Seventy-five years ago, Aug. 9, 1945, America dropped its second and last atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, ending the war. In 1939, six years earlier, two events occurred that later played critical parts in the delivery of the last bomb.
Twenty-year-old Charles Sweeney, born in Lowell, fell in love with aviation following a five-minute $2 airplane ride. After convincing his mother he would never be happy if he did not fly, she gave tearful permission for him to enter Air Cadet training. Young Sweeney loved flying. He would fly anything, anytime, anywhere. When he saw the Air Corps’ newest B-29 landing at Eglin Air Base he was mesmerized and vowed to fly it. Later that day when he found its pilot Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets alone in the Officer’s Club he cornered him for a one-on-one dinner. By dessert he had Tibbets’ endorsement and became a B-29 pilot.
Also, in 1939 a group of concerned scientists convinced President Roosevelt that Germany’s discovery of fission presented a dire threat to the world. Roosevelt authorized a study that became the classified Manhattan Project. By the time Germany surrendered in May 1945 the atomic bombs were nearly ready.
Unfortunately, they were incredibly expensive and difficult to build. In fact, after Roosevelt’s death when President Truman was told the powerful weapons existed, the U.S. only had three in its arsenal and one must be used for a test. With a Japanese surrender unlikely, Truman concluded the shortest and least destructive way to end war in the Pacific was to use the bombs. Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, Yokohama, and Kyoto were the selected targets. Secretary of War Henry Stimson who honeymooned in Kyoto felt it had cultural significance and had it removed. Nagasaki was added.
Tibbets and Sweeney stood up the 509th Composite Group on the recaptured central Pacific island of Tinian. Tibbets commanded the first B-29 mission on Aug. 6 dropping “Little Boy,” a uranium weapon, and heavily damaging Hiroshima. Japan did not surrender.
With weather moving over the remaining target cities Sweeney piloted the B-29 “Bockscar” toward Kokura on Aug. 9. Aboard was “Fat Man” a larger plutonium weapon. Before takeoff Sweeney discovered an inoperative fuel pump rendering 600 gallons of fuel unavailable. Furthermore, an unexplainable glitch in the rendezvous with one of his wingmen further delayed the mission by 45 minutes. Kokura was obscured by clouds and smoke and despite three perilous runs the target could not be acquired visually. With Zero fighter planes on the attack, Sweeney elected to divert to Nagasaki.
A critical fuel state made only one target run possible. At the last instance the bombardier yelled “I’ve got it. bomb away.” Sweeney rolled his aircraft into an aggressive 155-degree diving turn and managed to get 11 miles away before heat and turbulence engulfed Bockscar. With fuel running out Sweeney elected to divert to Okinawa. One engine flamed out on the approach, another on while landing, and a third as they skidded to a stop just short of a cliff. But they had made it.
When Hirohito was assured by Truman that he could remain as Emperor though under martial law, he agreed to unconditional surrender. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki, the last atomic bomb, ended World War II and ushered in the Cold War.
Some suggest the nuclear standoff between superpowers actually prevented further adventurism like that of Germany and Japan and therefore saved lives. Perhaps the souls and the ghosts of Nagasaki, the city that almost escaped, can find solace in the last bomb.
Paul Carr is a retired Delta Airlines International Captain and United States Air Force Reserve Colonel (retired). He is an aviation historian and Wright Brothers impersonator. He resides in Cary, North Carolina.