Slack received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart. Major Slack, aged only 29, and ten other crewmen lost their lives. On that mission, one B-29 was lost, Rush Order. Rescue planes and submarines were unable to locate the crew. Slack was able to keep the plane in the air for more than 35 minutes, but finally had to ditch in the ocean. The mission was attacked by enemy fighters and Major Slack's bomber was heavily damaged, losing two engines. That day Major Slack was piloting another B-29, S/N 42-65254, and leading a group of six planes on a bombing mission against the Omura Aircraft Factory on the island of Kyushu Japan. On Januthe 58th Bomb Wing launched an air attack against Japan consisting of forty-nine B-29s. Major John Slack and the crew of B-29 "Rush Order" Three days later the "Fat Man" atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan by the B-29 " Bockscar". The plane had been built at the Glenn Martin plant in Omaha, Nebraska. He had named the plane after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Special facilities were built to accommodate the B-29s, including a hangar which is being restored today (see photo to the right).Ĭolonel Tibbets piloted the B-29 " Enola Gay" (Serial Number 44-86292) on August 6, 1945, and dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. The 509th settled on Wendover Air Field on the Utah-Nevada border as their base due to its remote location. The Silverplate B-29s had modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons, which included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors, special propellers, modified engines and the deletion of protective armor and gun turrets. Tibbets' force, the 509th Composite Group, included 15 B-29's with special "Silverplate" modifications, and 1,800 men. was born February 23, 1915, son of Enola Gay and Paul Warfield Tibbets.Īn experienced pilot in World War II, he reported to Colorado Springs in September, 1944, for a top secret assignment - to organize a bombardment group to deliver the atomic bomb. The B-29 is most often remembered by many for two missions that occurred in August of 1945, over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that lead to a quick end of World War II.Ĭolonel Paul Tibbets, Jr. As many as 1,000 Superfortresses at a time bombed Tokyo, destroying large parts of the city. A month later, B-29s flying from Chengdu, China struck Yawata, Japan in the first raid on the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle Raid in 1942.ĭuring the last two months of 1944, B-29s began operating against Japan from the islands of Saipan, Guam and Tinian. Flying from India, B-29s first saw combat on June 5, 1944, when 98 planes struck Bangkok. The first B-29s arrived at Allied airfields in India and China in April 1944. Army Air Forces leadership committed the Superfortress to Asia, where its great range made it particularly suited for the long over-water flights against the Japanese homeland from bases in China. Designed as a high-altitude daytime bomber, the B-29 flew more low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. In wartime, the B-29 was capable of flight up to 31,850 feet at speeds of 350 mph.