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The 509th Composite Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. Commanded by Paul W. Tibbets, it conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The group, which was activated on 17 December 1944, was designated as a "composite" rather than a "bombardment" formation because it contained flying squadrons equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers and C-47 Skytrain and C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft. It operated Silverplate B-29s, which were specially configured to enable them to carry nuclear weapons. In addition to the two nuclear bombing raids, it carried out 15 practice missions against Japanese-held islands and 12 combat missions against targets in Japan, dropping high-explosive pumpkin bombs. In the postwar era, the 509th Composite Group was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946 and the only one equipped with Silverplate B-29 Superfortress aircraft capable of delivering atomic bombs. It was standardized as a bombardment group and redesignated the 509th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, on 10 July 1946. (Full article...)
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