Pilot Whose Bomber Dropped A-Bomb on Nagasaki Dies
Sun Jul 18
BOSTON (Reuters) - The pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan in the last days of World War II died in a Boston hospital on Friday.
Charles W. Sweeney, who later rose to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, died of natural causes at Massachusetts General Hospital, his son, Joseph, said on Sunday. He was 84.
Sweeney was 25 when he and the crew of a B-29 bomber known as Bock's Car circled over Nagasaki several times on August 9, 1945, before a break in the clouds allowed them to release their 10,000 pound nuclear weapon, nicknamed "Fat Man."
Some 70,000 were killed.
His son said Sweeney remembered thinking that he had an enormously sensitive mission to perform and that he had better not bungle it.
Three days earlier the Enola Gay, another U.S. bomber, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Sweeney was involved in that attack as well, flying a plane that aided the Enola Gay, his son said.
"He was calm, cool, and collected. Flying was his life and he flew everything from bombers to fighter jets," his son said.
Sweeney later went on to work in his own business and continued to serve in the reserves after the war.
He is survived by his former wife, Dorothy, and 10 children.
Interesting Reading: http://www.dannen.com/decision/index.html
Sun Jul 18
BOSTON (Reuters) - The pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan in the last days of World War II died in a Boston hospital on Friday.
Charles W. Sweeney, who later rose to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force, died of natural causes at Massachusetts General Hospital, his son, Joseph, said on Sunday. He was 84.
Sweeney was 25 when he and the crew of a B-29 bomber known as Bock's Car circled over Nagasaki several times on August 9, 1945, before a break in the clouds allowed them to release their 10,000 pound nuclear weapon, nicknamed "Fat Man."
Some 70,000 were killed.
His son said Sweeney remembered thinking that he had an enormously sensitive mission to perform and that he had better not bungle it.
Three days earlier the Enola Gay, another U.S. bomber, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Sweeney was involved in that attack as well, flying a plane that aided the Enola Gay, his son said.
"He was calm, cool, and collected. Flying was his life and he flew everything from bombers to fighter jets," his son said.
Sweeney later went on to work in his own business and continued to serve in the reserves after the war.
He is survived by his former wife, Dorothy, and 10 children.
Interesting Reading: http://www.dannen.com/decision/index.html
