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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 509th Composite Group | 6/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/509th_Composite_Group | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:04:33.596552+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Post atomic bomb operations === After each atomic mission the group conducted other combat operations, making a series of pumpkin bomb attacks on 8 and 14 August. Six B-29s visually attacked targets at Yokkaichi, Uwajima, Tsuruga, and Tokushima on 8 August, bombing two primary and three secondary targets with five bombs. Seven aircraft visually attacked Koromo and Nagoya on 14 August. Some Punkins (Crew B-7, Price) is believed to have dropped the last bombs by the Twentieth Air Force in World War II. After the announcement of the Japanese surrender, the 509th Composite Group flew three further training missions involving 31 sorties on 18, 20 and 22 August, then stood down from operations. The group made a total of 210 operational sorties from 30 June to 22 August, aborted four additional flights, and had only a single aircraft fail to take off. Altogether, 140 sorties involved the dropping of live ordnance. Some 60 flights were credited as combat missions: 49 pumpkin bomb and 11 atomic bomb sorties. Three B-29s (Full House, Straight Flush, and Top Secret) flew six combat missions each. Crews A-1 (Taylor) and C-11 (Eatherly) flew the most combat missions, six (including one atomic mission) each, while six other crews each flew five. Only the late arrivals (A-2 [Costello] and C-12 [Zahn]) did not participate in any combat missions, although Costello's B-29 was used by another crew for weather reconnaissance of Nagasaki on the second mission. Including training and test flights, crews B-8 (McKnight) and C-13 (Bock) flew the most missions, with 20 total (5 combat). Crew B-7 (Price) is the only crew to fly all of its missions (18 total, 5 combat) in its normally assigned aircraft, Some Punkins. The 509th Composite Group returned to the United States on 6 November 1945, and was stationed at Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico. Colonel William H. Blanchard replaced Tibbets as group commander on 22 January 1946, and also became the first commander of the 509th Bombardment Wing. It was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command when it was formed on 21 March 1946. The 715th and 830th Bombardment Squadrons were assigned to the 509th on 6 May 1946, and the group was redesignated the 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 10 July. The 320th Troop Carrier Squadron was inactivated on 19 August. At Roswell, the 509th became the nuclear strike and deterrence core of the Strategic Air Command, and was the only unit capable of delivery of nuclear weapons until June 1948, when B-50 Superfortresses were initially deployed. The 509th itself converted to the B-50 in 1950, and transferred its Silverplate B-29s to the squadrons of the 97th Bombardment Wing at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas. General Groves later saw a lack of foresight of himself and others, as sixteen years after in 1961 only four officers were still on active duty; Tibbets plus Ashworthy (a weaponeer) and two bombardiers, Ferebee and Beahan; so few men experienced with atomic weapons were still in the USAF.
== Organization ==
== Depictions == The training and operations of the 509th Composite Group were dramatized in a Hollywood film, Above and Beyond (1952), with Robert Taylor cast in the role of Tibbets. The story was retold in a partly fictionalized made-for-television film Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb (1980), with Patrick Duffy portraying Tibbets.
== Lineage == Established as 509th Composite Group on 9 December 1944 Activated on 17 December 1944 Redesignated: 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 10 July 1946 Redesignated: 509th Bombardment Group, Medium, on 2 July 1948 Inactivated on 16 June 1952 Redesignated 509th Operations Group on 12 March 1993 Activated on 15 July 1993 Source: Fact Sheet – 509 Operations Group (ACC)
== Assignments == Second Air Force, 17 December 1944; 315th Bombardment Wing, 18 December 1944; 313th Bombardment Wing, c. June 1945; Second Air Force, 10 October 1945; 58th Bombardment Wing, 17 January 1946; Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1946 Source: Fact Sheet – 509 Operations Group (ACC)
== Stations == Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, 17 December 1944 North Field, Tinian, 29 May 1945 Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico, 6 November 1945 Source: Maurer 1983, p. 372
== Campaigns ==
Air Combat, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Air Offensive, Japan Eastern Mandates Western Pacific Source: Maurer 1983, p. 372
== Honors ==
Department of the Air Force Special Order GB-294, dated 2 September 1999, awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (with Valor) to the 509th Composite Group for outstanding achievement in combat for the period 1 July 1945 to 14 August 1945.
== Notes == This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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