''Necessary Evil'', also referred to as ''Plane #91'', was the name of Boeing B-29-45-MO Superfortress 44-86291 ( Victor 91), participating in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron,

509th Composite Group The 509th Composite Group (509 CG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. It conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in ...

, it was used as a camera plane to photograph the explosion and effects of the bomb, and to carry scientific observers. At the time of the attack the plane was not named and was known only by its 393d Victor number. The mission was flown by crew B-10, with Captain George Marquardt as aircraft commander. The crew regularly assigned to this airplane in turn flew on the

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

mission on August 9, 1945, in another B-29; '' Big Stink'', though without their aircraft commander, who was ill.

Aircraft history

Built at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant at

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, ''Necessary Evil'' was accepted by the Army Air Forces on May 18, 1945, and flown to

Wendover Army Air Field Wendover Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Utah now known as Wendover Airport. During World War II, it was a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. It was the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B-29 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, by its assigned crew C-14 (1st Lt. Norman W. Ray, Aircraft Commander) in June. It departed Wendover for

North Field, Tinian North Field is a former World War II airfield on Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Abandoned after the war, today North Field is a tourist attraction. Along with several adjacent beaches on which Allied forces landed during the Battle of Tinian, th ...

on June 27 and arrived on July 2. It was originally assigned the Victor (unit-assigned identification) number 11 but on August 1 was given the Circle-R tail markings of the 6th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor changed to 91 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th BG aircraft. It was named and had its nose art painted after the Nagasaki mission. In addition to the Hiroshima mission, ''Necessary Evils operations history on Tinian included 10 training and practice missions, and three combat missions in which it dropped

pumpkin bomb Pumpkin bombs were conventional aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II. It was a close replication of the Fat Man plutonium bomb with the same ballistic an ...

s on industrial targets in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, Kashiwazaki, and Koriyama, all flown by 1st Lt. Ray and crew C-14. Colonel Paul Tibbets had chosen ''Necessary Evil'', commanded by Captain George Marquardt, to lead a third atomic bomb drop against Japan. Secretary of War

Henry Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

stated following the bombing of Nagasaki, "These two heavy blows have fallen in quick succession upon the Japanese and there will be quite a little space before we intend to drop another". The primary target was the city of Koromo (current day

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Toyota Motor Company is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

was dedicated to truck production for the Imperial Japanese Army at this time making it the likely target. Stimson notes in his diary entry August 10, 1945 " ecretary_of_the_Navy_James_Forrestal.html" ;"title="James_Forrestal.html" ;"title="ecretary of the Navy James Forrestal">ecretary of the Navy James Forrestal">James_Forrestal.html" ;"title="ecretary of the Navy James Forrestal">ecretary of the Navy James Forrestaltold me that they were planning another big attack by [Pacific Third Fleet Admiral William "Bull"] Halsey and he was afraid this would go on.". Colonel Tibbets under orders by General Curtis LeMay, dispatched Lt. Col. Classen, the deputy group commander, in the unnamed victor 94 and crew B-6 in Jabit III, together with their ground crews, to Wendover AAFB to stage for the possibility of transporting further Fat Man odel 1561bomb assemblies to Tinian. At Los Alamos, the second plutonium core for the third bomb had been fabricated and was ready for shipment from

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

to Tinian by special courier Lt. William A. King on a C-54 cargo aircraft of the 509th CG. These shipments were halted on August 14, 1945 by orders from Washington. "Kuromo" appears in a target log below Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Smithsonian Channel documentary ''The Men Who Brought The Dawn''. In December 1945 ''Necessary Evil'' returned to the United States with the 509th CG to

Roswell Army Airfield Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, New Mexico. It was opened in 1941 as an Army Air Corps flying school and was active during World ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It was part of the

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

task force from August 1946 until June 1949, when it was transferred to the 97th Bomb Group at

Biggs Air Force Base Biggs Army Airfield (formerly Biggs Air Force Base) is a United States Army military airbase located on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. History Biggs Field/Biggs Army Airfield (1916–47) On 15 June 1919, following an attack b ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. ''Necessary Evil'' was re-configured as a TB-29 trainer by the Oklahoma City Materiel Area at

Tinker Air Force Base Tinker Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force base, with tenant U.S. Navy and other Department of Defense missions, located in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, surrounded by Del City, Oklahoma City, and Midwest City. The base, origina ...

in April 1950. It was subsequently assigned to: *1st Tow Target Squadron, Biggs Air Force Base (September 1952), *1st Radar Calibration Squadron,

Griffiss Air Force Base Griffiss Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force installation in the northeastern United States, located in Central New York state at Rome, about northwest of Utica. Missions included fighter interceptors, electronic research, i ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(March 1953), *4713th Radar Evaluation Flight, Griffiss AFB (March 1954), *17th Tow Target Squadron, Yuma County Airport,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

(June 1955), and *4750th Air Defense Wing, Vincent Air Force Base,

. ''Necessary Evil'' was dropped from the Air Force inventory in November 1956. It was transferred to the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

and used as a target at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Hiroshima mission crew

Crew B-10 (normally assigned to '' Up An' Atom'') *Capt. George W. Marquardt, Aircraft Commander *2nd Lt. James M. Anderson, Co-Pilot *2nd Lt. Russell Gackenbach, Navigator *Capt. James W. Strudwick, Bombardier *T/Sgt. James R. Corliss, Flight Engineer *Sgt. Warren L. Coble, Radio Operator *Sgt. Joseph M. DiJulio, Radar Operator *Sgt. Melvin H. Bierman, Tail Gunner *Sgt. Anthony D. Capua, Jr., Assistant Engineer/Scanner *(Civilian) Prof.

Bernard Waldman Bernard Waldman (October 12, 1913 – November 1, 1986) was an American physicist who flew on the Hiroshima atomic bombing mission as a cameraman during World War II. A graduate of New York University, joined the faculty of the University of No ...

Project Alberta Project Alberta, also known as Project A, was a section of the Manhattan Project which assisted in delivering the first nuclear weapons in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Project Alberta was formed in March 19 ...

, camera operator

Other aircraft named ''Necessary Evil''

Two

FB-111A The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons c ...

strategic bombers of the USAF

509th Bomb Wing The 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW) 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. The 509 BW is the host unit at Whiteman, and operates ...

, serials 67-7194 and 68-0259, carried the name and original nose art of ''Necessary Evil'' on their nosewheel doors while based at

Pease Air Force Base Pease, in Middle English, was a noun referring to the vegetable pea; see that article for its etymology. The word survives into modern English in pease pudding. Pease may also refer to: People * Pease family (Darlington), a prominent family in D ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Aircraft history

Hiroshima mission crew

Other aircraft named ''Necessary Evil''

References

Further reading