| Necessary Evil | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Boeing B-29-45-MO Superfortress |
| Manufacturer | Glenn L. Martin Company |
| Serial | 44-86291 |
| Radio code | Victor 91 |
| History | |
| In service | May 18, 1945 - November 1956 |
| Fate | Struck from the Air Force inventory in November 1956, Necessary Evil was transferred to the U.S. Navy and used as a target at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake, California. |
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Necessary Evil, also referred to as Plane #91, was the name of Boeing B-29-45-MO Superfortress 44-86291 (Victor 91), participating in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
Assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group, it was used as a camera plane to photograph the explosion and effects of the bomb, and to carry scientific observers. At the time of the attack the plane was not named and was known only by its 393d Victor number. The mission was flown by crew B-10, with Captain George Marquardt as aircraft commander.
The crew regularly assigned to this airplane in turn flew on the Nagasaki mission on August 9, 1945, in another B-29; Big Stink, though without their aircraft commander, who was ill.