosquitoes had a clear nose to aid bomb aiming, the solid nose of the standard P-38 limited the accuracy possible with level bombing.
To meet these requirements the Lockheed P-38 Droop Snoot was developed to act as a bomber leader for formations of standard P-38J or P-38L fighter bombers. The original idea was proposed by two officers based at the 8th Air Force Headquarters. The development work was carried out at Lockheed’s modification centre at Langford Lodge, Northern Island. The key to the Droop Snoot project was the new nose. The guns were replaced by a bombardier/ navigator’s position, with a transparent Plexiglas bubble nose cone similar in profile to that used on the Mosquito, side windows and an emergency hatch. The nose contained a Norden bombsight, the bomb release controls and navigation equipment. It is not entirely clear how many Droop Snoots were produced. Twenty three P-38Js were converted to the new role at Langford Lodge. One hundred conversion kits were also produced for field configuration, but it is not clear how many were used.
Less well known is the second part of the Droop Snoot modification. This was carried out on the other aircraft in a P-38 group, and allowed the bomb aimer in the Droop Snoot aircraft to drop the bombs for an entire group.
The Droop Snoot entered active service on 10 April 1944, when one was used to lead forty-two P-38Js of the 20th Fighter Group against the Luftwaffe base at Gütersloh in Germany. By October 1944 all three P-38 groups in the 9th Air Force were equipped to carry out Droop Snoot missions.
Lockheed P-38 Droop Snoot Lightnings could be found serving from bases in Britain and Italy throughout the rest of the war in the European Theater (Ref.: 24).
POWER PLANT: Four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 Twin Wasp turbo-supercharged radial engines, rated at 1,200 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 297 mph at 25,000 ft
COMMENT: The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.
The B-24 was used extensively in World War II where it served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several Allied air forces and navies. It saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the Boeing B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic bombing campaign in the Western European theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan.
In February 1944, the 2nd Division authorized the use of “Assembly Ships” (or “Formation Ships”) specially fitted to aid the assembly of individual group formations. They were equipped with signal lighting, provision for quantity discharge of pyrotechnics, and were painted with distinctive group-specific high-contrast patterns of stripes, checkers or polka dots to enable easy recognition by their flock of bombers. The aircraft used in the first allocation were B-24Ds retired by the 44th, 93rd and 389th Groups. Arrangements for signal lighting varied from group to group, but generally consisted of white flashing lamps on both sides of the fuselage arranged to form the identification letter of the group. All armament and armor were removed and in some cases the tail turret. In the B-24Hs used for this purpose, the nose turret was removed and replaced by a “carpetbagger” type nose. Following incidents when flare guns were accidentally discharged inside the rear fuselage, some assembly (formation) ships had pyrotechnic guns fixed through the fuselage sides. As these aircraft normally returned to base once a formation had been established, a skeleton crew of two pilots, navigator, radio operator and one or two flare discharge operators were carried. In some groups an observer officer flew in the tail position to monitor the formation. These aircraft became known as Judas goats.
To help minimise the risk of collisions and help crews get their aircraft into the correct formation, during 1943 each Bomb Group was required to choose one of its older aircraft, normally a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or Consilidated B-24 Liberator, to be modified to lead that group’s formation. Once the aircraft had been chosen it would be stripped of its armour and armament, fitted with extra navigations lights and repainted in a distinctive paint scheme tailored for each group. With a basic crew of five or six people, two pilots, navigator, wireless operator and either one or two crew members to discharge flares.
The aircraft would be the first to take-off, maintaining a steady speed and rate of climb they would then fly to the rendezvous point discharging flares and flashing their lights until the aircraft of the group they were leading had successfully formed up. Once this had been done they would then change course for the intended target until they formed up with the other bomber groups on the operation. Then, along with the other assembly ships, turned round and returned to base, while the bombers continued onto their target.
Rage in Heaven(USAAC Serial No. 44-40165), a later model B-24J Liberator, was Lead Assembly Ship for 491st Bombardment Group, operated by the 852nd Bombardment Squadron, and replacing the groups older assemblyship The Little Gramper. This crashed, exploded and burned on 5 January 1945 after taking off in a blinding snowstorm to lead the assembly of the group. A second B-24 crashed minutes later because of the icy conditions and the mission was cancelled. Rage in Heaven was a combat veteran aircraft with the 852nd Bombardment Squadron of the 491st Bombardment Group, but she is best known for her bright green and yellow stripes as an assembly aircraft. In her original scheme, it appears she had dark green stripes over bare metal, but in this later photograph she sports her better known with more yellow and green stripes (Ref.:24).
POWER PLANT: Two Allison V-1710 (-89 left hand rotation and -91 right hand rotation) liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged piston engine, rated at 1,425 hp each at 26,000 ft
PERFORMANCE: 420 mph
COMMENT: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P-38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night-fighter, and a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bpmbers, or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of American aerial film captured over Europe. Although it was not designated a heavy fighter or a bomber destoyer by the USAAC, the P-38 filled those roles and more; unlike German heavy fighters crewed by two or three airmen, the P-38 with its lone pilot was nimble enough to compete with single-engine fighters.
The P-38 Lightning was used most successfully in the Pacific and the China-Burma-India Theaters of Operatio In the South-West Pacific Theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of USAAF until the introduction of large numbers of North American P-51 Mustangs toward the end of the war. Unusual for an early-war fighter design, both engines were supplemented by turbosuperchargers, making it one of the earliest Allied fighters capable of performing well at high altitudes. The turbosuperchargers also muffled the exhaust, making the P-38’s operation relatively quiet. The Lightning was extremely forgiving in flight and could be mishandled in many ways, but the initial rate of roll in early versions was low relative to other contemporary fighters; this was addressed in later variants with the introduction of hydraulically boosted ailerons The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in large-scale production throughout American involvement in the war, from the Attack on Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.
Throughout the lightnings production life its external contours had remained virtually unchanged until, in August 1943, the P-38J began to appear. Known by the manufacturers as the Model 422, the P-38J-1-LO introduced a beared radiator under each drive shaft,resulting from the sandwiching of the inter-cooler air intake between the oil radiator intakes. The price paid for this modification was a slight increase in drag, but this was more than compensated for by the improved cooling effect enabling the Allison V-1710-89/91 engines to develop its full 1,425 hp at 26,000 ft, and with a maximum speed of 420 mph at that altitude, the P-38J was the fasted variant of the entire Lighning series. However. The wing instability problems first experienced during wind tunnel tests in 1939 now reappeared. Careful filleting of the wing-fuselage junction eventually overcame these difficulties.
From the P-38J-5-LO production batch, the leading-edge space formerly occupied by the intercooler was occupied by two additional fuel tanks, increasing total internal fuel capacity to 341 Imp gal. To counteract a strong nose-down pitching movement at high speed in this model of the Lightning, a small electrically-operated dive flap was introduced under each wing commencing the the P-38J-25-LO production batch. To increase manoeurability, this batch also introduced a power-boosting system on the ailerons which, consisting of hydraulically-operated bell-cranks and push-pull rods, was one of the first applications on powered controls to any fighter.
2.970 J-Model Lightnings were produced, several hundred of these being converted as Lockheed F-5E and F-5F Lightnings (Ref.: 24).
Bockscar, sometimes called Bock’s Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) B-29 bomber that dropped a Fat Man, a plutonium implosion-type nuclear weapon, over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II in the second – and most recent – nuclear attack in history. Bockscar, B-29-36-MO 44-27297, Victor number, (unit-assigned identification number) # 7, was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at its bomber plant in Bellevue, Nebraska and one of 15 Silverplate B-29, a Block 35 aircraft, after modification re-designated “Block 36”. It was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces on 19 March 1945 and in April assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, and was named after Captain Frederick C. Bock.
Silverplate involved extensive modifications to the B-29 to carry nuclear weapons. The bomb bay doors and the fuselage section between the bomb bays were removed to create a single 33-foot bomb bay. British suspensions and bracing were attached for both shape types, with the gun-type (Little Boy) suspension anchored in the aft bomb bay and the implosion type (Fat Man) mounted in the forward bay. Weight reduction was also accomplished by removal of gun turrets and armor plating. These B-29s also had an improved engine, the Wright R-3350-41. The Silverplate aircraft represented a significant increase in performance over the standard variants.
Captain Frederick C. Bock and crew C-13, flew to Wendover Army Air Field in April. The name chosen for the aircraft, and and the nose art painted on it after the mission, was a pun on the name of the aircraft commander. It left Wendover on 11 June 1945 for Tinian, where it arrived 16 June. It was originally given a circle outline around an arrowhead pointing forward tail marking as used by the 509th Composite Group. Bockscar was used in 13 training and practice missions from Tinian, and three combat missions in which it dropped Pumpkin bombs on industrial targets in Japan, in which Bock’s crew bombed Niihama, Musashimo and Koromo.
Pumpkin bomb
PUMPKIN BOMBS
„Pumpkin bombs“ were conventional aerial bombs developed by scientists of the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during WW II. It was a close replication of the „Fat Man“ plutonium bomb with the same ballistic and handling characteristics, but it used non-nuclear conventional high explosives. It was mainly used for testing and training purposes, which included combat missions flown with pumpkin bombs by the 509th Composite Group. The name “pumpkin bomb” was the term used in official documents from the large, fat ellipsoidal shape of the munition casing instead of the more usual cylindrical shape of other bombs, intended to enclose the „Fat Man’s“ spherical “physics package” (the plutonium implosion nuclear weapon core).
„Pumpkin bombs“ were produced in both inert and high-explosive variants. The inert versions were filled with a cement-plaster-sand mixture that was combined with water to 1.67 to 1.68 grams per cubic centimetre, the density of the composition high-explosive versions. The filler of both variants had the same weight (2,900 kg) and weight distribution as the inner spherical “physics package” of the „Fat Man“ plutonium bomb.
A total of 486 live and inert training bombs were eventually delivered, the 509th Composite Group dropped a total of 49 bombs on 14 Japanese targets (Ref. 24).
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress ‘Bockscar’, 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group. Before the Nagasaki Mission
On 8 August 1945, the Strike Order # 39 was given to deliver the second atomic bomb Fat Man the next day on 9 August. This order gives the detailed time scale of the pre-flight preparations and all aircraft involved in the attack as well as the names of the aircraft‘s commanding officers. This time the combat strike consisted of three aircraft, one alternative plane stationed at Iwo Iima to take over the atomic bomb in case of failures of Bockscar and two weather mission aircraft including the Enola Gay latter flown by Captain George W. Marquardt plus two alternative aircraft . Weather Ships had to start at 0230 ET, while the strike Ships followed one hour later. Victor # 77 was the Bockscar with Major Sweeney at the controlls.. The Bombload simply mentioned „Special“, primary target was Nagasaki.
Strike Order Nagasaki
ATOMIC BOMB “FAT MAN”
“Fat Man” was 3.4 m, in length, 1.5 m in diameter and weighed 9,100 kg. The design was an implosion-type weapon using plutonium. A subcritical sphere of plutonium was placed in the center of a hollow sphere of high explosive. Numerous detonators located on the surface of the sphere were fired simultaneously to produce a powerful inward pressure on the capsule, squeezing it and increasing its density. This resulted in a supercritical condition and a nuclear explosion.
The bomb had an explosive force of about 20,000 tons of TNT, about the same as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Because of Nagasaki’s hilly terrain, however, the damage was somewhat less extensive than of the relatively flat Hiroshima
Three Fat Man high explosive pre-assemblies designated F31, F32, and F33 were transported to North Field, arriving 2 August. F33 was expended during the final rehearsal on 8 August, and F31 was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. F32 presumably would have been used for a third attack or its rehearsal.
Atomic bomb ‘Fat Man’ Mk III
STRIKE ON NAGASAKI, DATE: AUGUST, 9th, 1945
On 1 August the aircraft was given the triangle N tail markings of the 444th Bombardment Group as a security measure, and had its Victor number changed to # 77 to avoid misidentification with an actual 444th aircraft. Except for Enola Gay, none of the 509th Composite Group B-29s had yet had names or nose art painted on the noses. All other names were given or painted after the mission.
The mission included three B-29 bombers and their crews: # 77 Bockscar, # 89 The Great Artiste and # 50 The Big Stink. Bockscar was flown on 9 August 1945 by Crew C-15, which usually manned The Great Artiste; piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, commander of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron; and co-piloted by First Lieutenant Charles Donald Albury, C-15’s aircraft commander. The Great Artiste– flown by Captain Frederick C. Bock – was designated as an observation and instrumentation support plane for the second mission, while The Big Stink – flown by group operations officer Major James I. Hopkins Jr. – as a photographic aircraft. The primary target was the city of Kokura, where the Kokura Arsenal was located, and the secondary target was Nagasaki, where two large Mitsubishi armament plants were located. Bockscarhad been flown by Sweeney and crew C-15 in three test drop rehearsals with inert pumpkin bomb assemblies in the eight days leading up to the second mission, including a final rehearsal the day before. The Great Artiste, which was the assigned aircraft of the crew with whom Sweeney usually flew, had been designated in preliminary planning to drop the second bomb, but the aircraft had been fitted with observation instruments for the Hiroshima mission that took place three days earlier. Moving the instrumentation from The Great Artiste to Bockscar would have been a complex and time-consuming process, and when the second atomic bomb mission was moved up from 11 to 9 August because of adverse weather forecasts, the crews of The Great Artiste and Bockscar instead changed aircraft. The result was that the bomb was carried by Bockscar but flown by the crew C-15 of The Great Artiste.
During pre-flight inspection of Bockscar, the flight engineer notified Sweeney that an inoperative fuel transfer pump made it impossible to use 640 US gallons of fuel carried in a reserve tank. This fuel would still have to be carried all the way to Japan and back, consuming still more fuel. Replacing the pump would take hours; moving the Fat Man to another aircraft might take just as long and was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live. Group Commander Colonel Paul Tibbets and Sweeney therefore elected to have Bockscar continue the mission. Bockscartook off from Tinian’s North Field at 03:49. The mission profile directed the B-29s to fly individually to the rendezvous point, changed because of bad weather from Iwo Jima to Yakushima Island, and at 17,000 feet cruising altitude instead of the customary 9,000 feet , increasing fuel consumption. Bockscar began its climb to the 30,000 feet bombing altitude a half-hour before rendezvous. Before the mission, Tibbets had warned Sweeney to take no more than fifteen minutes at the rendezvous before proceeding to the target. Bockscar reached the rendezvous point and assembled with The Great Artiste, but after circling for some time, The Big Stinkfailed to appear. As they orbited Yakushima, the weather planes Enola Gay (which had dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima) and Laggin‘ Dragon reported both Kokura and Nagasaki within the accepted parameters for the required visual attack.
Though ordered not to circle longer than fifteen minutes, Sweeney continued to wait for The Big Stink, finally proceeding to the target only at the urging of Commander Frederich Ashworth, the plane’s weaponeer, who was in command of the mission. After exceeding the original departure time limit by a half-hour, Bockscar, accompanied by the instrument airplane,The Great Artiste, arrived over Kokura, thirty minutes away. The delay at the rendezvous had resulted in clouds and drifting smoke from fires started by a major firebombing raid by 224 B-29s on nearby Yahata the previous day covering 70% of the area over Kokura, obscuring the aiming point. Three bomb runs were made over the next 50 minutes, burning fuel and exposing the aircraft repeatedly to the heavy defenses of Yahata, but the bombardier was unable to drop visually. By the time of the third bomb run, Japanese anti-aircraft fire was getting close, and First Lieutenant Jacob Beser, who was monitoring Japanese communications, reported activity on the Japanese fighter direction radio bands.
The increasingly critical fuel shortage resulted in the decision by Sweeney and Ashworth to reduce power to conserve fuel and divert to the secondary target, Nagasaki. The approach to Nagasaki twenty minutes later indicated that the heart of the city’s downtown was also covered by dense cloud. Ashworth decided to bomb Nagasaki using radar, but, according to Bockscar’sbombardier, Captain Kermit Beahan, a small opening in the clouds at the end of the three-minute bomb run permitted him to identify target features. Bockscar visually dropped the Fat Man at 10:58 local time. It exploded 43 seconds later with a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT at an altitude of 1,650 feet, approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the planned aiming point, resulting in the destruction of 44% of the city
The failure to drop the Fat Man at the precise bomb aim point caused the atomic blast to be confined to the Urakami Valley. As a consequence, a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills, but even so, the bomb was dropped over the city’s industrial valley midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north.
Because of the delays in the mission and the inoperative fuel transfer pump, the B-29 did not have sufficient fuel to reach the emergency landing field at Iwo Jima, so Sweeney flew the aircraft to Okinawa Arriving there, he circled for 20 minutes trying to contact the control tower for landing clearance, finally concluding that his radio was faulty. Critically low on fuel, Bockscar barely made it to the runway at Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. With only enough fuel for one landing attempt, Sweeney and Albury brought Bockscar in at 150 miles per hour instead of the normal 120 miles per hour firing distress flares to alert the field of the uncleared landing. The number two engine died from fuel starvation as Bockscar began its final approach. Touching the runway hard, the heavy B-29 slewed left and towards a row of parked Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers before the pilots managed to regain control. The B-29’s reversible propellers were insufficient to slow the aircraft adequately, and with both pilots standing on the brakes, Bockscar made a swerving 90-degree turn at the end of the runway to avoid running off the runway. A second engine died from fuel exhaustion by the time the plane came to a stop. The flight engineer later measured fuel in the tanks and concluded that less than five minutes total remained (Ref.: 24).
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Strike on Nagasaki
After the Nagasaki Mission the circle R tail marking of the 6th Bombardment Group, 313th Bomb Wing tail marking was changed to that of the 509th Composite Group, circle outline around an arrowhead pointing forward. At last the Nose Art „Bockscar“ was painted backboard side, Victor # 77 remained unchanged,
After the war, Bockscar returned to the United States in November 1945. In September 1946, it was given to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The aircraft was flown to the museum on 26 September 1961, and its original markings were restored (nose art was added after the mission). Bockscar is now on permanent display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, next to a replica of the Fat Man atomic bomb.
PLANS FOR MORE ATOMIC ATTACKS ON JAPAN
Major General Leslie R. Groves expected to have another “Fat Man” atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October; a second Little Boy bomb (using U-235) would not be available until December 1945. On 10 August, he sent a memorandum to General of the Army Georg C. Marshall in which he wrote that “the next bomb … should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August.” Marshall endorsed the memo with the hand-written comment, “It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President”, something President Harry S. Truman had requested that day. This modified the previous order that the target cities were to be attacked with atomic bombs “as made ready”. There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs then in production for Operation Downfall, and Marshall suggested to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson that the remaining cities on the target list be spared attack with atomic bombs.
Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied, and scheduled to leave Kirtland Field, New Mexico, for Tinian on 11 and 14 August, and Tibbets was ordered by Major General Curtis LeMay to return to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to collect them. At Los Alamos, New Mexico, technicians worked 24 hours straight to cast another plutonium core. Although cast, it still needed to be pressed and coated, which would take until 16 August. Therefore, it could have been ready for use on 19 August. Unable to reach Marshall, Groves ordered on his own authority on 13 August that the core should not be shipped.
On Marshall’s orders, Major General John E. Hull looked into the tactical use of nuclear weapons for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, even after the dropping of two strategic atomic bombs on Japan (Marshall did not think that the Japanese would capitulate immediately). Colonel Lyle E. Seeman reported that at least seven Fat Man-type plutonium implosion bombs would be available by X-Day, which could be dropped on defending forces. Seeman advised that American troops not enter an area hit by a bomb for “at least 48 hours”; the risk of nuclear fallout was not well understood, and such a short time after detonation would have exposed American troops to substantial radiation.
Ken Nicols, the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District, wrote that at the beginning of August 1945, “planning for the invasion of the main Japanese home islands had reached its final stages, and if the landings actually took place, we might supply about fifteen atomic bombs to support the troops.” An air burst 1,800–2,000 ft above the ground had been chosen for the (Hiroshima) bomb to achieve maximum blast effects, and to minimize residual radiation on the ground, as it was hoped that American troops would soon occupy the city (Ref.: 24).
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bocks Car”, 393rd BS, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. After the Nagasaki Mission
COMMENT: The aircraft B-29 Superfortress (Model number B-29-45-MO, Serial number 44-86292, Victor number # 12, (squadron-assigned identification)) – later known as Enola Gay – was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at its bomber plant in Bellevue, Nebraska. The bomber was one of the first fifteen B-29s built to the “Silverplate” specification— of 65 eventually completed during and after World War II—giving them the primary ability to function as nuclear “weapon delivery” aircraft. These modifications included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors and British bomb attachment and release systems, reversible pitch propellers that gave more braking power on landing, improved engines with fuel injection and better cooling, and the removal of protective armor and gun turrets.
The aircraft was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr., the commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line. The aircraft was accepted by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) on 18 May 1945 and assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. The tail marking was a circle outline around an arrowhead pointing forward. The Crew B-9, commanded by Captain Robert A. Lewis, took delivery of the bomber and flew it from Omaha to the 509th base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on 14 June 1945.
Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb-bay modification, and flew to North Field, Tinian, on 6 July. It was initially given the Victor number # 12, but on 1 August, the tail marking of the 509th Composite Group, circle outline around an arrowhead pointing forward, was changed in circle R tail marking of the 6th Bombardment Group, 313th Bomb Wing, as a security measure and had its Victor number changed to # 82 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th Bombardment Group aircraft.
During July, the bomber made eight practice or training flights and flew two missions, on 24 and 26 July, to drop pumpkin bombs on industrial targets at Kobe and Nagoya. Enola Gay was used on 31 July on a rehearsal flight for the actual mission (Ref. 24).
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group
On 5 August 1945, the Strike Order 35 was given to deliver the first atomic bomb Little Boy the next day on 6 August. This order not only gives the detailed time scale of the pre-flight preparations but also the Victor (identifications) number s of all aicraft involved in the attack as well as the names of the aircraft‘s commanding officers. The combat strike consisted of four aircraft with one alternative plane and four weather mission aircraft including one alternative aircraft . Weather Ships had to start at 0200 ET, while the Combat Ships followed one hour later. Victor # 82 was the Enola Gay with Col. Tibbets at the controlls.
Strike Order # 35 from 5 August 1945
ATOMIC BOMB „LITTLE BOY“
Atomic bomb “Little Boy”
Little Boy was 300 cm in length, 71 cm in diameter and weighed approximately 4,400 kg. The design used the gun method to explosively force a hollow sub-critical mass of enriched uranium and a solid target cylinder together into a super-critical mass, initiating a nuclear chain reaction. This was accomplished by shooting one piece of the uranium onto the other by means of four cylindrical silk bags of cordite powder.
The bomb contained 64 kilograms of enriched uranium. Most was enriched to 89% but some was only 50% uranium-235, for an average enrichment of 80%. Less than a kilogram of uranium underwent nuclear fission, and of this mass only 0.7 grams was transformed into several forms of energy, mostly kinetic energy, but also heat and radiation. The bomb had an explosive force of about 20,000 tons of TNT, about the same as the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki .
The Little Boy pre-assemblies were designated L-1, L-2, L-3, L-4, L-5, L-6, L-7 and L-11. L-1, L-2, L-5 and L-6 were expended in test drops. L-6 was used in the Iwo Jima dress rehearsal on 29 July. This was repeated on 31 July, but this time L-6 was test dropped near Tinian by Enola Gay. Finally, L-11 was the assembly used for the Hiroshima bomb.
STRIKE ON HIROSHIMA, DATE: AUGUST, 6th, 1945
During preparation for the first atomic mission, Tibbets assumed command of the aircraft and named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who, in turn, had been named for the heroine of a novel. In the early morning hours, just prior to the 6 August mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot’s window. Except for Enola Gay, none of the 509th Composite Group B-29s had yet had names painted on the noses. All other names were given after the mission.
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. Enola Gay, piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, in the Northern Mariana Islands, about six hours’ flight time from Japan, accompanied by two other B-29s, The Great Artiste, piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney carrying instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, to take photographs
After leaving Tinian, the three aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima, where they rendezvoused at 8,010 ft and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 32,333 ft. Navy Captain William S. Parsons of Project Alberta, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb during the flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. His assistant, Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area.
The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy took 53 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet above the city. Enola Gay traveled 11.5 mi before it felt the shock waves from the blast. Although buffeted by the shock, neither Enola Gaynor The Great Artiste was damaged. Enola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare, touching down at 2:58 pm, after 12 hours 13 minutes. The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil followed at short intervals. Several hundred people, including journalists and photographers, had gathered to watch the planes return. Tibbets was the first to disembark and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross on the spot (Ref.: 24).
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‚Enola Gay‘ ,Tail marking 6th BG, 393th BS, Heavy
Comment: After the Hiroshima Mission the Enola Gay‘s circle R tail marking of the 6th Bombardment Group, 313th Bomb Wing tail marking was changed to that of the 509th Composite Group, circle outline around an arrowhead pointing forward. The Victor # 82 remained unchanged, Additional First Atomic Bomb Hiroshima – August 6/1945 was painted on starboard side of Enola Gay.
After the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, where it was operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. In May 1946, it was flown to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific, but was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll.
Since 2003, the entire restored Boeing B-29 Enola Gay has been on display at National Air and Space Museums’s Steven Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Fairfax County, Virginia.
Plans for more atomic attacks on Japan
Major General Leslie R. Groves expected to have another Fat Man atomic bomb ready for use on 19 August, with three more in September and a further three in October; a second Little Boy bomb (using U-235) would not be available until December 1945. On 10 August, he sent a memorandum to General of the Army Georg C. Marshall in which he wrote that “the next bomb … should be ready for delivery on the first suitable weather after 17 or 18 August.” Marshall endorsed the memo with the hand-written comment, “It is not to be released over Japan without express authority from the President”, something President Harry S. Truman had requested that day. This modified the previous order that the target cities were to be attacked with atomic bombs “as made ready”. There was already discussion in the War Department about conserving the bombs then in production for Operation Downfall (proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II), and Marshall suggested to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson that the remaining cities on the target list be spared attack with atomic bombs.
Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied, and scheduled to leave Kirtland Field, New Mexico, for Tinian on 11 and 14 August, and Tibbets was ordered by Major General Curtis LeMay to return to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to collect them. At Los Alamos, New Mexico, technicians worked 24 hours straight to cast another plutonium core. Although cast, it still needed to be pressed and coated, which would take until 16 August. Therefore, it could have been ready for use on 19 August. Unable to reach Marshall, Groves ordered on his own authority on 13 August that the core should not be shipped.
On Marshall’s orders, Major General John E. Hull looked into the tactical use of nuclear weapons for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, even after the dropping of two strategic atomic bombs on Japan (Marshall did not think that the Japanese would capitulate immediately). Colonel Lyle E. Seeman reported that at least seven Fat Man-type plutonium implosion bombs would be available by X-Day, which could be dropped on defending forces. Seeman advised that American troops not enter an area hit by a bomb for “at least 48 hours”; the risk of nuclear fallout was not well understood, and such a short time after detonation would have exposed American troops to substantial radiation.
Ken Nicols, the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District, wrote that at the beginning of August 1945, “planning for the invasion of the main Japanese home islands had reached its final stages, and if the landings actually took place, we might supply about fifteen atomic bombs to support the troops.” An air burst 1,800–2,000 ft above the ground had been chosen for the (Hiroshima) bomb to achieve maximum blast effects, and to minimize residual radiation on the ground, as it was hoped that American troops would soon occupy the city (Ref.: 24).
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Boeing B-29A Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’, Tail marking 509th Composite Group, 393rd BS, Heavy
Scale 1:72 aircraft models of World War II
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