Staff Sgt. Buckley, Master Sgt. Kuharek, Sgt. Gallagher, Staff Sgt. DeHart, Sgt. Spitzer
Posted on 06/04/2009 5:13:19 PM PDT by Borges
ORLANDO, Fla. – Charles Donald Albury, co-pilot of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, has died after years of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
Albury died May 23 at a hospital, Family Funeral Care in Orlando confirmed.
Albury helped fly the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the weapon on Aug. 9, 1945, and witnessed the deployment of the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima three days earlier as a pilot for a support plane. His plane dropped instruments to measure the magnitude of the blast and levels of radioactivity for the Hiroshima mission led by Col. Paul Tibbets Jr.
"When Tibbets dropped the bomb, we dropped our instruments and made our left turn," Albury told Time magazine four years ago. "Then this bright light hit us and the top of that mushroom cloud was the most terrifying but also the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your life. Every color in the rainbow seemed to be coming out of it."
Three days later, Albury copiloted the mission over Nagasaki. Cloud cover caused problems for the mission until the bombardier found a hole in the clouds.
The 10,200-pound explosive instantly killed an estimated 40,000 people. Another 35,000 died from injuries and radiation sickness. Japan surrendered on Aug. 14.
Albury said he felt no remorse, since the attacks prevented what was certain to be a devastating loss of life in a U.S. invasion of Japan.
"My husband was a hero," Roberta Albury, his wife of 65 years, told The Miami Herald. "He saved one million people ... He sure did do a lot of praying."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
RIP - American Hero!
gnip...
American Hero BUMP
RIP Capt. Albury. Thank you.
Those two bombing runs saved so many lives it was a act of mercy on our enemy and blessing for our men
Indeed. RIP for a certified hero.
Super Hero indeed, can you imagine taking off with that thing, armed are not.
Rest in peace our greatest generation and thank you.
Saved millions of lives both Japanese and American.
It was horrific, but needed.
When this story pops over at the WashCompost the comments section will have vile comments about this man’s death....mark it down.
So very true. They had to be the most important military flights in history(that we know of).
RIP, Captain Albury.
Thanks and God’s speed Captain Albury.
(I had the pleasure of talking with the son of one of the navigators while in Cody WY)
Col. Paul Tibbets and his men broke the Japanese fanaticism with their two atomic bombs and thus paved the way for an end to the war and the killing, the prevention of many additional deaths, and the free and prosperous Japan that we’ve known for 60+ years.
Despite lots of criticisms from Lefties who are freaked out about nuclear weapons, nobody could reverse or take away from them what they did. They had every reason to be proud for all their days.
RIP.
Must have died from radiation poisoning. < /sarc>
A good oppourtunity for Obama to apoligize; after all those evil military pilots killed innocent people.
When my pop was asked what he thought about nuking Japan he is a WWII vet he would always say “They should not have asked us to dance”
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