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"Every time I go down and visit the aircraft, I pat it on the side," he said.īock said he, too, would like to see Bockscar given the same prominence as the Enola Gay, parts of which are to be displayed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.Īs the anniversary of Fat Man's explosion nears, the U.S. Olivi, 73 and living in Chicago, retains a warm feeling for the plane. "It just scared the hell out of us," said Olivi.Īfter the war, Bockscar was put in storage, then later restored and flown to the museum.
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"We could see the thing building up, a big boiling cauldron," Bock said. Nagasaki was its fallback site.īock, flying the plane that accompanied Bockscar to record the effects of the bomb, recalled circling the roiling mushroom cloud. 9, 1945, to bomb the steel-making city of Kokura, but clouds and smoke obscured the target. Fred Bock, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress took off before dawn on Aug. "It's surprising how many people don't know about Bockscar." I would like to see it get more attention," said Fred Olivi, a crew member on the Nagasaki mission. It's harder to miss the mushroom cloud painted on Bockscar's nose. Those who don't read past the second paragraph miss the atomic bomb connection. In contrast to the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima three days earlier, Bockscar has received little attention since it went on display in 1961.īockscar's story is told in three short paragraphs on a plaque set before the craft. Japan's unconditional surrender followed. About 75,000 people were killed or wounded. Unlike the other World War II aircraft surrounding it, Bockscar stops visitors in their tracks.įifty years ago, an atomic bomb called "Fat Man" was propelled from Bockscar's belly and exploded over Nagasaki. DAYTON, Ohio - The silver B-29 squats unheralded in one corner of the U.S.