Full House was the name of a B-29 Superfortress

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

 (B-29-36-MO 44-27298, victor number 83) participating in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

 on August 6, 1945.

Assigned to the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group

509th Operations Group

The 509th Operations Group is the flying component of the United States Air Force 509th Bomb Wing , assigned to Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. It is equipped with all 20 of the USAF's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers...

, it was used as a weather reconnaissance plane and flew to the city of Nagasaki, designated a "tertiary target", before the final bombing to determine if conditions were favorable for an attack. The aircraft also flew as a spare aircraft during the mission to bomb Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, but landed at Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...

 when the B-29 Bockscar

Bockscar

Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan....

 was able to complete the mission.

Airplane history

One of 15 Silverplate

Silverplate

Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B-29 Superfortress to enable it to drop an atomic weapon, Silverplate eventually came to identify...

 B-29s used by the 509th on Tinian, Full House was built at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant

Glenn L. Martin Company

The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War...

 at Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

, as a Block 35 aircraft. It was one of 10 modified as a Silverplate and re-designated "Block 36". Delivered on March 20, 1945, to the USAAF, it was assigned to Crew A-1 (Maj. Ralph R. Taylor, aircraft commander) and flown to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. It left Wendover on June 11, 1945 for Tinian and arrived June 17.

It was originally assigned the victor number 13 but on August 1 was given the square P tail markings of the 39th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its victor changed to 83 to avoid misidentification with actual 39th BG aircraft. It was named Full House and its nose art applied after the atomic bomb missions.

In addition to its roles on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions, Major Taylor and crew A-1 flew the bomber on 12 practice and training missions, and four combat missions in which it dropped pumpkin bomb

Pumpkin bomb

Pumpkin bombs were conventional high explosive aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II...

s on industrial targets at Toyama

Toyama, Toyama

is the capital city of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in the Chūbu region on central Honshū, about 200 km north of the city of Nagoya and 300 km northwest of Tokyo....

, Niihama, Yaizu, and Ube, Yamaguchi

Ube, Yamaguchi

is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan on the Seto Inland Sea.As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 179,000 and the density of 622 persons per km². The total area is 287.69 km².The city was founded on November 1, 1921....

. Capt. Frederick C. Bock

Frederick C. Bock

Frederick C. Bock was a World War II pilot who took part in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, flying the B-29 bomber The Great Artiste, which was used for scientific measurements of the effects caused by the nuclear weapon. The bomber which actually dropped Fat Man was called Bockscar as it...

 and crew C-13 flew Full House on a pumpkin bomb mission to Komoro, Nagano

Komoro, Nagano

is a city located in Nagano, Japan.As of May 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 44,270. The total area is 98.66 km².-Municipal Timeline:*February 1, 1954-Komoro absorbed the villages of Kawanabe, Kitaoi, and Osato from Kitasaku District....

.

In November 1945 it returned to the United States with the 509th CG to Roswell Army Airfield

Walker Air Force Base

Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles south of the central business district of Roswell, a city in Chaves County, New Mexico, US...

. In June 1949 it was transferred to the 97th Bomb Wing at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, then re-configured as a TB-29 trainer in April 1950 by The Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area at Tinker Air Force Base

Tinker Air Force Base

Tinker Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force base, with tenant U.S. Navy and other Department of Defense missions, located in the southeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area, directly south of the suburb of Midwest City, Oklahoma.-Overview:...

.

It subsequently served as part of:

• 106th Radar Calibration Squadron, Sioux City Air Force Base
  Sioux Gateway Airport
  -History:The construction of Sioux City Army Air Base began in March 1942, about three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Opened on 5 July 1942, it became a major training center during World War II for crew members of B-24 Liberators and B-17 Flying Fortresses...
  
  , Iowa
  Iowa
  Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
  
   (August 1952),
• 7th Radar Calibration Squadron, Sioux City AFB (September 1953)
• 4677th Radar Evaluation Flight, Hill Air Force Base
  Hill Air Force Base
  Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force Base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and near the towns of Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, Sunset, and Layton. It is about north of Salt Lake City. The base was named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill of the U.S. Army Air...
  
  , Utah
  Utah
  Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
  
   (March 1954),
• Mobile Air Materiel Area, Nashville
  Nashville, Tennessee
  Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
  
  , Tennessee
  Tennessee
  Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
  
   (March 1955), and
• 17th Tow Target Squadron, Vincent Air Force Base
  Marine Corps Air Station Yuma
  Marine Corps Air Station Yuma or MCAS Yuma is a United States Marine Corps air station which is the home to multiple squadrons of AV-8B Harrier IIs of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 and Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 , an air combat adversary...
  
  , Arizona
  Arizona
  Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
  
   (July 1955).

Full House was dropped from the Air Force inventory in November 1956. It was transferred to the U.S. Navy and used as a target at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake

- About : is part of under Commander, Navy Installation Command and is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately north of Los Angeles. Occupying three counties – Kern, San Bernardino and Inyo – the installation’s closest neighbors are the cities of Ridgecrest,...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Hiroshima mission crew

Crew A-1 (regularly assigned to Full House)

• Major Ralph R. Taylor Jr., Aircraft Commander
• 2nd Lt. Raymond P. Biel, Co-Pilot
• 1st Lt. Fred A. Hoey, Navigator
• 1st Lt. Michael Angelich, Bombardier
• M/Sgt. Frank M. Briese, Flight Engineer
• S/Sgt. Theodore M. Slife, Radio Operator
• Cpl. Nathaniel T. R. Burgwyn, Radar Operator
• T/Sgt. Robert J. Valley, Tail Gunner
• Cpl. Richard B. Anselme, Assistant Engineer/Scanner

Other aircraft named Full House

A FB-111A strategic bomber of the USAF 509th Bomb Wing

509th Bomb Wing

The 509th Bomb Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command, Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri....

, serial 68-0270, carried the name and original nose art of Full House on its nosewheel doors while based at Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sources

• Campbell, Richard H., The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs (2005), ISBN 0-7864-2139-8
• 509th CG Aircraft Page, MPHPA