Silverplate veterans

[PbyCat-Guy]

Watched an older documentary on the Enola Gay tonight. Other than Dutch Van Kirk, are there any other vetrans from any of the mission aircraft on either day still with us?
In the library in my high school in Colorado, there was an autographed photo of Bob Caron. Where was he born and did he pass away? Thought Colorado had some significance to his life. I meet Tibbets shortly before he passed away, both he and Van Kirk autographed my toy model of Enola Gay.

[Tailspin]

I think Bob grew up on Long Island, but he went through Armament and Gunnery school on the B-29 at Lowry Field (AFB) at Denver. After the war he worked for his father for a short time, worked for Boeing in Wichita for a while. He had grown to love the Rocky Mountaain area, so accepted a job with Stanley Aircraft and then Sunstrand in Denver, where he retired. He lived in Broomfield before his death. I went to his "estate" sale after he died (about 10 years ago roughly), hoping to get some of his memorabilia for our museum. (Wings over the Rockies). A flight jacket of his, not the one he wore on the mission, sold for $5,000. A copy of his photo of the mushroom cloud unsigned and B & W went for over $500. Needless to say, I just sat back and watched the proceedings. He wrote a book, "Fire of a Thousand Suns". I think he passed in 1995.
Regards,
Hugh

[Owen Miller]

$500.00 for an autographed photo of the mushroom cloud?!
WOW!! I have one he signed to me three days before he
passed. Maybe I should put it in the safety deposit box..........

Last edited by Owen Miller on Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Hail Purdue]

I do not know about surviving veterans of the two ships.

I do want to say that my uncle flew with the 509th (arriving at Tinian a couple days after Nagasaki) and until a year ago, never spoke about his career. The stories that he has recently shared are amazing. Besides books about the Enola Gay or Bockscar, is there any documentation regarding the silverplate program as a whole? I have an autographed copy of "Return of the Enola Gay" but I seem to run into a brick wall when looking for postwar info.

Thanks for any help.
Mike

[Edward Sheetmetalhands]

I do not know about surviving veterans of the two ships.

I do want to say that my uncle flew with the 509th (arriving at Tinian a couple days after Nagasaki) and until a year ago, never spoke about his career. The stories that he has recently shared are amazing. Besides books about the Enola Gay or Bockscar, is there any documentation regarding the silverplate program as a whole? I have an autographed copy of "Return of the Enola Gay" but I seem to run into a brick wall when looking for postwar info.

Thanks for any help.
Mike

Dunno if you have seen this book: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_ ... ilverplate

It has come down in cost about $30 from when it first came out. I might order it soon.

[Hail Purdue]

Looks like a good read. Thanks for the heads-up, Edward!