BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Eighty-one years ago, a one-page operations order, Number 35, was issued on Aug. 5, 1945, and resulted in the 509th Composite Group—a predecessor of the 509th Operations Group assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri—dropping the first wartime atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
The inaugural use of this special munition of mass destruction was followed by a second drop of an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945.
During World War II, several countries were attempting to create atomic munitions, but it would be the United States that succeeded in developing, testing, and then employing this special munition.
And so began the atomic age in world history.
The birth of this new era was the operational culmination of Project Silverplate, a highly classified weapon delivery arm of the Manhattan Project.
Activated on Dec. 17, 1944, at the remote Wendover Army Air Field in Utah, the 509th Composite Group was uniquely organized and trained under the command of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.
To maintain absolute operational security, the group was structured as a "composite" unit, integrating its own transport and engineering service squadrons to remain self-contained.
The crews trained relentlessly with specially modified B-29 Superfortresses, which had been stripped of heavy armor and defensive turrets—except for the tail gun—to allow the aircraft to fly faster and at higher altitudes. The aircrews perfected high-altitude visual bombing and the sharp, diving escape maneuvers necessary to survive the shockwaves of atomic detonation by dropping conventional, concrete-filled "pumpkin bombs."
In the summer of 1945, the 509th Composite Group deployed to North Field on Tinian Island. From there, the B-29 Enola Gay departed on August 6 to deploy "Little Boy" over Hiroshima, followed three days later by the B-29 Bockscar delivering "Fat Man" over Nagasaki, cementing the 509th Composite Group’s singular place in history at the dawn of the nuclear era.
The atomic employment not only ended all air, naval, and ground combat in the Pacific theater of operations on Aug. 15, 1945, but quickly led to the formal end of WWII on Sept. 2, 1945.
The following year, Strategic Air Command stood up on March 21, 1946, and was charged with overseeing the country’s strategic nuclear bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles. After the establishment of the U.S. Air Force on Sept. 18, 1947, SAC realigned under the newest armed service.
SAC further developed the U.S.’s special munitions and multiple means of delivery while potential adversary countries demonstrated their efforts in obtaining these special munitions and delivery systems.
The effectiveness of the nuclear enterprise in developing special munitions, multiple advanced means of delivery, and maintaining a high readiness status has led to our current capabilities of global coverage, deterrence, and readiness—even with multiple global crises and regional conventional conflicts occurring in the post-World War II era through the present.
The decisive factor in these two legs of the nuclear triad is the professionalism, proficiency, and dedication of our Air Force warfighters, Department of the Air Force civilians, and contractors who quietly provide assurance of readiness to conduct strategic force projection.
Today, the Eighth Air Force—with its Joint-Global Strike Operations Center and strategic bomber fleet—alongside its sister Numbered Air Force, the Twentieth Air Force, with its fleet of ICBM units and complexes, ensures two of the three legs of the nation’s nuclear triad remain fully modernized and prepared.
The ongoing modernization efforts are not just a technological imperative; it directly aligns with the national security strategy and the 2026 National Defense Strategy's core tenet of restoring peace through strength.
In a rapidly changing and complex global security environment, updating and adapting the nation’s strategic assets ensures that United States nuclear deterrent remains strong, secure, and second-to-none.
From its inception more than 84 years ago to present, the Eighth Air Force remains ready to strike anywhere, anytime when called upon remains the ultimate shield for the nation and the ultimate guarantor of global stability.