Enola Gay photo(s) request

AFWhite · **Posted:** Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:07 am

WIXerGreg wrote:

Yup...am I missing his name in there somewhere?

From Wiki:
Jacob Beser (May 15, 1921 – June 16, 1992) was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces who served during World War II. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, Beser was a crewmember aboard Bockscar when the Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have served as a strike crew member of both of the 1945 atomic bomb missions.[1]

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1161

AFWhite wrote:

Yup...am I missing his name in there somewhere?

From Wiki:
Jacob Beser (May 15, 1921 – June 16, 1992) was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces who served during World War II. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, Beser was a crewmember aboard Bockscar when the Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have served as a strike crew member of both of the 1945 atomic bomb missions.[1]

Captain Parsons (USN) and LT Jeppson were also aboard for the Hiroshima mission. Looks like the later nose art photo only lists the "crew" that was aboard that day, with the nose art leaving off Parsons, Jeppson and Beser.

509th Crewing had a few interesting side notes. The strike crew was normally under Lewis, but Group leads Tibbets, Van Kirk and Ferebee served on the strike aircraft that day in their respective roles.

AFWhite · **Posted:** Tue Oct 24, 2017 3:46 pm

sandiego89 wrote:

AFWhite wrote:

Yup...am I missing his name in there somewhere?

From Wiki:
Jacob Beser (May 15, 1921 – June 16, 1992) was a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces who served during World War II. Beser was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, Beser was a crewmember aboard Bockscar when the Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. He was the only person to have served as a strike crew member of both of the 1945 atomic bomb missions.[1]

Captain Parsons (USN) and LT Jeppson were also aboard for the Hiroshima mission. Looks like the later nose art photo only lists the "crew" that was aboard that day, with the nose art leaving off Parsons, Jeppson and Beser.

509th Crewing had a few interesting side notes. The strike crew was normally under Lewis, but Group leads Tibbets, Van Kirk and Ferebee served on the strike aircraft that day in their respective roles.

Yeah, I suppose that must be it, just the standard crew positions are recognized.

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7560

Will this one work? .... about as rare a photo that you'll see. Would you like to see more?

Enola Gay over Hawaii (Operation Crossroads)

eg4-46platebernie by Central Repository for Aviation Photos, on Flickr

Vtg-1940s-1946-Operation-Crossroads-Official-USAAF-PHOTO by Central Repository for Aviation Photos, on Flickr

Vtg-1940s-1946-Operation-Crossroads-Official-USAAF-PHOTO-_57 by Central Repository for Aviation Photos, on Flickr

Vtg-1940s-1946-Operation-Crossroads-Official-USAAF-PHOTO-_57 (1) by Central Repository for Aviation Photos, on Flickr

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1161

Mark Allen M wrote:

Will this one work? .... about as rare a photo that you'll see. Would you like to see more?

Great shot of her over Oahu. Have never seen that one. Would love to see more post war photos of her, and other 509th aircraft- any more from Crossroads?

AFWhite · **Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:27 am

[quote="Mark Allen M"]Will this one work? .... about as rare a photo that you'll see. Would you like to see more?

Enola Gay over Hawaii (Operation Crossroads)

Nice shots Mark. Yeah, if you have more, then post them up. Enola Gay, or any other 509th aircraft.

I'm a scale modeler and I'm getting reference material together to build "Enola Gay". So for me, the little details are what I'm looking at, i.e. antenna configurations, wear on the aircraft, etc. There's some great photos out there, but you gotta be careful of the time period you're looking at, especially with the 509th birds. As an example, when they were loading Enola Gay at the pit, the "82" on the right hand side of the fwd fuselage consists of just he "2"...but in photos of her returning from the mission (the following day?) the full "82" is in place... geek

y stuff like that us nerds pick up on...at least I do

Check it out at the 5:37 mark of the video. some great footage here.
https://youtu.be/pXD_fzrcE20

AFWhite · **Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:27 am

[quote="Mark Allen M"]Will this one work? .... about as rare a photo that you'll see. Would you like to see more?

Enola Gay over Hawaii (Operation Crossroads)

Sorry...double post!

sandiego89 · **Joined:** Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm **Posts:** 1161

AFWhite wrote:

I'm a scale modeler and I'm getting reference material together to build "Enola Gay". So for me, the little details are what I'm looking at, i.e. antenna configurations, wear on the aircraft, etc. There's some great photos out there, but you gotta be careful of the time period you're looking at, especially with the 509th birds.......

Markings on the 509th birds indeed changed quickly. Looks like arrowhead on the Enola Gay was replaced with the Circle R on August 1st 1945, and the name was painted on the afternoon before the strike. It does seem that the fat man symbols (red for atomic strike, black for pumpkins) were added quite quickly after the mission- days? And she soon reverted to the arrowhead, but unsure exactly when.

AFWhite · **Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:08 am

sandiego89 wrote:

AFWhite wrote:

I'm a scale modeler and I'm getting reference material together to build "Enola Gay". So for me, the little details are what I'm looking at, i.e. antenna configurations, wear on the aircraft, etc. There's some great photos out there, but you gotta be careful of the time period you're looking at, especially with the 509th birds.......

Markings on the 509th birds indeed changed quickly. Looks like arrowhead on the Enola Gay was replaced with the Circle R on August 1st 1945, and the name was painted on the afternoon before the strike. It does seem that the fat man symbols (red for atomic strike, black for pumpkins) were added quite quickly after the mission- days? And she soon reverted to the arrowhead, but unsure exactly when.

According to these color plates (the Operation Crossroads one provided above by Mark and this one) done by one of the guys out there at the time show that on Aug 14 '45 is when they reverted back (at least "Enola Gay") to the Circle Arrow.

Here are a couple more shots that show the details that jump out at me;

Here you see Col Tibbets just after coming out of the aircraft, note the "82" ;

And in this photo, you see that the main mount tires are of different types (square tread, and diamond tread) ;

For me, as a modeler, I like history too, so researching a subject sometimes becomes just as much a part of the hobby.

AFWhite · **Posted:** Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:15 am

Here's another great shot, note aircraft "77", "Bockscar" in the background...minus the red fuselage stripe of the 444th BS that she sported on 9 Aug. The paint guys were busy dudes that week.