Charles Sweeney
Charles W. Sweeney (born December 27, 1919 in Lowell , Massachusetts , † July 15, 2004 in Boston , Massachusetts) was a brigadier general in the American Air Force . He was the pilot of the B-29 bomber Bockscar , from which the Fat Man atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki .
Life
Charles Sweeney joined the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) as a cadet on April 28, 1941 and received his license as a pilot in December 1941. Major Sweeney was the pilot of the Boeing B-29 bomber Bockscar , from which the Fat Man atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, in the last days of World War II . The first atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima three days earlier . Sweeney had accompanied this mission as the pilot of the B-29 The Great Artiste , which had been converted for photo and observation purposes. The attack on Nagasaki killed around 35,000 - 45,000 people, including many civilians. The actual death toll can no longer be fully reconstructed. But it goes beyond the 100,000 limit, also due to the long-term effects of radiation. Around 60% of the city was destroyed.
Sweeney defended the use of atomic bombs all his life on the grounds that it ended the war and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. This view is controversial between proponents and opponents of the atomic bombing .
Sweeney has received numerous awards, including the Silver Star . He retired on December 27, 1979 with the rank of Brigadier General. He died on July 15, 2004 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
See also
literature
- Charles W. Sweeney, James A. Antonucci, Marion K. Antonucci. War's End: An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission , Harpercollins, 1997 ISBN 0-380-97349-9 (English)
Web links
- Biography (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sweeney, Charles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sweeney, Charles W. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US Air Force Brigadier General; Pilot of the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 27, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lowell (Massachusetts) , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 2004 |
| Place of death | Boston , Massachusetts, USA |