Too Many Members of the Crew of the Enola Gay and Bockscar

Fay Millward claimed during his life that he and Naval photographer Herbert Lemay were photographers aboard the Enola Gay and Bockscars during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As much as I would like to believe that Fay Millward was on board, I simply must concede that except for his own statements, there is simply no evidence that he was aboard either plane.  I have no doubt that he was on Tinian and was tasked with filming the the bombs assembly.

The pictures taken during the Hiroshima mission were taken by tail gunner George R. Caron. The pictures taken during the Nagasaki mission were taken by navigator Charles Levy.

Fay has a leg up on most of the "story tellers" who claim there involvement.  He was on the island, he did film the assembly of the bombs, and he was thanked by Captain Parsons for his efforts.  However, that is where the evidence stops.  There should be more evidence of his involvement.  Someone aboard the planes should have recalled a naval photographer aboard.

Unfortunately, until more compelling evidence is found substantiating Fay's story, I must put him in the same class of others that have falsely claimed involvement in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions like Paul Bregman and Dr. John P. Merrill.

Lt. R.L. Tomlinson - Who was Ray "Tommy" Tomlinson?

Lieutenant Ray "Tommy" Tomlinson (US Navy WWII) received orders from Captain Parsons (Manhattan Project / Project Alberta) to photograph the assembly of Fat Man and Little Boy on Tinian in August July and August of 1945.  Tomlinson signed the Fat Man after it was assembled.

I would like to know Tomlinson's story. Unfortunately Tomlinson passed away in Rathdum Idaho in December 1999.  See Tomlinson's Obituary published in the Spokesman Review December 25, 1999, below.

I would love to speak any of Tomlinson's children -  Glynn Tomlinson, Diane Chapman, Rick Lyman, Rob Lyman, Sandra Oliver, Leslie Hanson, or his Sister Delta Zehrt about Tomlinson's story on Tinian during WWII.

Who Signed the Enola Gay?

My cousin Lisa Bennett recounted a story of Fay Millward showing his father Vickus Millward his signature inside the Enola Gay while the plane was located at Wendover Nevada.  I cannot now verify that such an event occurred, however, I should be able to verify if Fay wrote his name in the Enola Gay.

I found the picture below showing a panel above a window in the Enola Gay with signatures.  I would love to get a close up image of the signatures.  I have searched the internet for a close up of the panel to no avail.  I am hoping that someone has a better picture of what is shown below. 

Who was Joe Kusstatscher and how did he take pictures of the Nagasaki Bomb Detonation?

One of the most famous pictures that exists from the detonation of Fat Man over Nagasaki is accredited to Joe Kusstatscher, who was apparently a photographer with the US Navy. See Truman Library for source.  Unfortunately, Mr. Kusstatscher is not officially reported to have been a member of any crew of Bockscar or any of the observation planes that flew with the mission.

Fay Millward has always claimed to have been a photographer assigned to both the Enola Gay and the Bockscar.  Fay claims that he was given verbal orders to fly on both missions by W. S. Parsons. See the letter from W. S. Parsons below.  However, like Kusstatscher, Fay is also not recognized by any official source to have been on either flight.

Who were the other two photographers on the Enola Gay?

It is reported on the Wikipedia page for George Caron, tail gunner on the Enola Gay that there were two other cameras that captured the explosion of Little Boy over Hiroshima.

"Caron's camera and two others captured the explosion on film. "

Who had these two other camera's?  I find it odd that Caron was asked last minute to bring his camera along.  I also find it odd that two other camera's are mentioned but I am unable to find any actual photographers assigned to any of the flights.

Who were the other two photographers filming the explosion?

Fay Eliason Millward signed Fat Man that was dropped on Nagasaki.

In doing a search for Herbert Lemay, I came across something quite unexpected.  A picture of the tail of Fat Man with H. P. Lemay's name right above F. E. Millward.  Apparently my grandfather signed the bomb.

See the video and picture below.

You can see Fay sign the bomb at about 20 seconds into the video.

Temporary Additional Duty - You and your party have . . . greatly furthered the war effort.

On August 9, 1945, Lt. R.L. Tomlinson USN received the following correspondence from W.S. Parsons, Captain USN, Officer in Charge of Project A (Alberta).  The letter mentions F. (Fay) Millward and H. (Herbert)  Le May by name and states "your performance of duties here have been outstanding and you and your party have materially contributed to operations which have greatly furthered the war effort."  Notably the letter mentions that Millward and Le May reported "under verbal orders from Fleet Air Photographic Squadron One.

What is most interesting is that the correspondence is from Captain W. S. Parsons (William Sterling Parsons), the weaponeer on the Enola Gay.

The letter is reproduced below:

Photographs of Fay Millward in Japan

This is the only photograph of Fay Millward in Japan between November 1, 1945 and January 1, 1946. Fay is on the left drinking.