Norman Ray was the crew's regular aircraft commander, but he was ill and did not participate in the mission.) Crew C-14 (regularly assigned to Necessary Evil) flew the plane. Crew C-13 (regularly assigned to Bockscar) flew the plane.Ĭpt. A modified Crew C-15 (regularly assigned to The Great Artiste) flew the plane.
Strike plane carrying Fat Man atomic bomb. Crew B-8 (reguarly assigned to Top Secret) flew the plane.ġLT Charles F. Assistant engineer/scanner.īackup strike plane on Iwo Jima. Regular crew (Crew C-11) flew plane.Ĭapt. Regular crew (Crew A-1) flew the plane.Ĭapt. Crew B-10 (regularly assigned to Up An' Atom) flew the plane.Ĭapt. He was the only person to witness the Trinity test and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Ĭamera plane. Olivi did not fly on this mission because he was "pre-empted because they had to have some scientific observers on board," according to an interview with Olivi. Regular crew (Crew C-15) flew the plane, with the exception of c o-pilot 2LT Frederick J. Weaponeer and mission commander.ĢLT Morris R. Only person to fly on the strike plane on both bombing missions. Strike plane carrying Little Boy atomic bomb.
This list has been thoroughly checked for accuracy by several 509 th Composite Group experts and historians.Įnola Gay. There are many incorrect lists online of the planes and crews that flew on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing missions. Crews were often rotated around during the missions. The term “pumpkin bomb” can apply to both the dummy concrete bombs used at Wendover for training, and to the high-explosive bombs dropped over Japan. They had been specially modified to accomodate the size and weight of the atomic bombs. Rightly it received not a single award nomination.All of the B-29s involved in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and "pumpkin bomb" training and combat missions at Wendover, UT and on Tinian were Project Silverplate B-29s. Given these two superb renderings of the genuinely world shattering story I cannot imagine how "Enola Gay etc" came to be conceived let alone made.
Even better was the 1980 mini series "Oppenheimer" with Sam Waterston in the title role. David Strathairn excellent as Oppenheimer.
Day One seemed to give absolute full and accurate measure to the characters and events - the first IMDb review on it is particularly worth reading. I contrasted it with the superb Emmy-awarded "Day One" with Brian Dennehy as General Groves, a military bulldozer whose responsibility it was to drive the immense project forward often in the face of the sophisticated scruples of the brilliant scientists he had no choice but to work with. How could such a huge, dramatic and sombre story receive such treatment? It was not simply incompetent but given the gravity of the subject matter, distasteful.
The scene exactly resembled that in those many many comic movies set the armed forces - from Operation Petticoat to Sargeant Bilko. In a knockabout comic scene in "the john" a security man disguised as a plumber has been caught by the aircrew listening in to their conversations. In real life the recording of the plane intercom picked up the reaction of one of the crew: "My God, what have we done?" I assumed that I'd seen an unrepresentative section so watched a repeat. A extraordinary miscasting was Patrick Duffy, Dallas's Bobby Ewing, as the Enola Gay's pilot - bland and soft showing no evidence of stress or emotion that even the grittiest (and gritty the pilot must have been) would have shown. On first viewing I caught just the section of the bomb drop and was surprised at the fumbling and utter flatness of the treatment of what for the world, let alone the crew, was such a momentous event.