Western Railroad Discussion > Stored UP locomotives Hastings, Nebraska

Estimated some 50 Union Pacific locomotives are stored at Hastings, Nebraska, 20 June 2021.  Double coal load eastbound passed with four mid-train DPU's.

Sunday morning (Father's Day) Hastings Municipal Airport hosted B-29 Superfortress named DOC - one of two flyable B-29's in the USA.

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B-29 Superfortress named DOC made trip to Nebraska Fly-in at Hastings, Nebraska, 19 and 20 June 2021.  Plane was scheduled  to arrive Thursday but oil leak in one of the propellers prompted last minute repairs.  Plane arrived Saturday about 2:30 PM, 19 June 2021.

All images taken Father's Day, 20 June 2021.

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Great images from Hastings.
I was fortunate to have gotten a ride in FIFI out of Denver years ago.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Very neat! The other B29 (FiFi) flew over my house a couple of weekends ago during the WWII days air show in Reading, PA.

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Looks like nothing but EMD SD70's.

Uncle Joe

I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of an account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that B-29s had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft subject to all kinds of problems.  It was amazing that the attack plane got off the ground.

JB - Omaha

That P-51 is not too shabby, either.

Copy19 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of an
> account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that B-29s
> had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft subject to
> all kinds of problems.  It was amazing that the
> attack plane got off the ground.
>
> JB - Omaha

The B-29A was an aircraft that really stretched the limits when it was built. Fully pressurised, remote controlled gun turrets and the most complicated engines that Wright had ever designed and built at the time.
Took awhile to get all the bugs out.

Copy19 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of an
> account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that B-29s
> had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft subject to
> all kinds of problems.  It was amazing that the
> attack plane got off the ground.
>
> JB - Omaha
Cooling problems with the engines was the major problem dont know of any other major one.  They had to have the cowl flaps closed for take off loaded otherwise there was too much drag but closed they would overheat. So guess it was kind of a crap shoot cant think back if it was ever corrected on the B50.

TO:  Copy 19.  Re the two A-bomb missions on Japan.  Found a short book (180 pages) several years ago  "Hiroshima and Nagasaki Revisited" by Jacob Beser.  He was on both of those flights.  Had been trained as a weapon specialist on atomic devices.  His function (in his words) was to "baby sit" the electronic proximity fuse in each device.  To make sure nothing would cause the weapon to explode prematurely or cause it to not explode at all.  Oddly, in 1985, he was invited to Japan as a part of its 40th Anniversary of the atomic bomb drops.   i 

Excellent pictures!

Posted from Android

I had the distinct pleasure of selling a car to one Charles Donald Albury who co-piloted "Bockscar" on the Nagasaki mission.
A true gentleman who went on to a career as an Eastern Airlines pilot before retiring in Florida. 

Damn I feel old. I remember when EMD couldn't build those SD70M'S fast enough for uncle pete.

Proud Foamer
OAKLEY, CA

DTrainshooter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had the distinct pleasure of selling a car to
> one Charles Donald Albury who co-piloted
> "Bockscar" on the Nagasaki mission.
> A true gentleman who went on to a career as an
> Eastern Airlines pilot before retiring in
> Florida. 

Albury was one of three pilots selected by Paul Tibbets out of the B-29 testing program he ran to be part of the 509th.  The other two were Bob Lewis who co-piloted the Hiroshima strike, and Chuck Sweeney who piloted the problem plagued Nagasaki strike.  Tibbets refered to Albury as "about the most competant twenty-five year old I have ever seen". High praise from a twenty-nine year old who was running one of, if not the most complex and important operations of the entire war.  There's a LOT of thirty year olds today that are still trying to "find themselves".  These "kids" held the fate of a multi-billion dollar military program in their hands as well as the fate of millions of soldiers and civillians on both sides of the conflict.  I have been studying every facet of the Manhattan Project since I was nine years old.  Maybe that's why I have so little patience for adults that just can't seem to get their s*** together.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/21 18:21 by junctiontower.

Very cool shots!! Thank you for sharing them.

Copy19 wrote:

> I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of an account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that B-29s had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft subject to all kinds of problems.  It was amazing that the attack plane got off the ground.

Why was it amazing the attack plane got off the ground?  Because the plane was "quirky" or because of its heavy load?


junctiontower Wrote:

> Albury was one of three pilots selected by Paul Tibbets out of the B-29 testing program he ran to be part of the 509th. 

I don't understand the reference to "three pilots."  There were 13 B-29s that made up the bomb squadron of the 509th Composite Group.
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/21 05:49 by johnsweetser.

johnsweetser Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> copy19 wrote:
>
> > I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of
> an account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that
> B-29s had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft
> subject to all kinds of problems.  It was amazing
> that the attack plane got off the ground.
>
> Why was it amazing the attack plane got off the
> ground?  Because the plane was so "quirky"
>
>
> junctiontower Wrote:
>
> > Albury was one of three pilots selected by Paul
> Tibbets out of the B-29 testing program he ran to
> be part of the 509th. 
>
> I don't understand the reference to "three
> pilots."  There were 13 B-29s that made up the
> bomb squadron of the 509th Composite Group.
>  

The rest of the pilots were from the squadron of freshly trained crews that were assigned to the 509th.  The three pilots metioned, as well as bomdardiers Tom Ferebee and Kermit Beahan, navigator Dutch Van Kirk, flight engineer Wyatt Duzenbury and tail gunner George Caron (there may have been a few others) were hand selcted from other units based on Tibbets' and Ferebees' personal experience working with them either in combat in Europe and North Africa or in the B-29 test program. 

johnsweetser Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Copy19 wrote:
>
> > I was surprised to learn in a recent reading of
> an account of the Nagasaki atomic bombing that
> B-29s had a bad reputation as quirky aircraft
> subject to all kinds of problems.  It was amazing
> that the attack plane got off the ground.
>
> Why was it amazing the attack plane got off the
> ground?  Because the plane was "quirky" or
> because of its heavy load?
>
>
> junctiontower Wrote:
>
> > Albury was one of three pilots selected by Paul
> Tibbets out of the B-29 testing program he ran to
> be part of the 509th. 
>
> I don't understand the reference to "three
> pilots."  There were 13 B-29s that made up the
> bomb squadron of the 509th Composite Group.
>  


But only two planes and two crews that actually carried and dropped the weapons.
The crews who carried and dropped the weapons were picked by Col Tibbits.

According to Tibbets, he wanted EVERY plane and crew in the squadron to be fully capable of delivering a nuclear strike, plus every mission had weather, photo and scientific missions to be flown, so IF the war had continued past Nagasaki, it would have required a full squadron to meet all of the mission assignments. Tibbets has also stated that as training progressed, Bob Lewis's crew and Chuck Sweeney's crew were at the top of his board.  Now how much this had to do with the fact that Tibbets had personally brought those two pilots into the 509th, or just the fact that they likely had more B-29 seat time under more diverse conditions than any of the other pilots because they were involved in the B-29 test program, I can't say.  From basically the beginning, Tibbets chose to fly the training missions he DID fly with Lewis's crew, and when the time came for the first real strike, there was no question that HE was going to command the mission, and that it would be in "Lewis's" plane and with Lewis's crew, even though that meant kicking Lewis to the right hand seat, and displacing Lewis's co-pilot, and his bombardier and navigator with Ferebee and Van Kirk.  From what I understand, Duzenbury and Caron were assigned to Lewis's crew from day one. Sweeney flew the second strike with his crew intact, plus the extra men that were responsible for the bomb itself.  Supposedly, after Tibbets became VERY unhappy with Sweeney's performance during that mission, he had decided that should a third strike be flown, he would once again do it himself, perhaps with the Enola Gay crew or one of the other crews. Whether he actually said that, whether he would have followed through with that, or whether his superiors would have even allowed it is open to debate.  Personally, I think much of the criticism of Sweeney was unjustified.  A LOT of things happened on that mission that were NOT his fault, he was a victim of some questionable decision making by others, and the fact was that despite his rank and position, he did not have the combat and command experience that Tibbets had. Sweeney hero worshipped Tibbets, and if he was guilty of anything, he was probably trying TOO HARD to carry out the mission the way he thought Tibbets would have under the circumstances, when it MIGHT have been better to just scrub the mission and come back another day. Despite everything that happened, he STILL managed to get a bomb "basically on target", the plane and crew all made it home, and the desired result, the end of the war happened.