''Jabit III'' (alternately spelled ''Jabbitt III''
) was the name of a

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined Propeller (aeronautics), propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to ...

(B-29-36-MO 44-27303, Victor number 71) participating in the atomic bomb attack on

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

on August 6, 1945. Assigned to the

393d Bomb Squadron The 393rd Bomb SquadronOfficially, the 393d Bomb Squadron is part of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. It operates Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit nuclear-capable strategic bomber aircraft. The squadron was first orga ...

509th Composite Group The 509th Composite Group (509 CG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. It conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in ...

, ''Jabit III'' was used as a weather reconnaissance aircraft and flew to the city of

Kokura is an ancient Jōkamachi, castle town and the center of modern Kitakyushu, Japan. Kokura is also the name of the Kokura Station, penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR West. Ferries connect Kokura ...

, designated as the secondary target, before the final bombing to determine if conditions were favorable for an attack.

History

One of 15

Silverplate Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop ...

B-29's used by the 509th CG, ''Jabit III'' was manufactured at the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant at

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, as a block 35 Superfortress, one of 10 redesignated block 36 in recognition of its Silverplate status. It was delivered to the USAAF on April 3, 1945. Assigned to Crew B-6 (Captain John A. Wilson, Aircraft Commander), ''Jabit III'' was flown to its home base at

Wendover Army Air Field Wendover Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Utah now known as Wendover Airport. During World War II, it was a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. It was the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, in April 1945, departing Wendover for North Field, Tinian on June 5, 1945, arriving on June 11. ''Jabit III'' was originally assigned the Victor (unit-assigned aircraft identification) number 1 but on August 1 was given the large 'A' tail markings of the 497th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor number changed to 71, to avoid misidentification with actual 497th BG aircraft. ''Jabit III'' was used by the group commander, Col.

Paul Tibbets Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the '' Enola Gay'' (named after his moth ...

, on July 24 and 25 to drop two dummy

Little Boy Little Boy was a type of atomic bomb created by the Manhattan Project during World War II. The name is also often used to describe the specific bomb (L-11) used in the bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ...

atomic bomb assemblies into the ocean off Tinian to test fire their

radar altimeter A radar altimeter (RA), also called a radio altimeter (RALT), electronic altimeter, reflection altimeter, or low-range radio altimeter (LRRA), measures altitude above the terrain presently beneath an aircraft or spacecraft by timing how long it t ...

components. In addition to the Hiroshima mission and two test flights, ''Jabit III'' was flown by Capt. Wilson and crew B-6 on ten training and practice missions, and three combat missions, dropping

pumpkin bomb Pumpkin bombs were conventional aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II. Its physical characteristics closely replicated those of the Fat Man plutonium b ...

s on industrial targets in

Taira The was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period of Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Tachibana. The clan is divided into four major groups, named ...

, Ube, and Uwajima. 1st Lt. Ralph Devore and crew A-3 flew ''Jabit III'' on a pumpkin bomb mission to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. ''Jabit III'' and crew B-6 were one of two sent back to Wendover on August 9, 1945, to stage for possibly bringing back the

plutonium core In nuclear weapon design, the pit is the core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it. Early pits were spherical, while most modern pits are prolate spheroidal. So ...

and

initiator An initiator can refer to: * A person who instigates something. * Modulated neutron initiator, a neutron source used in some nuclear weapons ** Initiator, an Explosive booster ** Initiator, the first Nuclear chain reaction * Pyrotechnic initiator, ...

for a third atomic bomb, but the war ended before that occurred. The aircraft had been unnamed when it left Tinian but was possibly given a name and nose art during its return to the United States. It was damaged in a landing accident in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on September 29, 1945, while on a training flight and was scrapped in April 1946.

Hiroshima mission crew

Crew B-6 (regularly assigned to ''Jabit III'') *Capt. John A. Wilson, Aircraft Commander *2nd Lt. Ellsworth T. Carrington, Co-Pilot *2nd Lt. James S. Duva, Navigator *2nd Lt. Paul W. Gruning, Bombardier *M/Sgt. James W. Davis, Flight Engineer *S/Sgt. Glen H. Floweree, Radio Operator *Sgt. Vernon J. Rowley, Radar Operator *Cpl. Chester A. Rogalski, Tail Gunner *Cpl. Donald L. Rowe, Assistant Engineer/Scanner

Other aircraft named ''Jabit III''

Two FB-111A strategic bombers of the USAF

509th Bomb Wing The 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command, Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The 509 BW is the host unit at Whiteman, and operates t ...

, serials 67-7193 and 68-0258, carried the original nose art of ''Jabit III'' on their nosewheel doors while based at

Pease Air Force Base Pease, in Middle English, was a noun referring to the vegetable pea; see that article for its etymology. The word survives into modern English in pease pudding. Pease may also refer to: People * Pease family (Darlington), a prominent family in Da ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, in the 1970s and 1980s. -7193 was named ''Jabitt III'' and -0258 ''Jabit IV''.

Notes

Sources

* Campbell, Richard H., ''The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs'' (2005),
509th CG Aircraft Page, MPHPA
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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jabit Iii (Aircraft) Jabit III Jabit III Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki