Bockscar pilot Charles Sweeney RIP

I just now learned that then-Major Charles Sweeney, the pilot of
Bockscar on the Nagasaki mission, died in Boston last Thursday at the
age of 84. According to an obituary this morning in the Aero-News
email newsletter:

A staunch defender of the atomic missions, Sweeney told Quincy
(MA) Patriot Ledger in 1995, 'I looked upon it as a duty. I just
wanted the war to be over, so we could get back home to our loved
ones. I hope my missions were the last ones of their kind that will
ever be flown.'

His rank was Brig. Gen (retired).

all the best -- Dan Ford
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In article , Cub Driver wrote:
I just now learned that then-Major Charles Sweeney, the pilot of
Bockscar on the Nagasaki mission, died in Boston last Thursday at the
age of 84. According to an obituary this morning in the Aero-News
email newsletter:

I met Fred Olivi, the copilot of that mission, at OSH in 2000. Is he
still going? He looked pretty venerable by then.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan Smith wrote:

I met Fred Olivi, the copilot of that mission, at OSH in 2000. Is he
still going? He looked pretty venerable by then.

He died last April. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/tex...2004-52852.asp

George Patterson
In Idaho, tossing a rattlesnake into a crowded room is felony assault.
In Tennessee, it's evangelism.