143
DisasterMan
In 1878 he began experiments to measure the speed of light. In 1907 he
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics -- the fi rst American to receive a
Nobel Prize in the sciences. Also, he was the fi rst and only U.S. Naval offi cer
to ever receive a Nobel Prize in Physics. Former President Jimmy Carter,
an Annapolis graduate and former submarine offi cer, years later received
the Nobel Peace Prize. The relevance of all this was that I had hired two of
Professor Michelsons great-grandchildren when I was in charge of small
research units assigned to the Navy supported by Offi ce of Naval Research
grants to the Math Department at MIT. I had hoped that there should be
something in their genes -- and there was. They were both remarkably
bright. They had grown up living in quarters at the Dahlgren Proving Ground
where their Naval offi cer father had been stationed when Lt. CDR Parsons
and his family also lived there.
Apparently the radar bombsight was only used for backup on both
atomic bomb missions. Three B-29s took off one hour before the Enola Gay
and similarly before the Bockscar to fl y to the target area and observed the
weather. They reported back to the Enola Gay that there was three-tenths
cloud cover over the target. This was good for the Norden optical bombsight
so that the bombardier knew he was bombing the correct target. But I was
glad that our radar bombardier training device had been delivered on time
to the 509
th
Composite Group.
One other personal connection. Dr. Luis Alvarez had been in charge
of my identifi cation and beacon research at the Radiation Lab. He had
designed the detonators for the Fat Man plutonium bomb when he was
transferred to the Los Alamos Lab of the Manhattan Project. He had
also designed instrumentation to measure the yield of the atomic bomb
explosions. He fl ew in a special B-29 just behind both the Enola Gay and
Bockscar to measure the yield of the blasts.
We left Wendover the next day and fl ew to Seattle. My Colonel arranged
for the three of us to go for an orientation ride in a B-29 while he had some
business with Boeing. Each B-29 had a fl ight test after it came off the
production line in order to be accepted by the Air Corps. I had fl own in an
experimental B-17E from Wright-Patterson to Toronto, Canada once but the
B-29 was a much larger aircraft.
Our next stop was in Los Angeles for the visit to inspect the Spruce Goose
-- the purpose of the whole trip. Actually the fl ying boat was constructed
of laminated birch -- not spruce. Some wag had christened it the Spruce
Summary :
Three B-29s took off one hour before the Enola Gay and similarly before the Bockscar to fl y to the target area and observed the weather. He fl ew in a special B-29 just behind both the Enola Gay and Bockscar to measure the yield of the blasts. Each B-29 had a fl ight test after it came off the production line in order to be accepted by the Air Corps. I had fl own in an experimental B-17E from Wright-Patterson to Toronto, Canada once but the B-29 was a much larger aircraft.
Tags :
nobel,offi,b29,prize,target,research,enola,cer,measure,bomb,been,spruce,naal