Major Charles Sweeney Uses The Magic Wand

Aug. 9, 1945 – The Nagasaki Drop
On the morning of Aug. 9, 1945, aircraft commander Major Charles W. Sweeney was about to make history. His mission was to drop the second atomic weapon on Japan and end World War II. On that dreadful day around noon, the bomb called “Fat Man” successfully detonated in Nagasaki, Japan.

Sweeney and his Crew C-15, were normally assigned to a plane called The Great Artiste. The Great Artiste was originally scheduled to carry the bomb, but Sweeney and his plane had flown alongside the Enola Gay at Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and the blast measurement instrumentation had not yet been removed from the aircraft.

Instead, Sweeney had to pilot Bockscar, the plane usually flown by its pilot, Frederick C. Bock. The plane had been named after its aircraft commander, Bock.

Captain Frederick Bock and Crew C-13 flew The Great Artiste to Nagasaki. It’s obvious that Bock and Sweeney had switched planes during the bombing of Nagasaki. Along with Bockscar and The Great Artiste, there was a third plane called Big Stink that was supposed to fly on the Nagasaki mission.

Big Stink was going to be the camera plane, but it failed to make its rendezvous with the remainder of the strike flight, which completed the mission without it. It did arrive to photograph the effects of the blast.

There are a couple of items should be noted. The primary target was supposed to be Kokura, but is was obscured by clouds at the time of arrival. Also, in the story below, written by William L. Laurence, Laurence was unaware of the switch of aircraft. Laurence says in his New York Times article that the second bomb came from The Great Artiste; he was confused because neither plane had paint on the nose to tell them apart. Nevertheless, his article gives us a descriptive account of the events that occurred on that fateful day.

Sunday, Sep. 9, 1945 – EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT ATOMIC BOMB MISSION OVER NAGASAKI (William L. Laurence) of The New York Times

WITH THE ATOMIC BOMB MISSION TO JAPAN, AUGUST 9 (DELAYED)–We are on our way to bomb the mainland of Japan. Our flying contingent consists of three specially designed B-29 Superforts, and two of these carry no bombs. But our lead plane is on its way with another atomic bomb, the second in three days, concentrating its active substance, and explosive energy equivalent to 20,000, and under favorable conditions, 40,000 tons of TNT.

The winds of destiny seemed to favor certain Japanese cities that must remain nameless. We circled about them again and again and found no opening in the thick umbrella of clouds that covered them. Destiny chose Nagasaki as the ultimate target.

We flew southward down the channel and at 11:33 crossed the coastline and headed straight for Nagasaki about a hundred miles to the west. Here again we circled until we found an opening in the clouds. It was 12:01 and the goal of our mission had arrived.

We heard the pre-arranged signal on our radio, put on our ARC welder’s glasses and watched tensely the maneuverings of the strike ship about half a mile in front of us.

“There she goes!” someone said. Out of the belly of the Artiste what looked like a black object came downward.

We removed our glasses after the first flash but the light still lingered on, a bluish-green light that illuminated the entire sky all around. A tremendous blast wave struck our ship and made it tremble from nose to tail. This was followed by four more blasts in rapid succession, each resounding like the boom of cannon fire hitting our plane from all directions.

On Aug. 14, 1945, Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa) gave the surrender speech:
Moreover, the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.

Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.

Bockscar was flown to the National Museum of the Air Force on Sept. 26, 1961. Bockscar was one of 15 specially modified “Silverplate” B-29s assigned to the 509th Composite Group.

Plane Used: Bockscar
Permanent Display: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio
Bomb Name: Fat Man 
Japanese Fatalities: 73,800
2009 Death Count: 149,226

TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: Eight .50-cal. machine guns in remote controlled turrets plus two .50-cal. machine guns and one 20mm cannon in tail; 20,000 lbs. of bombs
Engines: Four Wright R-3350s of 2,200 hp each
Maximum speed: 357 mph
Cruising speed: 220 mph
Range: 3,700 miles
Ceiling: 33,600 ft.
Span: 141 ft. 3 in.
Length: 99 ft.
Height: 27 ft. 9 in.
Weight: 133,500 lbs. maximum
Serial number: 44-27297

The Commander’s Voice – Michael Puttre interviewed retired Maj. Gen. Charles Sweeney in 2002, before Sweeney passed away.  Michael Puttré is editor-in-chief of eDefense Online and JED, the Journal of Electronic Defense, both published by Horizon House in Norwood, MA.

Nagasaki: The Commander’s Voice (YouTube) – mputtre

1. Nagasaki: The Commander’s Voice Part 1 (9:37)
2. Nagasaki: The Commander’s Voice Part 2 (10:22)
3. Nagasaki: The Commander’s Voice Part 3 (8:27)