| Laggin' Dragon | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Boeing B-29-50-MO Superfortress |
| Manufacturer | Glenn L. Martin Company |
| Serial | 44-86347 |
| Radio code | Victor 95 |
| History | |
| In service | June 15, 1945 - July 1960 |
| Fate | Converted to TB-29 in 1946, scrapped July 1960 |
Laggin' Dragon was the name of aBoeing B-29 Superfortress (B-29-50-MO, 44-86347Victor number 95) configured to carry theatomic bomb inWorld War II.
Laggin' Dragon was the last of the fifteenSilverplate B-29s delivered to the509th Composite Group for use in the atomic bomb operation. Built at theGlenn L. Martin Aircraft plant atOmaha, Nebraska, it was accepted by the USAAF on June 15, 1945, after most of the 509th CG had already leftWendover Army Air Field,Utah, forNorth Field, Tinian. Assigned to the393d Bomb Squadron, Crew A-2 (Capt. Edward M. Costello, Aircraft Commander) flew it to Wendover in early July and briefly used in training and practice bombing missions.
On July 27, 1945, Costello and his crew flew the airplane from Wendover toKirtland Army Air Field,Albuquerque, New Mexico, accompanied byanother 509th B-29 and one from theManhattan Project test unit at Wendover (216th AAF Base Unit). There each loaded one of threeFat Man atomic bomb assemblies (without theplutonium core, which had left the day before by courier on one of the 509th CG'sC-54 Skymaster transports) in its bomb bay for conveyance to Tinian.
The three bombers flew toMather Army Air Field, California, on July 28, and took off forHawaii on July 29. During takeoff from Mather, a panel door onLaggin' Dragon enclosing thelife raft compartment opened and ejected the raft, which wrapped around theempennage and impeded the B-29's elevators. The aircraft struggled to stay aloft but the pilots managed to return safely to Mather. After removing and replacing some major tail assemblies,Laggin' Dragon and its cargo continued to Hawaii, finally reaching Tinian on August 2.
It was assigned thesquare P tail identifier of the39th Bomb Group as a security measure and given Victor (unit-assigned identification) number 95 to avoid misidentification with actual 39th BG aircraft. The airplane was named while still at Wendover but the nose art was not applied until after the atomic missions. It arrived too late to participate in other combat operations and participated in two practice flights subsequent to the atomic attacks. On August 9, 1945, as part of the second atomic bomb mission, it was flown by another crew as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the secondary target ofNagasaki.
Laggin' Dragon returned to the United States in November 1945, based with the 509th CG atRoswell Army Air Field,New Mexico. In June 1946 it was part of theOperation Crossroads task force based onKwajalein. In June 1949 it was transferred to the97th Bomb Group atBiggs Air Force Base,Texas, and in April 1950 was converted to a TB-29 trainer atKelly Air Force Base,Texas, and the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area atTinker Air Force Base.
It was subsequently assigned to:
Crew A-2
Crew B-8 (regularly assigned toTop Secret)
ThreeFB-111A strategic bombers of the USAF509th Bomb Wing, serials 68-0269, 68-0274 and 68-0284, carried the name and original nose art ofLaggin' Dragon on their nosewheel doors while based atPease Air Force Base,New Hampshire, in the 1970s and 1980s.