Laggin' Dragon
Encyclopedia
Operation Silverplate
As part of the Manhattan ProjectManhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, the American development and delivery of the world's first nuclear weapons on targets in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, that brought the Second World War to a close in August 1945, a squadron of modified Boeing 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...
es was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force's 509th Composite Group to accomplish the atomic mission.
Airplane history
Laggin' Dragon was the last of the fifteen SilverplateSilverplate
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 delivered to the 509th for use in the atomic bomb operation. Built at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft plant 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...
, it was accepted by the USAAF on June 15, 1945, after most of the 509th CG had already left 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...
, for Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
. Assigned to Crew A-2 (Capt. Edward M. Costello, Aircraft Commander,) it was flown to Wendover in early July and briefly used in training and practice bombing missions.
On July 27, 1945, Costello and his crew flew the airplane from Wendover to Kirtland Army Air Field, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, accompanied by another 509th B-29 and one from the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
test unit at Wendover (216th Base Unit). There each loaded one of three Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
atomic bomb assemblies (without the plutonium core, which had left the day before by courier on one of the 509th CG's C-54 Skymaster
C-54 Skymaster
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces and British forces in World War II and the Korean War. Besides transport of cargo, it also carried presidents, British heads of government, and military staff...
transports) in its bomb bay for conveyance to Tinian.
The three bombers flew to Mather Army Air Field, California, on July 28, and took off for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
on July 29. During takeoff from Mather, a panel door on Laggin' Dragon enclosing the life raft compartment opened and ejected the raft, which wrapped around the horizontal elevator on the tail and impeded the B-29'’s elevators. The aircraft struggled to stay aloft but the pilots managed to return safely to Mather. After removing and replacing some major tail assemblies, Laggin' Dragon and its cargo continued to Hawaii, finally reaching Tinian on August 2.
It was assigned the square P tail identifier of the 39th Bomb group as a security measure and given victor number 95 to avoid misidentification with actual 39th BG aircraft. The airplane was named while still at Wendover but the nose art was not applied until after the atomic missions, and referred to being one of the last of the squadron to receive overseas shipping orders and the 393rd Squadron's dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
insignia
Insignia
Insignia or insigne pl -nia or -nias : a symbol or token of personal power, status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction...
. It arrived too late to participate in other combat operations and participated in two practice flights subsequent to the atomic attacks.
The airplane returned to the United States in November 1945, based with the 509th CG at Roswell Army Air Field
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...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. In June 1946 it was part of the Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
task force based on Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
. 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...
, and in April 1950 was converted to a TB-29 trainer at Kelly Air Force Base
Kelly Air Force Base
Kelly Field Annex and is a former United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas. In 2001, the runway and land west of the runway became "Kelly Field Annex" and control of it was transferred to the adjacent Lackland Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio...
, 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...
, and 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 was subsequently assigned to:
- 10th Radar Calibration Squadron, Yokota Air BaseYokota Air Base, is a United States Air Force base in the city of Fussa, one of 26 cities in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo.The base houses 14,000 personnel. The base occupies a total area of and has a runway...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(September 1952), - 6023rd Radar Evaluation Flight, Yokota AB (March 1954), Johnson Air Base, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(July 1956), - 6431st Air Base Group, Naha Air BaseNaha Air BaseNaha Air Base is an airbase of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It was formerly under control of the United States Air Force. It is located at Naha Airport, Okinawa, Japan....
, Okinawa (July 1958), - 51st Air Base Group, Naha AB (July 1960), where it was dropped from inventory and scrapped.
Nagasaki mission crew
Crew B-8 (regularly assigned to Top SecretTop Secret (B-29)
Top Secret was the name of a B-29 Superfortress modified to carry the atomic bomb in World War II.-Airplane history:...
)
- Capt. Charles F. McKnight, airplane commander
- 2nd Lt. Jacob Y. Bontekoe, co-pilot
- 2nd Lt. Jack Widowsky, navigator
- 2nd Lt. Franklin H. MacGregor, bombardier
- 1st Lt. George H. Cohen, flight engineer
- Sgt. Lloyd J. Reeder, radio operator
- T/Sgt. William F. Orren, radar operator
- Sgt. Roderick E. Legg, tail gunner
- Cpl. Donald O. Cole, Assistant engineer, scanner
Other aircraft named Laggin' Dragon
Three FB-111A strategic bombers of the USAF 509th Bomb Wing509th 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....
, serials 68-0269, 68-0274 and 68-0284, carried the name and original nose art of Laggin' Dragon on their 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