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Up An' Atom was the name of aB-29 Superfortress (B-29-36-MO 44-27304,Victor number 88) configured duringWorld War II in theSilverplate project to carry anatomic bomb.
Assigned to the393d Bomb Squadron,509th Composite Group, it was built at theGlenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant atOmaha, Nebraska, accepted by the Army Air Forces on April 3, 1945, and flown toWendover Army Air Field,Utah, by its assigned crew B-10 (Capt. George W. Marquardt, Aircraft Commander). It departed Wendover forNorth Field, Tinian on June 11 and arrived on June 17.
It was originally assigned the Victor (unit-assigned identification number) number 8 but on August 1 was given thetriangle N tail markings of the444th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor changed to 88 to avoid misidentification with actual 444th BG aircraft. It was named and had its nose art painted after the Nagasaki mission. The name is a word play on the colloquialidiom "Up and at 'em", meaning "There is a lot of work to be done," and referencing the unit's atomic mission.
While at Tinian, Marquadt and crew B-10 flewUp An' Atom on eight training and practice bombing missions andpumpkin bomb missions against industrial targets inTaira andHamamatsu,Japan. Capt. Bob Lewis's crew B-9 flew it on a pumpkin bomb mission toTokushima subsequent to theHiroshima mission, and Lt.Col. James Hopkins and crew C-14 used it to attackNagoya with a pumpkin bomb.
Up An' Atom returned to the United States with the 509th CG in November 1945 toRoswell Army Airfield. From April to August 1946 it was assigned to theOperation Crossroads task force. In August 1949 it became part of the97th Bomb Group atBiggs Air Force Base,Texas, and was re-configured as a TB-29 trainer in April 1950 by the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area atTinker Air Force Base.
Its subsequent assignments were to:
Up An' Atom 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.
