Bockscar pilot gone west

[Cub Driver]

I just now learned that then-Major Charles Sweeney, the pilot of
Bockscar on the Nagasaki mission, died in Boston last Thursday at the
age of 84. According to an obituary this morning in the Aero-News
email newsletter:

A staunch defender of the atomic missions, Sweeney told Quincy
(MA) Patriot Ledger in 1995, 'I looked upon it as a duty. I just
wanted the war to be over, so we could get back home to our loved
ones. I hope my missions were the last ones of their kind that will
ever be flown.'

His rank was Brig. Gen (retired).
all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
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[ian maclure]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 05:46:26 -0400, Cub Driver wrote:

[snip]

Its odd that the first bomb he ever loosed in anger was
the big one on Nagasaki.

IBM

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[Guy Alcala]

Cub Driver wrote:

> I just now learned that then-Major Charles Sweeney, the pilot of
> Bockscar on the Nagasaki mission, died in Boston last Thursday at the
> age of 84. According to an obituary this morning in the Aero-News
> email newsletter:
>
> A staunch defender of the atomic missions, Sweeney told Quincy
> (MA) Patriot Ledger in 1995, 'I looked upon it as a duty. I just
> wanted the war to be over, so we could get back home to our loved
> ones. I hope my missions were the last ones of their kind that will
> ever be flown.'
>
> His rank was Brig. Gen (retired).

I saw an obit in a local paper yesterday (probably from AP) that also
implied he was a BG, but his book cover identifies him as MG (ret.).
Reading further on in the story, the obit stated that he made BG at the
age of 36, the youngest to that time in the USAF. ISTR there were some
that young in WW2, but they might not have been counting them as they
would be USAAF.

Guy