[whyilovetexas111]

It's amazing how well-preserved these bombers are!

[TheThirdRuffian]

Somehow I never knew Kokura was the primary target of Fat Man.

[TalBlack]

Took M’boy up for a flight in the B-29 “Doc” a month or two ago. It was his first ever flight in anything. I think that’s a pretty cool talking point for future him when the subject comes up. I don’t know how much longer Doc and FIFI will be flying in the years ahead.

[rlmorel]

I read the third part of Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific War (one of the best accounts written, IMO) and I had no idea of the Charlie Foxtrot that surrounded the Nagasaki mission, which very nearly resulted in the loss of the aircraft.

They landed on fumes (literally-they had only SEVEN GALLONS of gasoline left!) on Okinawa, there were communication SNAFUs, nearly everything.

Check out this account here:
LINK: Near Failure at Nagasaki-The first atomic mission was executed perfectly. On the second one, almost everything went wrong.

[Macoozie]

The third one was gonna be named “Hot Mama”.

[wjcsux]

The saga of Bockscar on its mission to drop the bomb is a very fascinating read.

[Zathras]

I’ve seen Boxcar at the Dayton, OH AF museum and saw Fifi in Colorado.
I’d love to take a flight in Fifi or Doc someday.

[Bon of Babble]

Dropping the bomb was the correct decision at that time.

Anyone who says otherwise wasn’t on those ships headed to Japan for an invasion, which would have meant a massive loss of American lives, most of them young men.

After the bomb was dropped, those ships were turned around at sea and headed home - the war was over! I can’t even imagine the relief those men and their families felt.

Our family lost one of those young men, a pilot of a B-27 Marauder that was shot down, he was killed at age 23. My grandmother never recovered.

[spankalib]

At the time, my father was stationed at Tinian, but he never talked about it, despite my many many inquiries.

I finally learned not to ask.

[packrat35]

Tomorrow is “Nagasaki Day”!

[DFG]

The intended target for the Hiroshima atomic bomb as the Aioi Bridge. The bomb detonated about 800 feet southeast of the bridge.

For the Nagasaki mission, Bockscar was running out of fuel so Major Sweeney was preparing to turn back towards Okinawa. At the last second a hole opened in the clouds and Bombardier Captain Beahan announced that he could see his target. The primary target Kokura was saved to due cloud cover. Nagasaki got the short straw due to a last second break in the clouds. The bomb exploded almost directly above the Mitsubishi factories.

Critically low on fuel, Bockscar barely made it to the runway at Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. The number two engine died from fuel starvation as Bockscar began its final approach.

[DFG]

Winter 1944 “Battle of Kansas” (B-29 manufacturing problems)

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0212b29/

[threefinger]

Just this year there’s been a Japanese-produced documentary released titled, ‘Kamikaze: An Untold History’ which tries to make sense of the Japanese sending so many young men to die in what already was clear — even to them — would be a losing effort.

It’s very well done, completely avoids trying to excuse what they did, but the one thing I found almost shocking, something I had never heard before, is that there was a nation-wide movement called, “One Million Kamikaze.” They had sold the public on the idea that they were preparing to launch as many as ONE MILLION SUICIDE ATTACKS. As was, about 3800 young men killed themselves, along with about 7000 allied servicemen.

Which goes to the point that nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki was actually kinder TO BOTH SIDES of the war than a land invasion of the Japans would have been.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt37731610/

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-reviews/kamikaze-an-untold-history-review-war-documentary-tries-to-make-sense-of-japans-suicide-missions/a1063874818.html

[linMcHlp]

The story of ERNEST M. ALLISON (1894 - 1976)
(CNAC Pilot 1929-1937 and Operations Manager 1947-1949)

[CNAC = China National Aviation Corporation]

In a book, Yankee on the Yangtze by his daughter, Nancy Allison Wright.

Excerpts from the webpage:

1934:

1940 employed by CNAC as inspector/test pilot for rebuilding of five Condors, Glendale, California for use in freight. Purchased new DC-3 for CNAC.

January 25, 1941 became president of Harlow Aircraft Company of Glendale.

June 25, 1942 took temporary job organizing new company, Arizona Gliding Academy.

July 1942 Boeing production test pilot of B-17s in Seattle.

June 1943 - November 1945 Boeing chief test pilot for B-29 in Wichita.

February 1947 returned to China as CNAC operations manager.