"TOP SECRET" view only with security clearance ...

[Randy Wilson]

Part 7


B-29 Bockscar


B-29 Bockscar


Boeing B-29 crew photo taken Aug. 11, 1945, two days after the Nagasaki mission. Note there is no nose art on the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo)

One important crew member on that mission is missing in this photo - USN Cmdr Frederick (Dick) L. Ashworth, the weaponeer, in tactical command of the atomic weapon. I met and visited with him and Fred Olivi twice when they talked at the CAF Airpower Museum on a couple of occasions. Just FYI.

Randy

[Digger]

Hi

I've had a number of people - not historians on this matter - tell me that the Enola Gay was named so because Enola is alone backwards and

the crew were happy to be going it alone, hence Enola Gay. Different meaning back then of course but can anyone clarify this?

[shrike]

Paul Tibbets' mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.

Enola, is Alone spelled backwards, and an unusual, but not completely uncommon, girls name inspired by this poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola;_or, ... al_mistake

[Steve Nelson]

Great shots..thanks for posting. Since we've seen present day pics of the bomb pits, here's what the bomb bay of Bock's Car looks like today (or rather a few years ago when I took these, before the NMUSAF had installed barricades around the aircraft.) I understand the flat spot in the underside of the crew tunnel was a modification done to fit the equipment for the nuke. The darker green in the bottom of the bay and on the inside of the doors was sprayed on later during preservation efforts. It was rather humbling actually looking at the spot from which an actual (and hopefully last) nuclear weapon was dropped in anger.

SN

[fnqvmuch]

coincidently found this a few clicks later, via unrelated browsing:
http://www.amazon.com/ATOMIC-COVER-UP-S ... B005CKK9IG
and it is as a part of WWII in the Pacific, a subject i have an unhealthy fascination with;
(got the Manhattan Engineer District photo album N-13910.2-A and B,
the Naval Technical Mission report N-139101 (medical effects) etc., etc.).
I would like to be able to see both sides of what can inevitably be an argument
and I'm absolutely aware of 'our' enemy that would persist even as they starved to death
but I can't help questioning again after seeing here recently, thanks to Mark, what was being
brought to bear on the Home Islands - all that ordnance in all those B-29s on Iwo, for one thing;
weren't 'conventional' strategies enough to bomb 'them' into the Stone Age or beyond?
Tokyo burned easier than Dresden, didn't it?

[Rottwiener]

Shock and Awe.
Conventional weapons didn't impress folks much by then, and they literally would have had to bomb them into the stone-age to get a surrender. The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved, not only American and Ally lives, but Japanese as well, forcing full capitulation and a stand-down order from Hirohito. After destroying most of the islands we would have faced long mop-up operations against insurgents during the subsequent years of occupation. Plus, we needed to show off for Stalin to keep him in line.

[JDK]

Great pics, thread, Mark, many thanks!

[Mark Allen M]

For those who like their photos to move ...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=play ... 9v5sW6t0zI

[sandiego89]

Wow great thread! I have read much on the 509th and had never seen most of those loading pictures before. Great stuff.

I know you did not write it Mark, but I must question the caption below the Bocks Car crew that reads "Boeing B-29 crew photo taken Aug. 11, 1945, two days after the Nagasaki mission. Note there is no nose art on the aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo)"

I believe the date has to be incorrect, and the location is not Tinian (or Okinawa). My bet would be this is crew C-15 in Wendover Utah, earlier in 1945. Entirely wrong mountain features for Tinian. Sure looks like Wendover.

I bet that a stock photo of crew C-15 was used after the Nagasaki mission, and perhaps that photo was developed, or re-developed on Aug 11 and that Aug 11 date was scribbled on it then, but I firmly beleive that photo was NOT taken on Aug 11, 1945. Happy to hear other opinions

If you have any more pics of the 509th on tinian, great!

[Mark Allen M]

Correct you are with that photo ... oops! I knew that too as I posted it a while ago in another thread and the date and location was solved. I slipped up and left the incorrect data (seems to happen a bit from time to time, my bad!!!!! )

Thx again for the correction. We must have our information correct as not to alter history lol

[lmritger]

I've never seen those loading sequence photos before- Mark, you come through yet again.

As an aside, in 1984 I toured the Silver Hill facility with my family and when we were in the hangar where Enola Gay's fuselage rested, I broke away from the group, went over and rolled underneath the fuselage to stand up in the untouched and unrestored forward bomb bay. As I did, I was hit by what I can only describe as an overwhelming feeling of sadness and pain... not sure how else to put it. I'm not psychic in any way, shape or form, I don't see or hear mysterious things, I am overwhelmingly normal in almost every regard- but I have never been able to figure out where that came from, nor have I forgotten it.

You will not find me celebrating the use of the A-bombs, but I understand and accept that it was viewed as a horrific necessity at the time. It is not fair or proper to pass judgement on those responsible for ordering it's use, without considering the context of the time in which that decision was made. And it is an undeniable fact that by forcing an end to the war and preventing the invasion of the Home Islands, untold millions of lives were spared- both Allied and Japanese. It is a tragedy that it took such a terrible weapon to bring closure to the war, but it is equally a relief that it did so.

Anyways, thanks again Mark- another fantastic photo essay.

Lynn

[sandiego89]

As an aside, in 1984 I toured the Silver Hill facility with my family and when we were in the hangar where Enola Gay's fuselage rested, I broke away from the group, went over and rolled underneath the fuselage to stand up in the untouched and unrestored forward bomb bay....
Lynn

I too had the pleasure of seeing the Enola Gay while in pieces at Garber. We were encouraged to touch several panels to see which treatment would hold up better. Like Lynn I can say it was also the most emotional artifact I have ever seen/touched. My emotions were not the same as Lynns, more of just "I can't believe I'm seeing this" I looked up a the shackle and remember "I want to tkae all this in...."

I do believe being in Garber heightened the experince. You felt like your were getting in on some secret in a dark, mysterious place. Like tuts tomb I guess. I am still drawn to it a UH, but not the same emotion as when at Garber, and likely not as special as I have seen it several times.

[wendovertom]

Sandiego89 is correct - the photo of Bockscar is one that was taken here in Wendover, Utah. The mountains and buildings in the background are not correct for Tinian.

Tom P.

[sandiego89]

Great shots..thanks for posting. Since we've seen present day pics of the bomb pits, here's what the bomb bay of Bock's Car looks like today (or rather a few years ago when I took these, before the NMUSAF had installed barricades around the aircraft.) I understand the flat spot in the underside of the crew tunnel was a modification done to fit the equipment for the nuke. The darker green in the bottom of the bay and on the inside of the doors was sprayed on later during preservation efforts. It was rather humbling actually looking at the spot from which an actual (and hopefully last) nuclear weapon was dropped in anger.

SN

Steve, great shots of Bock's car opend up. Any insight on the Fat Man shackle? Is it displayed seperately?

-Dave

[APG85]

Steve, great shots of Bock's car opend up. Any insight on the Fat Man shackle? Is it displayed seperately?

-Dave

I believe the A-Bomb shackles are long gone (classified at the time). Somewhere, I have a picture of the A-Bomb frame/shackle assembly being reproduced from drawings at the Garber facility for Enola Gay during her restoration...