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Full House was the name of aB-29 Superfortress (B-29-36-MO 44-27298,victor number 83) participating in the atomic bomb attack onHiroshima on August 6, 1945.
Assigned to the393d Bomb Squadron,509th Composite Group, it was used as a weather reconnaissance plane and flew to the city ofNagasaki, designated a "tertiary target", before the final bombing to determine if conditions were favorable for an attack. The aircraft also flew as a spare aircraft during the mission to bomb Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, but landed atIwo Jima when the B-29Bockscar was able to complete the mission.
One of 15Silverplate B-29s used by the 509th,Full House was built at theGlenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant atOmaha, Nebraska, as a Block 35 aircraft. It was one of 10 modified as a Silverplate and re-designated "Block 36". Delivered on March 20, 1945, to the USAAF, it was assigned to Crew A-1 (Captain Ralph R. Taylor, aircraft commander) and flown toWendover Army Air Field,Utah. It left Wendover on June 11, 1945, forNorth Field, Tinian and arrived June 17.
It was originally assigned the Victor (unit-assigned identification) number 13 but on August 1 was given thesquare P tail markings of the39th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor changed to 83 to avoid misidentification with actual 39th BG aircraft. It was namedFull House and its nose art applied after the atomic bomb missions.
In addition to its roles on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions, Capt. Taylor and crew A-1 flew the bomber on 12 practice and training missions, and four combat missions in which it droppedpumpkin bombs on industrial targets atToyama,Niihama,Yaizu, andUbe, Yamaguchi. Capt.Frederick C. Bock and crew C-13 flewFull House on a pumpkin bomb mission toKomoro, Nagano.
In November 1945 it returned to the United States with the 509th CG toRoswell Army Airfield. In June 1949 it was transferred to the97th Bomb Group atBiggs Air Force Base,Texas, then re-configured as a TB-29 trainer in April 1950 by The Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area atTinker Air Force Base.
It subsequently served as part of:
Full House was dropped from the Air Force inventory in November 1956. It was transferred to theU.S. Navy and used as a target at theNaval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake,California.
Crew A-1 (regularly assigned toFull House)