509th Composite Group
509th Composite Group | |
---|---|
C-54 aircraft | |
Part of | 313th Bombardment Wing Twentieth Air Force |
Garrison/HQ | North Field (Tinian), Mariana Islands |
Engagements |
|
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Paul Tibbets |
The 509th Composite Group (509 CG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. It conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.
The group was activated on 17 December 1944 at
The 509th Composite Group began deploying to North Field on Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands, in May 1945. In addition to the two nuclear bombing raids, it carried out 15 practice missions against Japanese-held islands, and 12 combat missions against targets in Japan dropping high-explosive pumpkin bombs.
In the postwar era, the 509th Composite Group was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946 and the only one equipped with Silverplate B-29 Superfortress aircraft capable of delivering atomic bombs. It was standardized as a bombardment group and redesignated the 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 10 July 1946.
History
Organization, training, and security
The 509th Composite Group was constituted on 9 December 1944, and activated on 17 December 1944, at
On 8 September, working with
The 393d Bombardment Squadron conducted ground school training only until delivery of three modified Silverplate airplanes in mid-October 1944 allowed resumption of flight training.
The
Other support units were activated at Wendover from personnel already present and working with
The 390th Air Service Group was created as the command echelon for the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron, the 1027th Air Material Squadron, and its own Headquarters and Base Services Squadron, but when these units became independent operationally, it acted as the basic support unit for the entire 509th Composite Group in providing quarters, rations, medical care, postal service and other functions. The 603rd Air Engineering Squadron was unique in that it provided depot-level B-29 maintenance in the field, obviating the necessity of sending aircraft back to the United States for major repairs. On Tinian the 603rd Air Engineering Squadron was assigned to the 313th Bombardment Wing's "C" and "D" Service Centers, where it performed provided depot-level ("third echelon") maintenance for the entire 313th Bombardment Wing when it was not engaged in 509th activities. The 393d Bombardment Squadron's maintenance section was re-organized as a "combat line maintenance" section (also called PLM, or "production line maintenance," a technique developed by the
Overseas movement
With the addition of the 1st Ordnance Squadron to its roster, the 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom deployed to Tinian. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron kept its base of operations at Wendover. In addition to its authorized strength, the 509th had attached to it on Tinian 51 civilian and military personnel of Project Alberta, and two representatives from Washington, D.C.,
Two anecdotes illustrate the level of security affecting the 509th's personnel and equipment. En route to Tinian on 4 June 1945, the B-29 that became The Great Artiste made an intermediate stop at
The 509th transferred four of its 14 training Silverplate B-29s to the 216th AAF Base Unit in February 1945.
The ground support echelon of the 509th Composite Group, consisting of 44 officers and 815 enlisted men commanded by Major George W. Westcott of the Headquarters Squadron,
Equipment and crews
The air echelon consisted of the members of the 393d Bombardment Squadron. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron remained at Wendover.[38] It began deploying from Wendover 4 June 1945, with the first B-29 arriving at North Field on 11 June. The group was assigned to the 313th Bombardment Wing, whose four groups had been flying missions against Japan since mid-February, but for security reasons their permanent base area was near the runways on the island's north tip, several miles away from the main installations in the center of Tinian.[14] The 509th, after spending most of June in an area previously occupied by the Seabees of the 18th Naval Construction Battalion, took over the 13th Naval Construction Battalion Area just west of North Field's Runway D, a self-contained base with 89 Quonset huts, a huge storage warehouse, a consolidated mess hall, chapel, administrative area, theater, and other amenities.[39]
Each crew was required to attend the 313th Bombardment Wing's week-long "Lead Crew Ground School" on its arrival. The ground school indoctrinated combat crews in procedures regarding air-sea rescue, ditching and bailouts, survival, radar bombing, weather, wing and air force regulations, emergency procedures, camera operation, dinghy drills, and other topics related to combat operations.[40] Two of the group's bombers were not delivered by Martin-Omaha until early July. They remained at Wendover until 27 July to act as transports for two of the Fat Man assemblies.[41]
Because of their geographical isolation from the combat crews of other groups, rigidly enforced security measures, and exclusion from participation in regular bombing missions, crews of the 393d Bombardment Squadron were resented and ridiculed as "lacking in discipline" and having a "soft life".[42] The official history of the Army Air Forces characterized the ridicule as "epitomized in a satirical verse entitled Nobody Knows, with a recurring refrain, 'For the 509th is winning the war.'"[43]
The group was assigned
AAF serial # | Victor # | Name | Crew # | Airplane Commander | USAAF Delivery | Arr. Tinian | Tail Code |
B-29-36-MO 44-27296 | 84 | Some Punkins | B-7 | Captain James N. Price | 19 March 1945 | 14 June 1945 | Large A |
B-29-36-MO 44-27297 | 77 | Bockscar | C-13 | Captain Frederick C. Bock | 19 March 1945 | 17 June 1945 | Triangle N |
B-29-36-MO 44-27298 | 83 | Full House | A-1 | Captain Ralph R. Taylor | 20 March 1945 | 17 June 1945 | Square P |
B-29-36-MO 44-27299 | 86 | Next Objective | A-3 | 1st Lieutenant Ralph N. Devore | 20 March 1945 | 17 June 1945 | Triangle N |
B-29-36-MO 44-27300 | 73 | Strange Cargo | A-4 | 1st Lieutenant Joseph E. Westover | 2 April 1945 | 11 June 1945 | Large A |
B-29-36-MO 44-27301 | 85 | Straight Flush | C-11 | Captain Claude R. Eatherly | 2 April 1945 | 14 June 1945 | Triangle N |
B-29-36-MO 44-27302 | 72 | Top Secret | B-8 | 1st Lieutenant Charles F. McKnight | 2 April 1945 | 11 June 1945 | Large A |
B-29-36-MO 44-27303 | 71 | Jabit III |
B-6 | Captain John A. Wilson | 3 April 1945 | 11 June 1945 | Large A |
B-29-36-MO 44-27304 | 88 | Up An' Atom | B-10 | Captain George W. Marquardt | 3 April 1945 | 17 June 1945 | Triangle N |
B-29-40-MO 44-27353 | 89 | The Great Artiste | C-15 | 1st Lieutenant Charles D. Albury | 20 April 1945 | 28 June 1945 | Circle R |
B-29-40-MO 44-27354 | 90 | Big Stink | A-5* | Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Classen* | 20 April 1945 | 25 June 1945 | Circle R |
B-29-45-MO 44-86291 | 91 | Necessary Evil | C-14 | 1st Lieutenant Norman W. Ray | 18 May 1945 | 2 July 1945 | Circle R |
B-29-45-MO 44-86292 | 82 | Enola Gay | B-9 | Captain Robert A. Lewis | 18 May 1945 | 6 July 1945 | Circle R |
B-29-50-MO 44-86346 | 94 | Luke the Spook | C-12* | Captain Herman S. Zahn* | 15 June 1945 | 2 August 1945 | Square P |
B-29-50-MO 44-86347 | 95 | Laggin' Dragon | A-2 | Captain Edward M. Costello | 15 June 1945 | 2 August 1945 | Square P |
Although all of the B-29s were named as shown, the only nose art applied to the aircraft before the atomic bomb missions was that of Enola Gay.[47] With the exceptions of Victors 71 and 94, the others were applied some time in August 1945. Luke the Spook was not named until November 1945, and it is not known if nose art was ever applied to Jabit III.[48]
Combat operations
After ground training for the combat crews, the 509th began operations on 30 June 1945, with a calibration flight involving nine of the B-29s on hand. During the month of July and the first eight days of August the thirteen bombers of the 393d Bombardment Squadron flew an intensive training and mission rehearsal program that consisted of:
- 17 individual training sorties without ordnance,
- 15 practice bombing missions between 1 and 22 July against airfields on Japanese-held
- 12 combat missions between 20 and 29 July against targets in Japan dropping high-explosive pumpkin bombs, in which 37 B-29 sorties delivered conventional-bomb replications of the Fat Man:[50] four on 20 July, three on 24 July, two on 26 July, and three on 29 July. Some 27 sorties were made visually and 10 by radar, striking 17 primary targets, 15 secondary targets, and five targets of opportunity. Two other aircraft did not drop their bombs: one jettisoned its pumpkin bomb into the sea near Iwo Jima, and the Strange Cargo's bomb came loose from the bomb rack and plunged through the closed bomb bay doors while the bomber was still on the ground. One B-29 incurred minor battle damage in the attacks.[51] Flying at 30,000 feet (9,100 m) put them above the effective range of flak.[52] Each pumpkin bomb mission was conducted by a formation of three aircraft in the hope of convincing the Japanese military that small groups of B-29s did not justify a strong response. This strategy proved successful, and Japanese fighters only occasionally attempted to intercept the 509th Composite Group's aircraft.[53]
- 7 component-tests between 23 July and 8 August involving rehearsal drops of four inert Little Boy gun-type fission weapons and three Fat Man assemblies,[54] and
- a practice mission on 29 July to Iwo Jima in which an inert Little Boy was unloaded and then reloaded to rehearse the contingency plan for using a back-up bomber in an emergency.[54][55]
To accustom the Japanese to small groups of American bombers, training flights consisted of three planes that dropped a single bomb before returning to base. It was hoped that they would be allowed to carry out their job without any Japanese opposition.[56]
While this training was taking place, the components of the first two atomic bombs were shipped to Tinian by various means. For the uranium bomb code-named "Little Boy", fissile components consisted of a cylindrical target and nine washer-like rings that made up the hollow cylinder projectile. When the bomb detonated, these would be brought together to create a cylindrical core.[57] The uranium-235 projectile and bomb pre-assemblies (partly assembled bombs without the fissile components) left Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, California, on 16 July aboard the cruiser USS Indianapolis, arriving 26 July.[58] 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. L-11 was the assembly used for the Hiroshima bomb.[59][60] On 26 July three C-54s of the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron left Kirtland Army Air Field, each with three of the uranium-235 target rings, and landed at North Field on 28 July.[61][62]
The components for the bomb code-named the Fat Man arrived by air the same day. The bomb's
The final item of preparation for the operation came on 29 July 1945. Orders for the attack were issued to
Atomic bomb missions
The mission profile for both atomic missions called for weather scouts to precede the strike force by an hour, reporting weather conditions in code over each proposed target. The strike force consisted of a bombing aircraft, with the aircraft commander responsible for all decisions in reaching the target and the bomb commander (weaponeer) responsible for all decisions regarding dropping of the bomb; a blast instrumentation aircraft which would fly the wing of the strike aircraft and drop instruments by parachute into the target area; and a camera ship, which would also carry scientific observers. Each mission had an additional "spare" aircraft pre-positioned on Iwo Jima to take over carrying the bomb if the strike aircraft encountered mechanical problems. The six combat crews of the Hiroshima mission were briefed on their targets, operational flight data, and the effects of the bomb on 4 August 1945. Their pre-mission briefing on 5 August, under the terms of Operations Order No. 35, covered details on weather and air-sea rescue. The Order described the bomb to be used as "special".[66]
Aircraft | Pilot | Call sign | Mission role |
Straight Flush | Captain Claude R. Eatherly | Dimples 85 | Weather reconnaissance (Hiroshima) |
Jabit III |
Captain John A. Wilson | Dimples 71 | Weather reconnaissance (Kokura) |
Full House | Captain Ralph R. Taylor | Dimples 83 | Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki) |
Enola Gay | Colonel Paul W. Tibbets | Dimples 82 | Weapon delivery |
The Great Artiste | Major Charles W. Sweeney | Dimples 89 | Blast measurement instrumentation |
Necessary Evil | Captain George W. Marquardt | Dimples 91 | Strike observation and photography |
Big Stink | 1st Lieutenant Charles F. McKnight | Dimples 90 | Strike spare on Iwo Jima |
Special Mission 13, attacking Hiroshima, was flown as planned and executed without significant problems or diversion from plan. Enola Gay took off at 02:45, 7.5 long tons (7.6 t) overweight and near maximum gross weight. Arming of the bomb began eight minutes into the flight and took 25 minutes. The three target-area aircraft arrived over Iwo Jima approximately three hours into the mission and departed together at 06:07. The safeties on the bomb were removed at 07:30, 90 minutes before time over target, and 15 minutes later the B-29s began a climb to the 30,000-foot (9,100 m) bombing altitude. The bomb run began at 09:12, with the drop three minutes later, after which the B-29s immediately performed steep diving turns. The detonation followed 45.5 seconds after the drop. Primary and "echo" shock waves overtook the B-29s a minute following the blast, and the smoke cloud was visible to the crews for 90 minutes, by which time they were almost 400 miles (640 km) away. Enola Gay returned to Tinian at 14:58.[68]
Aircraft | Pilot | Call sign | Mission role |
Enola Gay | Captain George W. Marquardt | Dimples 82 | Weather reconnaissance (Kokura) |
Laggin' Dragon | 1st Lieutenant Charles F. McKnight | Dimples 95 | Weather reconnaissance (Nagasaki) |
Bockscar | Major Charles W. Sweeney | Dimples 77 | Weapon delivery |
The Great Artiste | Captain Frederick C. Bock | Dimples 89 | Blast measurement instrumentation |
Big Stink | Major James I. Hopkins, Jr. | Dimples 90 | Strike observation and photography |
Full House | Captain Ralph R. Taylor | Dimples 83 | Strike spare on Iwo Jima |
-
Mark 3 'Fat Man' detonation and ensuing mushroom cloud.
Special Mission 16 was moved up two days from 11 August because of adverse weather forecasts. Weather also dictated a change in rendezvous to
While the Nagasaki mission was in progress, two B-29s of the 509th took off from Tinian to return to Wendover. The crews of Classen in the unnamed Victor 94, and Captain John A. Wilson in Jabit III, together with ground support crews, were sent back to the United States to stage for the possibility of transporting further bomb pre-assemblies to Tinian.[71] Groves expected to have another atomic bomb ready for shipment on 13 August and use on 19 August, with three more available in September and a further three in October.[72] Groves ordered that all shipments of material be stopped on 13 August, when the third bomb was still at Site Y.[n 1]
Post atomic bomb operations
After each atomic mission the group conducted other combat operations, making a series of pumpkin bomb attacks on 8 and 14 August. Six B-29s visually attacked targets at Yokkaichi, Uwajima, Tsuruga, and Tokushima on 8 August, bombing two primary and three secondary targets with five bombs. Seven aircraft visually attacked Koromo and Nagoya on 14 August. Some Punkins (Crew B-7, Price) is believed to have dropped the last bombs by the Twentieth Air Force in World War II.[73] After the announcement of the Japanese surrender, the 509th Composite Group flew three further training missions involving 31 sorties on 18, 20 and 22 August, then stood down from operations. The group made a total of 210 operational sorties from 30 June to 22 August, aborted four additional flights, and had only a single aircraft fail to take off. Altogether, 140 sorties involved the dropping of live ordnance.[74] Some 60 flights were credited as combat missions: 49 pumpkin bomb and 11 atomic bomb sorties.[75]
Three B-29s (Full House, Straight Flush, and Top Secret) flew six combat missions each. Crews A-1 (Taylor) and C-11 (Eatherly) flew the most combat missions, six (including one atomic mission) each, while six other crews each flew five. Only the late arrivals (A-2 [Costello] and C-12 [Zahn]) did not participate in any combat missions, although Costello's B-29 was used by another crew for weather reconnaissance of Nagasaki on the second mission. Including training and test flights, crews B-8 (McKnight) and C-13 (Bock) flew the most missions, with 20 total (5 combat). Crew B-7 (Price) is the only crew to fly all of its missions (18 total, 5 combat) in its normally assigned aircraft, Some Punkins.[76]
The 509th Composite Group returned to the United States on 6 November 1945, and was stationed at
Organization
Position | Name | Dates of service |
Group commander | Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. | 17 December 1944 – 22 January 1946 |
Deputy group commander | Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Classen | 4 May 1945 – |
Group operations officer (S-3) | Major James I. Hopkins, Jr. | 17 December 1944 – |
Group intelligence officer (S-2) | Lieutenant Colonel Hazen J. Payette | 17 December 1944 – |
Group executive officer | Lieutenant Colonel Gerald E. Bean | 17 December 1944 – |
Group adjutant | Captain Thomas L. Karnes | 17 December 1944 – |
Wartime Commander | Date of command |
Major Thomas J. Classen | 12 March 1944¹ |
Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets | 14 September 1944 |
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Classen | 17 December 1944 |
Major Charles W. Sweeney |
4 May 1945 |
Postwar Commander | Date of command |
Lieutenant Colonel Virgil M. Cloyd | 1 July 1946 |
Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Y. Williams | 1 June 1948 |
Lieutenant Colonel Robert B. Irwin | 3 September 1948 |
Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Y. Williams | 15 October 1948 |
Lieutenant Colonel James I. Hopkins | 3 January 1949 |
Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Y. Williams | 20 January 1949 |
Lieutenant Colonel Jack D. Nole | 3 May 1949 |
Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Y. Williams | 13 June 1949 |
Lieutenant Colonel William S. Martensen | 30 June 1949 |
Commander | Date of command |
Major Hubert J. Konopacki | 17 December 1944¹ |
Major Charles W. Sweeney | 6 January 1945 |
Captain John J. Casey, Jr. | 4 May 1945² |
Unit | Commander | # of personnel |
Headquarters and Base Services Squadron | Major George W. Westcott | 99 |
390th Air Service Group | Lieutenant Colonel John W. Porter | 190 |
1027th Air Materiel Squadron | Major Guy Geller | 140 |
603rd Air Engineering Squadron | Captain Earl O. Casey | 225 |
1395th Military Police Company | Captain Louis Schaffer | 127 |
1st Ordnance Squadron, Special (Aviation) | Major Charles F. H. Begg | 298 |
Depictions
The training and operations of the 509th Composite Group were dramatized in a Hollywood film,
Lineage
- Established as 509th Composite Group on 9 December 1944
- Activated on 17 December 1944
- Redesignated: 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 10 July 1946
- Redesignated: 509th Bombardment Group, Medium, on 2 July 1948
- Inactivated on 16 June 1952
- Redesignated 509th Operations Group on 12 March 1993
- Activated on 15 July 1993
Source: Fact Sheet – 509 Operations Group (ACC)[89]
Assignments
- Second Air Force, 17 December 1944;
- 315th Bombardment Wing, 18 December 1944;
- 313th Bombardment Wing, c. June 1945;
- Second Air Force, 10 October 1945;
- 58th Bombardment Wing, 17 January 1946;
- Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1946
Source: Fact Sheet – 509 Operations Group (ACC)[89]
Stations
- Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, 17 December 1944
- North Field, Tinian, 29 May 1945
- Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico, 6 November 1945
Source: Maurer 1983, p. 372
Campaigns
- Air Combat, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
- Air Offensive, Japan
- Eastern Mandates
- Western Pacific
Source: Maurer 1983, p. 372
Honors
Notes
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Footnotes
- Smithsonian Networks program Smithsonian Channel's War Stories (1995, "The Men Who Brought the Dawn"), stated that a third bomb was available "at Wendover" and that "the bomb" had been transported as far as Mather Field when further missions were cancelled. However, since plutonium cores and initiators were transported separately by courier from Los Alamos, it is likely that if any part of a bomb had been en route, it was only a bomb pre-assembly, possibly to have a second in place in addition to F32 and thus permit a rehearsal before any third mission. Sources familiar with Groves state categorically that even though physicist Robert F. Bacher had signed for receipt of the core and initiator, the order to halt shipment reached Los Alamos before the pit left the site. Lawren 1988, p. 253; Campbell 2005, p. 39
- Citations
- ^ a b c History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Tibbets 1998, p. 165.
- ^ Tibbets 1998, p. 185.
- ^ Tibbets 1998, pp. 158–163.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. pp. a, 8–9.
- ^ Tibbets 1998, pp. 163, 167–168.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, p. 110.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, p. 97.
- ^ "393d Bomb Squadron". Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA). Archived from the original on 14 September 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2006.
- ^ a b Krauss & Krauss 2005, p. 1.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 25–26.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 46.
- ^ "Reflections From Above: An American pilot's perspective on the mission which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki". University of Washington. Retrieved 30 July 2006.
- ^ a b "509th Timeline: Inception to Hiroshima". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 32.
- ^ "42-72605 AFHRA archive". United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ "44-9007 AFHRA archive". United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2005.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 9.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 25, 155–158.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 1.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 12–13.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 25.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 100.
- ^ "Mather AFB Incident". MPHPA. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ^ "Nagasaki Bomb Core Courier" (PDF). The Purple and Gold: Journal of Psi Chi Fraternity. 122 (3): 10–11. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 44.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 31.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 22.
- ^ "Minutes of 3rd Target Committee Meeting 28 May 1945" (PDF). National Archives. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2006.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 15.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 17–18.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 19–22.
- ^ "Timeline #1 – The 509th; From Inception to Hiroshima". Children of the Manhattan Project. Archived from the original on 17 June 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2006.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 25.
- ^ "509th CG Activation and Organization". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 October 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 24.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 41–42.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 50.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 194, 196.
- ^ Wainstock 1996, p. 82.
- ^ Craven & Cate 1953, pp. 707–708.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 219.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 19.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 18, 26
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 18.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 195, 222.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 71.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 27.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 58–62.
- ^ Tibbets 1998, p. 175.
- ^ Polmar 2004, pp. 24–25.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, p. 46.
- ^ "Spitzer Personal Diary Page 10 (CGP-ASPI-010)". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
- ^ Zuberi 2001, p. 634.
- ^ Coster-Mullen 2012, p. 27.
- ^ Coster-Mullen 2012, p. 30.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 46, 80.
- ^ Coster-Mullen 2012, pp. 100–101.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, pp. 38–40.
- ^ "Little Boy". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 40 The War Department memo "Transportation of Critical Shipments" listing all the movements is reproduced.
- ^ Rhodes 1986, p. 691.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 41 reproduces the text of the order.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, p. 64.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 30.
- ^ "Timeline #2 – The 509th; The Hiroshima Mission". Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 32.
- ^ "Timeline #3 – The 509th; The Nagasaki Mission". Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 195.
- ^ "The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, A Collection of Primary Sources" (PDF). National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 162. George Washington University. 13 August 1945.
- ^ History of 509th Composite Group, pp. 70–71, 74.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 26.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 104.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 113–115, 119.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 21.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, p. 62.
- ^ Moody 1996, pp. 78–79.
- ^ a b Campbell 2005, p. 220.
- ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 56, 111.
- ^ "509 CG Pictorial Album Commanding Officers". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
- ^ a b "Brief History of the 393rd Bomb Squadron" (PDF). United States Air Force. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ a b "509 CG Pictorial Album – 320th Troop Carrier Squadron". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 May 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 143.
- IMDb. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- IMDb. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- IMDb. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Fact Sheet – 509 Operations Group (ACC)". United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 221.
References
- Campbell, Richard H. (2005). The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. OCLC 58554961.
- OCLC 298514167.
- Craven, Wesley Frank; Cate, James Lea, eds. (1953). Vol. V The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki – June 1944 to August 1945 (PDF). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 256469807. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- Krauss, Robert; Krauss, Amelia, eds. (2005). The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves, 509th Anniversary Reunion, Wichita, Kansas October 7–10, 2004. Buchanan, Michigan: 509th Press. OCLC 59148135.
- Lawren, William (1988). The General and the Bomb: A Biography of General Leslie R. Groves, Director of the Manhattan Project. New York: Dodd Mead. OCLC 16868107.
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History. OCLC 9644436.
- Moody, Walton S. (1996). Building a Strategic Air Force (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. OCLC 31900890. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- Polmar, Norman (2004). The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. ISBN 1-57488-859-5.
- OCLC 13793436.
- OCLC 40566286.
- Wainstock, Dennis (1996). The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. OCLC 33243854.
- Zuberi, Matin (August 2001). "Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki". Strategic Analysis. 25 (5): 623–662. S2CID 154800868.
- 509th Composite Group (1945). History of 509th Composite Group – 313th Bombardment Wing – Twentieth Air Force – Activation to 15 August 1945 (PDF). Tinian: 509th CG (AFHRA archived). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Further reading
- Bowers, Peter M. (1999). Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press. ISBN 0-933424-79-5.
- Dvorak, Darrell F. (2012). "The Other Atomic Bomb Commander: Colonel Cliff Heflin and his "Special" 216th AAF Base Unit" (PDF). Airpower Historian. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- Mann, Robert A. (2004). The B-29 Superfortress: A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. OCLC 55962447.
- Marx, Joseph L. (1967). Seven Hours to Zero. New York: G.P. Putnam Sons. OCLC 913500.
- Ossip, Jerome J., ed. (1946). 509th Composite Group History – 509th Pictorial Album. Chicago, Illinois: Rogers Printing Company. OCLC 10065336.
- Rowe, James L. (1978). Project W-47. Livermore, California: JA A RO Publishing. ISBN 0-9605562-0-6.
- ISBN 0-8128-2150-5.
- Wheeler, Keith (1982). Bombers over Japan. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-3429-6.
External links
- Atomic Heritage Foundation
- 509th Composite Group Page, Atomic Heritage Foundation
- National Museum of the USAF B-29 Superfortress fact sheet