Nagasaki A-bomb plane co-pilot dies at age 88

Thank you for your srvice Mr. Albury; indeed you saved millions of lives. If the U.S. had NOT dropped the atomic bombs, people would be blaming the U.S. for not dropping the bombs. America became great because of people like you.

"War is Hell" as General Sherman said. As people are slaughtered on both sides the stakes rise and abominations abound. I do not blame anyone for this but WAR itself.

To use the word Hero for somebody who was involved killing thousands of people really sucks. Allthough i'm not japanese, i will never understand why the two A-Bombs are acceptable for many people. I wonder, how Americans would say, if they were bombed once...

Monoflow, since the horror of those two bombs, how many times since have these bombs been dropped?

Your welcome.

rest in peace mr albury. you will have a heroes welcome by the tens of thousand people you have bombed in the afterlife.

Good! Lived with it till 88! Now live with it for eternity.

USARonin... What was the reason to bomb Nagasaki as well, although Hiroshima leave already a big wound. And what was the reason, that Nagasaki's bombing was even more powerful, than the first one. In some eyes, it has to do with forcing peace at the end of World War 2. In my eyes, there must be something more than that. To bomb Nagasaki (or wherever they planned) was another wrong decision in America's Military History...

A lot of people like to blame America for various bad things (some of it they deserve). But in this case I don't blame America, I blame Bushido.

The stubborn mantra of "no surrender" and "fight till the last person" is great if you win...but if you lose, it's devestating. Also, the conscripting of civilians to fight is nothing to be proud of.

I think that if they showed the poser of these bombs at that time way off shore and said..."Hey, take a look at a what we can do!" and if they ignored it, said, "HEY LOOK AGAIN at what we can do!!!!" and if ignored again...pop another down on Tokyo. We did not have to kill a bunch of people to demonstrate the power. Priorities were set weird but we were not there and did not know what threats and other military situations including domestic production of A-Bombs in Kyoto...off limits to bombing runs due to cultural heritage... but that place was actively involved in A-bomb production

"acceptable" of course it is unacceptable!

this was had to be ended quickly and show the USSR who was the new boss.

Mr. Albury was no hero or a criminal to me. Rest in peace.

was -> war

Japantoday - the bomb had 4600 kg but the explosive was much smaller - barely 10-20 kg...

I lost family in Pearl Harbor, but bear no hatred to anyone. Hate begets hate and war is hell, but let this be a testament to the utmost horror that is nuclear weaponry...weaponry that North Korea and others are waving around like toys. RIP.

"that mushroom cloud was the most terrifying, but also the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your life. Every color seemed to be coming out of it."

Of course if Albury had been on the ground in Nagasaki, he wouldn't have said anything about anything being beautiful.

Reason the 2nd bomb code named the Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, was to test out differently enriched A bombs. The first one code named Little Boy was Uranium based. The 2nd one that was Plutonium based was supposedly the more powerful bomb was supposed to kill more people. But unfortunately, Nagasaki was literally a last minute choice and most kids were out of school.

In my book, Japan got what the deserve. Next time you start a war, make sure you can finish it.

What was the reason to bomb Nagasaki as well, although Hiroshima leave already a big wound.

The point of the bomb was to foce surrender, there was no response for three days after the first so another was deployed. As the saying goes 'if at first you don't succeed...'

I suppose the question is whether or not the ends justified the means, I believe they did. The war was stopped and at the sacrifice of thousands of lives many thousands more were spared.

Rest in peace Mr. Albury.

The fact that Albury felt no remorse was either his way of dealing with the assigment he was given or he had no emotions to begin with. In the end it doesn't matter the guy was a soldier carrying out an order he deserves neither praise nor condemnation. That said the bombing of Nagasaki was unnecessary and a great waste of human life.

"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."

Thanks for doing your duty and saving many lives on the Allied forces side and the Japanese side.

Yes, the Japanese were cruel to captured prisoners and others on a person-to-person basis but these bombs were even crueler because they didn't discriminate between soldiers or women or children. Can you really call that a legitimate method in war? I say that both bombs were unnecessary and the U.S. mainland itself wasn't under any real threat. Is a single Japanese soldier who is ordered to kill captured soldiers any different from a U.S. pilot who is ordered to kill a lot more innocent people?

RIP...all those years of guilt for the mass murder of so many civilians, poor guy must of been tormented.

@pathat

Thanks for doing your duty and saving many lives on the Allied forces side and the Japanese side

ditto

What an achievement. Killing 40,000 mostly non-combatants in one hit and then another 35,000 later from the after-effects. Don't think I'd be too proud of that.

@Den Den

Poor guy must have been tormented?

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.

Doesn't really seem so.

That said the bombing of Nagasaki was unnecessary and a great waste of human life.

It was unnecessary in that Japan should have surrendered long before either of the bombs were dropped. Italy was gone. Germany was gone. Japan didn't have much of an air force or navy left. There was really no hope for Japan to win.

So did Japan surrender? No. They dug in deeper to the bushido code of "never surrender". The strategy became, "inflict the maximum number of casualties on the enemy and fight to the last person".

but these bombs were even crueler because they didn't discriminate between soldiers or women or children. Can you really call that a legitimate method in war?

Interesting point. But it stops becoming valid when the country forcibly conscripts women and children into military service. Can you really call that a legitimate method in war?

Can you tell us of any documented cases of Japanese women or children attacking (let alone killing) Allied soldiers or civilians during the war?

Can you tell us of any documented cases of Japanese women or children attacking (let alone killing) Allied soldiers or civilians during the war?

Read my post again. I never said women and children attacked or killed anyone during the war. But I did say they were conscripted in order to prepare to defend the homeland. They also were forced to work in military factories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_soldier (scroll down to WWII part)

http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/c/o/Conscription.html (2nd paragraph)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Mobilization_Law (5th paragraph is interesting)

Also, I live next door to an old couple that confirm as true. Also, I talked to a Hiroshima survivor who was a high school student at the time, she confirmed as well.

Moderator: Back on topic please.

medievaltimes

My point was that the conscription of women and children was hardly going to have any impact on the outcome of the war and certainly shouldn't have contributed to the supposed justification of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Moreover, conscripting women and children is completely different from indiscriminately killing women and children with bombs, isn't it?

My point was that the conscription of women and children was hardly going to have any impact on the outcome of the war and certainly shouldn't have contributed to the supposed justification of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Moreover, conscripting women and children is completely different from indiscriminately killing women and children with bombs, isn't it?

Ahhh...yes it would have an impact. Not on the outcome of the war (at that point it was clear the Allies were going to win). But it would have an impact on how many people would be killed during a mainland invasion. It was well known the Japanese were fanatical about fighting till the end with no surrender.

This again goes back to my point of bushido...never surrender and fight to the last person. It's ok to take that stance if you want to...but don't complain when you lose and a lot of people die.

@medievaltimes

Ridiculous that it still has to be explained to some isn't it?

Albury said he felt no remorse

What a complete idiot. a disgrace to humanity. His wife's not better either. A shame he didn't died 88 years ago.

Medieviltimes: If we take it all the way back to the beginning the whole war was unnecessary. If you remove Tojo and Hull from the picture a settlement could have been negotiated. Hull and co. wouldn't negotiate on Manchuria and Tojo didn't know when to quit. I still don't believe your argument as the second bombing was merely to record data on a different bomb and Nagasaki was merely unlucky there was a break in the clouds that day.

expat - Although there were a lot of different variables to the war starting I think you are right about Manchuria and Tojo.

I dont believe your argument that the second bombing was "merely to record data". If that were the case the US would have dropped the second bomb the next day, or even the same day as Hiroshima. But they waited several days with no word of surrender.

Some people get upset that the US collected data from the bombings. I never really understood this. Of course they were going to collect data from the bombings. They were new weapons being used for the first time in combat.

I believe ending the war (something Japan was not interested in-even after the first bomb was dropped) was the main factor in the decision to drop the second bomb.

medieviltimes: we can agree to disagree but I appreciate your reasoned approach. It's refreshing to debate with someone who actually has a grasp of history.

medievaltimes

Why would a mainland invasion have been necessary when Japan had almost no ships or planes left that could inflict any serious damage abroad? They may have wanted to fight to the end if there was indeed a mainland invasion, but, the point again being that such an invasion would have been unnnecessary.

knews: interesting position and while you may have a point I think that the US was intent on overthrowing the Japanese government after all of the damage they did. I have to wonder whether Japan would be some sort of 3rd world pariah state like NK had we just left Japan to their own devices after disabling their offensive weaponry.

Why would a mainland invasion have been necessary when Japan had almost no ships or planes left that could inflict any serious damage abroad?

Becuase Japan refused to surrender.

When Hiroshima had been wiped out days before, why did the Japanese authorities not take the only action left to it and surrender unconditionally? Further resistence was clearly futile.

The leaders of Japan should be held responsible for allowing Nagasaki to take place.

Even though i dont think what they did was wrong, I myself would have dropped the bomb off Tokyo bay (hopefully downwind), to show people the destructive power. If they wouldnt give up then, a relatively unpopulated area inland would then be in order, then if that didnt do it then follow the original plan. They had plenty of bombs to use, and considering that none have been use since, it would have been worth it to take a couple extra days t prove their point.

The big problem, was that the puppet emperor and heads of military were never going to give up if the war would have been fought conventionally. This would have resulted in a bigger loss of life no only for americans, but also for the Japanese civilians living in these cities.

By the end of the war, all major cities except Kyoto had been firebombed to ashes, and more people died in these firebombing campaigns that in the 2 nuclear attacks.