[Deathwatch] Charles Donald Albury, pilot, 88

[Deathwatch Central]

Nagasaki A-bomb plane co-pilot dies at age 88
Fri Jun 5

ORLANDO, Fla. – Charles Donald Albury, co-pilot of the plane that
dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, has died after years of
congestive heart failure. He was 88.

Albury died May 23 at a hospital, Family Funeral Care in Orlando
confirmed.

Albury helped fly the B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed "Bockscar," that
dropped the weapon on Aug. 9, 1945. He also witnessed the first atomic
blast over Hiroshima, as a pilot on a support plane that measured the
magnitude of the blast and levels of radioactivity.

The Hiroshima mission was led by Col. Paul Tibbets Jr. aboard the
better-known "Enola Gay."

"When Tibbets dropped the bomb, we dropped our instruments and made our
left turn," Albury told Time magazine four years ago. "Then this bright
light hit us and the top of that mushroom cloud was the most
terrifying, but also the most beautiful, thing you've ever seen in your
life. Every color in the rainbow seemed to be coming out of it."

Three days later, Albury copiloted the mission over Nagasaki. Cloud
cover caused problems for the mission until the bombardier found a hole
in the clouds.

The 10,200-pound explosive instantly killed an estimated 40,000 people.
Another 35,000 died from injuries and radiation sickness. Japan
surrendered on Aug. 14.

Albury said he felt no remorse, since the attacks prevented what was
certain to be a devastating loss of life in a U.S. invasion of Japan.

"My husband was a hero," Roberta Albury, his wife of 65 years, told The
Miami Herald. "He saved one million people ... He sure did do a lot of
praying."

Gwyneth Clarke-Bell, Albury's secretary at Eastern Airlines, where he
worked for most of his career after World War II, told the Herald that
Albury "felt he was doing his job, and that lives were saved on both
sides."

Albury was born in 1920 at his parents' home, now the site of the Miami
Police Department. He enlisted in the wartime Army before graduating
from the University of Miami's engineering school. In 1943, Albury
joined Tibbets' unit: the elite 509th Composite Group. They trained at
Wendover Air Field in Utah. At the time, the participants were clueless
as to the scope of what they were training to do.

After the war, he settled in Coral Gables, Fla., with his wife and flew
for Eastern Airlines. He eventually co-managed Eastern's Airbus A-300
training program.

Albury told the Herald in 1982 that he deplored war but would do what
he did again if someone attacked the United States.

"Everyone should be prepared to fight for liberty," he said. "Our laws
give us our freedom and I think that's worth fighting for."

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary