Top Secret (aircraft)
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Top Secret was the name of a
Army Air Forces and United States Air Force
from 1945 until 1954.
Airplane history
The plane was assigned to the
Wendover Army Air Field, Utah. It left Wendover on 5 June 1945, for North Field, Tinian
and arrived 11 June.
It was originally assigned the "victor (unit-assigned identification) number" 2 but on 1 August was given the
large 'Square A' tail markings of the 497th Bombardment Group
as a security measure and had its "victor number" changed to 72 to avoid misidentification with actual 497th aircraft. It was named Top Secret and its nose art was applied after the atomic bomb missions.
While at Tinian, McKnight and crew B-8 flew Top Secret on 13 practice bombing missions and four combat
Taira (1st Lt. Joseph E. Westover and crew A-4) and Yokkaichi (Capt. Claude Eatherly
and crew C-11).
In November 1945 Top Secret returned with the 509th to
Biggs Air Force Base, Texas. It was sent to Tinker Air Force Base
, Oklahoma in April 1950 for modification to TB-29 trainer specification by the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area.
The plane's subsequent assignments were to the 2d Radar Calibration Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base in March 1953, and the 5025th Maintenance Group at Elmendorf in August 1953.
In September 1953 it was sent to the
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
, Arizona, where it was scrapped in July 1954.
Other aircraft named Top Secret
A
380th Bombardment Wing at Plattsburgh Air Force Base
, New York in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sources
- Campbell, Richard H., The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs (2005), ISBN 0-7864-2139-8