Special Weapons Project Sandia Base-Question

[Brad]

I have a certificate belonging to the father of a friend of mine from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Sandia base in Albuquerque NM. He was a B-29 pilot during and after WWII. The course that he attended was Delivery Course DB-91 and the dates were 15 February 1954-5 March 1954.

I'm familiar with the Special Weapons project but don't know anything about Delivery Course DB-91. Is anybody familiar with that particular course and know some details about it?

[JohnB]

Probably still classified...
But allow me to offer an observation. If he took the course in 1954, he was no longer flying the B-29...and probably not the B-50. I'd assume the B-36 and B-47 were the USAF's only nuclear capable bombers operational at that point (but there were nuke-capable fighter bombers F-84), etc. as well).

The "delivery course makes it sound like something needed to do the B-47 "toss" maneuver. But I'd think they'd have taught that at the B-47 OTU.

[Brad]

Thanks John. Actually he was still flying B-29s at that point. I've seen his logbook.

[JohnB]

I'm pretty sure that B-29s no longer had a nuke combat mission by that point in time. I wonder if by "delivery" they meant the actual delivering of the weapon to a base?

[Brad]

Delivery, as in carrying from point A to point B, is a different mission with a different name. That one I'm very familiar with. I pretty sure that's not what they were doing.

[JohnB]

If not, then I question the B-29 connection. The B-29 was obsolete by then as a bomber...especially a nuke delivery platform.
If it didn't have a frontline SAC mission, then there would be no need for a B-29 pilot to attend a special school. Again, I'm not doubting he attended the school, but rather he attended because of his role as a B-29 pilot. Was he scheduled (or expected) to transition into a different aircraft?
Any B-29 experts out there? Were any B-29s in a combat role that late?

[Brad]

He was strictly a B-29 pilot at that time and had been since 1944 and I want to say he was at Randolph when he went to .this course. He flew them until mid 1959 when he was put in WB-50s for a few months until he was medically disqualified for flying. He went to a staff job and retired in the early to mid 60s. B-29s were still the main bomber in Korea in 1953, although they were obsolete. I'm no expert but I do know B-29s pretty well and I don't see a nuclear mission being out of the realm of possibility even that late in the game. "FIFI" went to China Lake around then and she still had the nuclear weapons rack in the forward bomb bay at the time. She spent most of her life as a trainer but was still modified at some point because she didn't come from the factory that way.

EDIT: I was wrong! "FIFI" did not arrive at Harlingen with the nuclear weapons rack installed. See my next comment.

Last edited by Brad on Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Brad]

I must make a correction to my "FIFI" comment and I'm happy to do so. In fact, it is one more facet to the "true" story about her.

I made the comment that "FIFI" arrived at Harlingen with the Atomic bomb release device still installed. That has been the story that I've always heard and has been repeated many times before. On Saturday I got a phone call from a friend who was associated with "FIFI" pretty much from the beginning but doesn't participate with the airplane now. This was the story he told me yesterday on the phone.

Two individuals from the CAF drove a pickup out to China Lake and spent some time stripping engines and parts off of other B-29s to use as spares for "FIFI". Contrary to what has been said in the past, the CAF didn't "steal" anything from the other planes. They had blanket approval to take anything and everything they wanted, up to two complete airplanes if desired. I've got the letter from the Navy that confirms this. The individual that called me said that he recalls that they took parts off of about thirteen different airplanes in the quest for spares. Of all those airplanes, only one had the atom bomb release still installed. He pulled it out of that airplane and threw it in the back of his pickup. Several times they drove in and out of the main gate at China Lake and nobody said or asked anything about the bomb rack laying in the back of his pickup but it did make his partner very nervous to be a part of this.

When the trucks were loaded up and everything headed to Harlingen, the bomb rack went in the pickup back to this individual's house in Texas. It set in the garage until the "Enola Gay" movie was in production and it was sent to the CAF to be installed in "FIFI". It bolted right into the existing structure in the airplane and the last time this individual saw it, it was still bolted in the forward bomb bay. It's been gone for as long as I remember so who knows where it ended up.

I love learning new stuff about "FIFI" and I'm constantly amazed how much more I find out when I talk to the people that were actually there in the beginning. I'm glad this friend called to correct me!