Boeing 345 B-29 Superfortress

Boeing 345 B-29 Superfortress

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Remarks by Jack McKillop: "This photo is of the "Bockscar," a Boeing B-29-35-MO built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at Omaha, Nebraska, USA. The aircraft was accepted by the USAAF on April 19, 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), 509th Composite Group, based at Wendover Field, Utah, USA, located one mls (1.6 km) south of the town of Wendover. The squadron ground echelon departed Wendover on April 26, 1945 and arrived at North Field, Tinian Island, Mariana Islands on May 30; the air echelon arrived in June. "Bockscar" was flown by its pilot, Captain Frederick C. Bock, on five missions to various bypassed islands in the Pacific; on four of these missions, 10,000-lb (4,539 kg) "pumpkin" bombs, named because of their shape and orange colour, loaded with high explosives were dropped. The "pumpkin" bombs were the same size and shape as the "Fat Man" atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by the crew of "Bockscar" on August 9, 1945.


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Remarks by Jack McKillop: "This photo is of the "Bockscar," a Boeing B-29-35-MO built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at Omaha, Nebraska, USA. The aircraft was accepted by the USAAF on April 19, 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), 509th Composite Group, based at Wendover Field, Utah, USA, located one mls (1.6 km) south of the town of Wendover. The squadron ground echelon departed Wendover on April 26, 1945 and arrived at North Field, Tinian Island, Mariana Islands on May 30; the air echelon arrived in June. "Bockscar" was flown by its pilot, Captain Frederick C. Bock, on five missions to various bypassed islands in the Pacific; on four of these missions, 10,000-lb (4,539 kg) "pumpkin" bombs, named because of their shape and orange colour, loaded with high explosives were dropped. The "pumpkin" bombs were the same size and shape as the "Fat Man" atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by the crew of "Bockscar" on August 9, 1945.