enola gay

[charlie cleveland]

last crew member of enola gay dies at age 93...may he have that last peaceful flight...these were MEN......charlie

[John Campbell]

Wonder if any "Bock's Car" crew are still with us...?

[Eldon Goddard]

That would have been one hell of a flight. I understand they had to take a hard turn immediately after they dropped the bomb in order to get out of the blast zone. My dads father and moms father and moms uncle all use to work at the base here in Nevada. My moms dad was in charge of taking the bomb parts off of the planes as they arrived on base, apparently the bomb and trigger mechanism arrived separately. My dads father use to build the buildings, pig pens, corals, and model towns that they would blow up during tests. My moms uncle use to have pictures of the mushroom clouds, he was a WWII vet and a real American hero in my book he used to capture wild horses in Utah and then sell them once he tamed them. He is gone now as well. I have been watching a show on the civil war and they were talking about the last veterens alive in the 30-40's I believe, and now we are seeing the same thing with the WWII vets it is an end of an era for sure.

[Frank Srebro]

Dad was stationed on Tinian flying B29's and was the squadron navigator/bombardier for 6th Bomb Group. He flew the photo op over Hiroshima on the day after the bomb. Many of the pic copies you'll see on E Bay etc were taken on that mission. Dad knew Tibbetts, Ferebee and Van Kirk although he didn't fly with them. I was able to get Paul Tibbetts to autograph his 2002 book on the 509th Group with a personal message to Dad and I gave him the book on Father's Day two years before he passed. As I write this his book is on the sofa with me and I can still see his eyes light up when he opened its wrapping and read the writing. Dad never talked much about his war experiences except when I asked but he was so very proud of what those MEN did.

[Pete Lester]

Wonder if any "Bock's Car" crew are still with us...?

I actually met and shook hands with Maj. Gen. Frank Sweeney, pilot of "Bocks Car". He gave a talk about both atomic missions, their training etc. That was over 35 years ago, I wish I could remember all the details he provided but I do remember his resolve remained strong, he had no regrets and he believed it was the right thing to do to end the war.

"Bocks Car" is on static display at the USAF museum at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. I have been there. It was a bit surreal to look up into the empty bomb bay and think about what it carried and what it did.

[Jeff Christie]

My father also flew in the 6th Bomb Group (VH) as an aircraft commander (pilot in command). There is one surviving crew member of his B-29 and I stay in close contact with him. I have never met anyone in the B-29 community that spoke warmly of Tibbets. Respect- perhaps; affection- no.

[Frank Srebro]

Jeff, thanks for your reply. I'm sure know this; your Dad was in the 40th Squadron and is listed as commander of the B29 "Little Jeff", what an appropriate name.

The 6th Bomb Group planes had the Jean Lafitte Pirate on their nose and usually a personalized name and painting, often a racy one. My father usually flew in the lead plane and he often mentioned the "Wolf Pack" and the "Lady Be Good". Here he is, second from left, with some of the Wolf Pack's crew.

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/IMG_4762-1_zps67636267.jpg (http://s1044.photobucket.com/user/silvers897/media/IMG_4762-1_zps67636267.jpg.html)

[Bruce Day]

My own airplane in 1972. 108 500 pounders external and internal or 24 750's internal and 24 500 pounders external. We would be dropping them in a couple hours.

Some of the guys I few with were WWII vets and Korean War vets.

[Richard Flanders]

Ooohhh, I really like that tail gun Bruce! What a monster.

[Bruce Day]

Four 50 cal MA-2 Browning machine guns, effective range 4500 ft. Radar or manually directed. When shooting off to the side, it would yaw the tail.

The wrinkles in the skin appear when the aircraft was supported by landing gear and stretch out in the air. The aircraft was able to take substantial battle damage and stay in the air.

[Daryl Corona]

Wow, what a small world Frank and Jeff. That's a really cool picture of your Dad, Frank. I can see where you got your good looks from. One of my dear friends, shooting and hunting mentor, flew 17's in the 8th over Germany. A whole different breed of men they were. I'm sure you are both very proud of your fathers. God bless them all.

[Steve Cambria]

Roger that DC.....a small world indeed!! I hope Frank and Jeff are swapping PM's as we speak. That stuff raises the hackles on the back of my neck! :bowdown:

[Jeff Christie]

I don't know how to post pictures here but if you google the words flight crew 4009 you will get a photo of my father's 6th BG crew. The old man is in the kneeling row of officers- furthest on the left. Enlisted crew members are in the rear. If you look closely no one is wearing anywhere near the same uniform. My father even has cowboy boots on. It was a great war!!

[greg conomos]

I worked with a guy 'Bob' for several years back in the early 90's. He was a draftsman. He was very small, maybe 5'3" and the nicest guy you could ever meet. He died about 10 years ago and my father made an offhand comment that his obituary made note of his many WWI decorations. What? Well, it turns out he had been a tailgunner in B-17 and had flown many missions over Germany and had over 30 takedowns to his credit. Never knew it when he was alive, I wish I had know so I could have thanked him and maybe heard a few stories.

[Daryl Corona]

Jeff;
Quite a mission your Dad flew over Japan. I can't even imagine the nerve it took to maintain their course under those conditions. Those were some ballsy guys. You should be very proud. Thank God we had them when we did. My Dad fought in the Pacific and I wish I had some photo evidence of his service. He's still kicking at 94 and very rarely speaks of his experiences during the war. They really were the greatest generation.

[Richard Flanders]

I just finished a book called "A Higher Call" about the B-17 that was riddled over Germany and lost much of the tail section and was almost shot in half and still going on 2.5 engines. A German fighter pilot, Franz Stigler, risking execution if caught, took the high road and escorted it over the German coastal flak batteries so no one shot at them and got them out to sea. The 17 made it back to base and the pilots met in the US long after the war and became like brothers. It's an incredible story and very very well written. It will have you in tears at points. I highly recommend it. I can't say I've read a better WWII book.

[Ben Rawls]

I can recommend "A Higher Call" also. It's more about Stigler and his experiences than the B-17 crew. Shows a side we don't get much word about. I can remember German POWs picking peanuts in the field in front of the house and eating lunch under the pecan trees out back. My grandmother cooked for them and some ate what she cooked ;some ate what they brought with them from the camp. South Alabama had POW camps all over the place. My five uncles all served in combat and all survived-very lucky. One was a copilot in "Shoo-Shoo Baby". He finished out MacDuffy's last 9 missions and then went on to pilot "Peacemaker". When the restored plane was rolled out at Wright- Patterson he was the only one of the crew who could still get in through the nose hatch. All of his crew was still surviving at that time.
He went on to get a PhD in agronomy and specialized in peanuts and hot peppers. He was very well known in Latin America for his pepper work. Never flew anyplace if he could go any other way.
He never talked about his experiences until he was in his 60's and then very little. Bert Stiles mentions one of his missions in his book "Serenade to the Big Bird". They were room mates at Royston.

[Jay Gardner]

Just finished "Unbreakable" the story of Louis Zamperini who was a B24 bombardier in the Pacific. After being a top track and field athlete at USC and in the 36 Olympics in Berlin. He crashed in the Pacific, spent over a month in a raft, was captured by the Japs and spent months being starved, beaten and humiliated by his captors. He was in a camp when the bob a were dropped and his description of how the Japs reacted was very interesting.

For anyone interested in WWII I recommend the book highly. These were remarkable men with incredible stories the likes of which we will never see again.

[Rick Losey]

My wife and I were talking about the stuff it took to be a bomber crew member just last night. Out to dinner and were talking about her father. He passed when she was a teen and she knows little about his service except that he was a bomber pilot, and that his plane shot down on a mission to Germany. He somehow evaded capture (later found out two crew members were killed, the rest finished the war in a stalag). it took months but eventually he returned to England and flew again. He also served in Korea and eventually retired from the reserves a Lt Colonel.

No one in the family knows the details of his "adventure" other than that- the only thing that remains is a letter stating his plane was lost and he was listed as missing.

[Frank Srebro]

Yeah Tool Man, sorry for the delay. I was out at the cabin for a few days picking huckleberries and checking out things for grouse season. Looking good so far. I came home last night with a sore tummy from all those berries. It couldn't have been the mountain water in the cocktails. Jeff and I have been trading PM's and I have to tell you guys he's pretty modest. He did a wonderful story on meeting up with the gent who was the CFC gunner on his Dad's Superfort "Little Jeff". Story is in the 6th Bomb Group June 2014 Newsletter and it's a wonderful and touching piece of writing.

I agree 100% with the comments on the "Higher Call" and Stigler's story. One of our sons gave me the book a few months back and I pored through it right after that.

Here's another pic, taken on a mission about 3 months after the fighting ended on Iwo Jima. Looks pretty tranquil down there although the flight was headed to or from its own fight.

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/IMG_4769_zps8f1d6e19.jpg (http://s1044.photobucket.com/user/silvers897/media/IMG_4769_zps8f1d6e19.jpg.html)