Charles W. Sweeney’s archive of 24 documents from his career in the United States Army Air Forces, 1944-1946. 61 pp., most 8" x 10.5" or 8.5" x 11". Includes at least 8 signatures by Sweeney. This archive features a group of memoranda from Captain Sweeney to Lt. Colonel Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, from early 1944, when Sweeney was testing B-29s in Birmingham. His experiences there made him familiar with B-29s, like Bockscar, which he piloted in August 1945 to drop the atomic bomb "Fat Man" on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
Several documents chronicle Sweeney's promotion from 2nd lieutenant to major between 1941 and 1944. Additional documents from late 1945 and 1946 document the return of the 509th Composite Group to the United States and Sweeney's retirement from active service. The orders from November 1, 1945, include a list of thirteen aircraft with their crew and passengers. Aboard A/C 44-27353 ("The Great Artiste") was Crew C-15, which had flown Bockscar to deliver the atomic bomb on August 9. This crew included aircraft commander Major Charles W. Sweeney, pilot Capt. Charles D. Albury, co-pilot 2nd Lt. Fred J. Olivi, navigator Capt. James F. Van Pelt Jr., flight engineer Master Sgt. John D. Kuharek, gunner and assistant flight engineer Staff Sgt. Raymond C. Gallagher, radar operator Staff Sgt. Edward K. Buckley, radio operator Staff Sgt. Abe M. Spitzer, and tail gunner Sgt. Albert T. DeHart.
Bombardier Capt. Kermit K. Beahan, for whom The Great Artiste was named, had participated in the record-breaking Japan-Washington flight aboard one of three B-29 Superfortresses on September 18-19, 1945. Originally intending to travel 6,500 miles nonstop to Washington, the group landed in Chicago to refuel before continuing to Washington, where each crew member received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Contents and Excerpts
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, January 27, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report re tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Base Operations Officer, Eglin Field, Florida, January 28, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Transmitting Form 1s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, January 28, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report re tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, January 29, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report re tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, January 30, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report re tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, January 31, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report re tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo, to Paul Tibbets, February 1, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11".
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
"At this time no B-29 planes are ready for flight. While we are waiting for an airplane to be turned over to us we are working on the line in order to get one ready as soon as possible."
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 2, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 3 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
"One qualified B-29 crew, consisting of the contractor's civilian pilot, co-pilot and engineer, has returned to this facility from the Boeing factory at Wichita. This crew will take over the flight testing of B-29 airplanes at this facility in the near future. In the meantime, Major Duckworth has requested that the army crew remain for a few days to assist the civilian crew."
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 3, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 4 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 4, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 2 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 5, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 3 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 6, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 1 unsigned copy)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 7, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 2 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- Charles W. Sweeney, Typed Memo Signed, to Paul Tibbets, February 4, 1944, Birmingham, Alabama. 1 p., 8.5" x 11" (+ 3 unsigned copies)
Daily activity report of tests of B-29s.
- R. A. Hepp, Typed "Restricted" Memo Signed, to Commanding Officer, Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, November 8, 1945, Mather Field, Sacramento, California. 1 p., 8" x 3.5".
- Roy T. Wright, Typed "Restricted" Special Orders No. 280, November 1, 1945, San Francisco, California. 6 pp., 8" x 10.5" and 8" x 13" (+ 5 copies, each 2 pp., certified by Griffin H. Wood)
"The Officers and EM, Race-White unless otherwise indicated, (• indicates Race-Chinese), 393d Bomb Sq, 509th Composite Group (Air and Flight Echelons), unless otherwise indicated, listed on attached five (5) pages, which are made a part of this order, are reld fr asgmt and dy this sta, are asgd Army Air Field, Roswell, New Mexico, and WP o/a 2 Nov 45 to ATC Port of Entry within Continental U.S., for routing to that sta."
- Promotion Orders for Charles W. Sweeney
- Typed Personnel Orders No. 290, Special Orders No. 291, Extracts, December 12, 1941. 3 pp., 8" x 10.5" (active duty as a second lieutenant);
- Typed Memo, Promotion under Public Law No. 455, March 26, 1942. 1 p., 8" x 10.5" (promotion to first lieutenant);
- Typed Restricted Extract of Special Orders No. 53, February 22, 1943. 1 p., 8" x 10.5" (promotion to captain);
- Typed Restricted Extract of Special Orders No. 227, September 21, 1944. 1 p., 8" x 10.5" (promotion to major).
- Individual A. A. F. Issue Record, Partially Printed Document Initialed, Articles Issued to and Turned in by Major Charles W. Sweeney, Pilot, May 21, 1945-June 20, 1946. 2 pp., 8" x 10.5"
- Report of Collections for Authorized Sales of Services & Supplies, Partially Printed Document Signed, June 20, 1946. Receipt for payment for pair of flying sunglasses, valued at $3.25. 1 p., 8" x 10.5.”
"I certify that the items listed hereon were authorized under existing regulations, that these items have been issued previously to me and that these items are to replace like items that have been lost or stolen through no fault or neglect of the undersigned and I have not disposed of subject items by gift or sale; I further certify that in the event of subsequent recovery of the lost or stolen items, I will return such items to the nearest AAF Accountable Officer as soon as practicable…."
- Requisition and Shipping Ticket, Partially Printed Document Signed, June 20, 1946, re bag and flying sunglasses. 1 p., 10.5" x 8".
- War Department Pay and Allowance Account, Partially Printed Document, June 30, 1946. 2 pp., 8" x 10.5" (+ duplicate)
For the month of June 1946, Sweeney received base pay of $262.50, additional pay for flying of $131.25, and subsistence allowance of $63.00. Subtracting $285.00 for "Class ‘E' Allotment" and $6.50 for National Service Life Insurance, left him with net pay of $165.25. The Class E Allotment went to his wife Dorothy W. Sweeney at the Roswell Army Air Field, in Roswell, New Mexico. In overall very good to fine condition, with general toning, and a few edge tears.
Historical Background
In 1942, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, leased the Birmingham Airport to the United States Army Air Corps for $1 per year to test airplanes before they were sent into combat. That same year, Bechtel-McCone-Parsons (BMP) obtained a government contract to modify and complete airplanes made in Henry Ford's Willow Run factory in Michigan. BMP constructed a huge new facility in 1943, where 40 percent of its workforce were women. By the end of the war, BMP had modified 5,710 planes, made 600 sets of B-24 wings, and produced 5,600 quarter-ton army trucks.
After the German Third Reich surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, World War II in Europe was at an end. However, the Allied war against the Empire of Japan continued in the Pacific theater. Although the Japanese had been pushed back from many of its island conquests, the Japanese Empire still controlled Korea, Taiwan, Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and much of mainland China on August 1, 1945.
Even before Germany surrendered, the Allies were contemplating an invasion of the Japanese home islands to begin in October 1945, and the Japanese leadership planned a vigorous defense. Both sides predicted heavy casualties. Throughout the first half of 1945, long-range B-29 Superfortress bombers delivered incendiary bombs to burn Japanese cities, ultimately targeting more than one hundred cities and towns.
On August 6, 1945, a crew led by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the United States Army Air Forces flew the B-29 Enola Gay and dropped an atomic bomb ("Little Boy") on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a port and industrial center. The crew was part of the 509th Composite Group, based on Tinian in the Marianas Islands. Two additional B-29 aircraft—The Great Artiste, commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney, and Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt—accompanied the Enola Gay and carried instrumentation and photographic equipment. The bomb killed from 90,000 to 146,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians over the next two to four months.
Three days later, a crew commanded by Sweeney but flying the B-29 Bockscar dropped a second bomb ("Fat Man") on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, a major military port and one of Japan's largest shipbuilding and repair centers. The mission had originally been scheduled for August 11 against the city of Kokura, the site of one of Japan's largest munitions plants, but the mission was moved up to avoid five days of adverse weather forecast to begin on August 10. Two additional B-29s—The Great Artiste, commanded by Captain Frederick C. Bock, and Big Stink, commanded by Major James I. Hopkins Jr.—were to rendezvous with Bockscar off the coast of Japan. However, Big Stink failed to make the rendezvous. Although ordered to wait no more than fifteen minutes, Sweeney waited for forty minutes before proceeding to Kokura without Big Stink. At Kokura, clouds and drifting smoke obscured much of the city. After three bomb runs over the next fifty minutes proved unsuccessful and with Japanese anti-aircraft fire getting close and Japanese fighters scrambling, Bockscar and The Great Artiste proceeded to the secondary target of Nagasaki. A brief break in the clouds allowed bombardier Captain Kermit K. Beahan to sight the target and drop the bomb. Although it missed the intended target by nearly two miles, the explosion killed 60,000 to 80,000 people over the next four months. Without enough fuel to reach Iwo Jima, Bockscar diverted to Okinawa, where it made a hard and nearly disastrous landing with two of its four engines dead from fuel exhaustion and fewer than five minutes of fuel remaining.
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on the same day, and after several tense meetings and the suppression of an attempted coup d'état, the Empire of Japan surrendered unconditionally on July 15, 1945. Japanese authorities signed the formal instrument of surrender on board the USS Missouri on September 2.
Charles W. Sweeney (1919-2004) was born in Massachusetts and served as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He became an instructor in the atomic missions training project in Utah and was selected to be part of the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. He was named commander of the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron in January 1945. In May he became commander of the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, which flew Silverplate B-29s. In June and July, he moved his unit to Tinian in the Marianas Islands for additional training. On August 6, he piloted The Great Artiste as the instrumentation and support aircraft for the atomic attack on Hiroshima. Three days later, he commanded Bockscar, which delivered the atomic bomb Fat Man to Nagasaki, the secondary target, after clouds obscured the primary target. Sweeney left the Army Air Forces with the rank of lieutenant colonel in June 1946 but remained active in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, where he was promoted to colonel and brigadier general in 1956. He served in Europe during the Berlin Crisis of 1961-1962 and coordinated civil defense in Boston in the 1960s. He retired in 1976 as a major general in the Air National Guard. In 1997, he published an autobiography that prompted vigorous criticism from other members of the 509th.
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