Чарльз Суини
Чарльз Суини | |
|---|---|
 Картина ВВС США | |
| Имя рода | Чарльз Уильям Суини |
| Рожденный | 27 декабря 1919 г. Лоуэлл, Массачусетс |
| Умер | 16 июля 2004 г. (в возрасте 84 лет) Бостон, Массачусетс |
| Похороненный | |
| Верность | Соединенные Штаты |
| Услуга/ | Авиакомпании армии США ВВС армии США  ВВС США Национальная гвардия Massachusetts Air |
| Годы службы | 1941–1979 |
| Классифицировать | Генерал -майор |
| Единица | 509 -я составная группа |
| Команды | 393 -я бомбардировка эскадрильи 102 -е тактическое истребительное крыло |
| Сражения/войны | Вторая мировая война |
| Награды | Серебряная звезда Воздушная медаль |
Чарльз Уильям Суини (27 декабря 1919 г. - 16 июля 2004 г.) был офицером военно -воздушных сил армии Соединенных Штатов во время Второй мировой войны и пилотом , который летал Бокчар, неся Фат -Человека атомную бомбу в японский город Нагасаки 9 августа, 9 августа. 1945. Отделяясь от активной службы в конце Второй мировой войны, позже он стал офицером в Национальной гвардии воздушной гвардии Массачусетса , когда военно -воздушные силы армии перешли к независимым ВВС США , в конечном итоге поднимаясь до звания генерала майора .
Военная карьера
[ редактировать ]509 -я составная группа
[ редактировать ]Суини стал инструктором в проекте обучения по атомным миссиям, проект Альберта , на аэродроме армии Вендовера , штат Юта . Избран как часть 509-й композитной группы под командованием полковника Пола Тиббетса , он был назначен командиром 320-й эскадрильи авианосцев 6 января 1945 года. Первоначально его эскадрилья использовала 47 Skytrain и C-46 Commandom C - Секретные операции по обеспечению 509-го, но в апреле 1945 года она приобрела пять Skymasters C-54 , которые имели диапазон для доставки персонала и материи Западная часть Тихого океана.
4 мая 1945 года Суини стал командиром 393-й эскадрильи бомбардировки, Heavy , боевого элемента 509-го, отвечающего за 15 Silverplate B-29 и их полеты и наземные экипажи, всего 535 человек. В июне и июле Суини переехал свое подразделение на Северное поле на острове Тиниан в Мариане .
В дополнение к контролю интенсивного подготовки своих летных экипажей в июле 1945 года, Суини должен был командовать второй миссией атомной бомбы. Он тренировался с командой капитана (Чарльз Д.) Дона Олбери на борту своего B-29 Великого артиста , и был командиром самолета на учебной миссии 11 июля. Он и команда пролетели пять из девяти репетиционных испытаний инертных маленьких. Мальчик и толстый мужчина бомбардировки в подготовке к миссиям.
6 августа 1945 года Суини и Олбери пилотировали великого артиста в качестве самолета по приборам и наблюдениям за атомной бомбардировкой на Хиросиму .
Бомбардировка Нагасаки
[ редактировать ]
On 9 August 1945, Major Sweeney commanded Bockscar, which carried the atomic bomb Fat Man from the island of Tinian to Nagasaki. In addition to Bockscar, the mission included two observation and instrumentation support B-29s, The Great Artiste and The Big Stink, which would rendezvous with Bockscar over Yakushima Island. At the mission pre-briefing, the three planes were ordered to make their rendezvous over Yakushima at 30,000 feet (9,100 m) due to weather conditions over Iwo Jima (the Hiroshima mission rendezvous). That same morning, on the day of the mission, the ground crew notified Sweeney that a faulty fuel transfer pump made it impossible to utilize some 625 US gal (2,370 litres) of fuel in the tail, but Sweeney, as aircraft commander, elected to proceed with the mission.[1][2]
Before takeoff, Tibbets warned Sweeney that he had lost at least 45 minutes of flying time because of the fuel pump problem, and to take no more than fifteen minutes at the rendezvous before proceeding directly to the primary target.[3]
After takeoff from Tinian, Bockscar reached its rendezvous point and after circling for an extended period, found The Great Artiste, but not The Big Stink.[4] Climbing to 30,000 feet, the assigned rendezvous altitude, both aircraft slowly circled Yakushima Island. Though Sweeney had been ordered not to wait at the rendezvous for the other aircraft longer than fifteen minutes before proceeding to the primary target, Sweeney continued to wait for The Big Stink, perhaps at the urging of Commander Frederick Ashworth, the plane's weaponeer.[5] After exceeding the original rendezvous time limit by a half-hour, Bockscar, accompanied by The Great Artiste, proceeded to the primary target, Kokura.[6] No fewer than three bomb runs were made, but the delay at the rendezvous had resulted in 7/10ths cloud cover over the primary target, and the bombardier was unable to drop.[7] By the time of the third bomb run, Japanese antiaircraft fire was getting close, and Japanese fighter planes could be seen climbing to intercept Bockscar.[8]
Poor bombing visibility and an increasingly critical fuel shortage eventually forced Bockscar to divert from Kokura and attack the secondary target, Nagasaki.[9] As they approached Nagasaki, the heart of the city's downtown was covered by dense cloud, and Sweeney and Ashworth, initially decided to bomb Nagasaki using radar.[10] However, a small opening in the clouds allowed Bockscar's bombardier to verify the target as Nagasaki. The crew had been ordered to drop the bomb visually if possible; Sweeney decided to proceed with a visual bomb run.[11] Bockscar then dropped Fat Man, with a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT. It exploded 43 seconds later at 1,539 feet (469 meters) above the ground, at least 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers) northwest of the planned aim point.[12][13] The failure to drop Fat Man at the precise bomb aim point caused the atomic blast to be confined to the Urakami Valley. As a consequence, a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills, and around 30% of Nagasaki was destroyed. The bombing also severed[clarification needed] the Mitsubishi arms production extensively and killed an estimated 35,000–40,000 people outright, including 23,200–28,200 Japanese industrial workers, 2,000 Korean slave laborers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.[14]
Low on fuel, Bockscar barely made it to the runway on Okinawa. With only enough fuel for one landing attempt, Sweeney brought Bockscar in fast and hard, ordering every available distress flare on board to be fired as he did so.[15] The number two engine died from fuel starvation as Bockscar began its final approach.[16] Touching the runway hard, the heavy B-29 slewed left and towards a row of parked B-24 bombers before the pilots managed to regain control.[16] With both pilots standing on the brakes, Sweeney made a swerving 90-degree turn at the end of the runway to avoid going over the cliff into the ocean.[17] 2nd Lt. Jacob Beser recalled that at this point, two engines had died from the fuel starvation, while "the centrifugal force resulting from the turn was almost enough to put us through the side of the airplane."[18]
After Bockscar returned to Tinian, Tibbets recorded that he was faced with the dilemma of considering “if any action should be taken against the airplane commander, Charles Sweeney, for failure to command.”[19][20][21] After meeting on Guam with Tibbets and Sweeney, General Curtis LeMay, chief of staff for the Strategic Air Forces, confronted Sweeney, stating, "You fucked up, didn't you, Chuck?", to which Sweeney made no reply.[22] LeMay then turned to Tibbets and told him that an investigation into Sweeney's conduct of the mission would serve no useful purpose.[22]
In November 1945, Sweeney returned with the 509th Composite Group to Roswell Army Air Base in New Mexico to train aircrews for the atomic testing mission, Operation Crossroads.
Post-war activities
[edit]
Sweeney left active duty with the rank of lieutenant colonel on June 28, 1946, but remained active with the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Later promoted to full colonel, on February 21, 1956, Sweeney was named commander of its 102nd Air Defense Wing and shortly after, on April 6, was promoted to brigadier general. During this time, he was activated with the 102nd and served in Europe during the Berlin Crisis from October 1961 to August 1962. Sweeney was made chief of staff in October 1967.
In the 1960s, Sweeney coordinated civil defense in Boston,[23] serving as the Boston Director of Civil Defense.
He retired in 1976 as a major general in the Air National Guard.[24] He also appeared in the 1970s television series The World at War and was seen explaining the USAAF buildup to the mission raids.
Throughout his life Sweeney remained convinced of the appropriateness and necessity of the bombing. "I saw these beautiful young men who were being slaughtered by an evil, evil military force," he said in 1995. "There's no question in my mind that President Truman made the right decision." At the same time, he said, "As the man who commanded the last atomic mission, I pray that I retain that singular distinction."[25]
Later life
[edit]
Near the end of his life, Sweeney wrote a controversial and factually disputed memoir of the atomic bombing and the 509th Composite Group, War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission.[26][27] In War's End, Sweeney defended the decision to drop the atomic bomb in light of subsequent historical questioning. However, it was Sweeney's other assertions regarding the Nagasaki atomic mission, along with various anecdotes regarding the 509th and its crews that drew the most criticism. Tibbets, Major "Dutch" Van Kirk, Colonel Thomas Ferebee and others vigorously disputed Sweeney's account of events.[28] Partly in response to War's End, Tibbets issued a revised version of his own autobiography in 1998, adding a new section on the Nagasaki attack in which he harshly criticized Sweeney's actions during the mission.[19][20][21]
In his later years Sweeney performed in various air shows doing many maneuvers to awe crowds. Sweeney died at age 84 on July 16, 2004, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.[29]
A short documentary featuring an audio recording of Sweeney describing the Nagasaki mission preparation and execution called "Nagasaki: The Commander's Voice" was made in 2005. The 2002 audio recording was the last one made before his death.
Awards
[edit]
| |||
 
| |||
  |
|
| |
  |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
|
|
| |
See also
[edit]
- Paul Tibbets, Sweeney's counterpart on the mission which dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima
References
[edit]- ^ Polmar, Norman, The Enola Gay: the B-29 that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution, (2004), p. 35
- ^ Miller, Donald, The Story of World War II, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-7432-1198-7, ISBN 0-7432-1198-7, p. 630
- ^ Miller, Donald, pp. 630–631: Tibbets stated that he told Sweeney to "go to your rendezvous point and tell the other planes the same thing I told you at Iwo Jima [the Hiroshima mission rendezvous]: 'Make one 360-degree turn, be on my wing, or I'm going to the target anyway.'"
- ^ Miller, Donald, p. 631
- ^ Miller, Donald, pp. 630, 631: Tibbets noted that regardless of any advice he may have received, Sweeney was the aircraft commander and remained responsible at all times for command of the aircraft and the mission.
- ^ Miller, Donald, pp. 631–632
- ^ Miller, Donald P., pp. 630, 632–633: In making an unheard-of third bomb run with a $25-million-dollar atomic weapon, it appeared to others that Sweeney appeared determined not to abort the mission and return with Fat Man, regardless of the risk to the aircraft or the flight crew.
- ^ Miller, Donald, p. 633
- ^ Miller, Donald, p. 632
- ^ Miller, Donald, pp. 633–634
- ^ Miller, Donald, pp. 634–635
- ^ Wainstock, Dennis D., The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb, Praeger Publishing, ISBN 0-275-95475-7 (1996), p. 92.
- ^ Miller, Donald P., pp. 626, 638
- ^ Nuke-Rebuke: Writers & Artists Against Nuclear Energy & Weapons (The Contemporary anthology series). The Spirit That Moves Us Press. May 1, 1984. pp. 22–29.
- ^ Walker, Stephen, Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima, New York: HarperCollins (2005) pp. 13–14
- ^ Jump up to: a b Walker, Stephen, p. 14
- ^ Glines, C.V., World War II: The Second Atomic Bomb That Ended The War, Aviation History (January 1997), pp. 36–37
- ^ Glines, C.V., p. 37
- ^ Jump up to: a b Puttré, Michael, Nagasaki Revisited, retrieved 8 April 2011
- ^ Jump up to: a b Tibbets, Paul W. Return Of The Enola Gay, Columbus, Ohio: Mid Coast Marketing (1998), ISBN 0-9703666-0-4
- ^ Jump up to: a b Miller, Donald L., D-days in the Pacific, New York: Simon & Schuster (2005), pp. 361–362
- ^ Jump up to: a b Miller, Donald L., pp. 361–362
- ^ Bernstein, Adam (19 July 2004). "Charles W. Sweeney Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
- ^ Charles H. Sweeney; Led Bomb Drop Over Nagasaki (washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Charles W. Sweeney Dies; Led Bomb Drop Over Nagasaki
- ^ Puttré, Michael, Nagasaki Revisited Archived 2011-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 8 April 2011
- ^ Coster-Mullen, John, Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man, publ. J. Coster-Mullen, End Notes, (2004): Gen. Paul Tibbets, Major Dutch Van Kirk (Enola Gay's navigator), and other surviving members of the 509th Composite Group were reportedly outraged at many of the factual assertions by Sweeney in War's End
- ^ Coster-Mullen, John, Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man, publ. J. Coster-Mullen, End Notes, (2004)
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (19 July 2004). "Charles Sweeney, 84, Pilot in Bombing of Nagasaki, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
Bibliography
[edit]- Brooks, Lester. Behind Japan's Surrender: Secret Struggle That Ended an Empire. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968. ISBN 0-9626-9468-1, 978-0-9626-9468-4
- Grayling, A.C. Among the Dead Cities. London: Bloomsbury, 2006. ISBN 0-7475-7671-8.
- Miller, Merle; Spitzer, Abe (1946). We Dropped The A-Bomb. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
- Olivi, Lt.Col. USAF (Ret) Fred J. Decision At Nagasaki: The Mission That Almost Failed. Privately Printed, 1999. ISBN 0-9678747-0-X.
- Sweeney, Maj.Gen. USAF (Ret) Charles, with James A. Antonucci and Marion K. Antonucci. War's End: an Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission. New York: Avon Books, 1997. ISBN 0-380-97349-9.
- Tomatsu, Shomei. 11:02 Nagasaki. Tokyo: Shashin Dojinsha, 1966.[ISBN missing]
External links
[edit]- Annotated bibliography for Charles Sweeney from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- "Official USAF biography BG Charles W. Sweeney". Archived from the original on February 8, 2004. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Reflections from above: an American pilot's perspective on the mission which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki
- Очевидно -свидетельский счет об атомной бомбардировке над Нагасаки Уильям Лоуренс, Нью -Йорк Таймс
- Суини объясняет Риду Ирвину, как, невероятно, он и Пол Тиббеттс стали первыми американцами в Японии после взрыва на YouTube .
- Чарльз Суини в поисках могилы
| Международный | |
|---|---|
| Национальный | |
| Академики | |
| Другой | |
- 1919 Рождения
- 2004 Смерть
- Получатели воздушной медаль
- Генералы ВВС США
- Люди из Куинси, штат Массачусетс
- Люди, связанные с атомными взрывами Хиросимы и Нагасаки
- Армейские бомбардировщики армии Соединенных Штатов Пилоты Второй мировой войны
- Военнослужащие из Лоуэлла, штат Массачусетс
- Получатели Серебряной звезды
- Выпускники средней школы Северного Куинси
- Штат Массачусетс национальной гвардии
- Похороны на национальном кладбище Массачусетса