Fairmont Army Air Field

The squadron Tibbets picked had been at Fairmont since March 12, 1944, training with the 504th, first in B-17s for lack of B-29s and then in B-29s through that spring and summer. It reached Wendover on September 14, 1944, as the 509th Composite Group's only B-29 squadron, and its first Silverplate B-29s, modified to carry atomic bombs, came that October. Among them were the Enola Gay, which Tibbets flew to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Bockscar, flown by Maj. Charles W. Sweeney to Nagasaki on August 9.

What the plaque says

Fairmont Army Air Field Construction began on the Fairmont Army Air Field September 17, 1942. Located east of here, it was one of eleven built in Nebraska during World War II. The 1,980-acre field began as a satellite of the Topeka Army Air Base. Early in 1943 the name was changed to Fairmont Army Air Field. A short lived training school gave way to the 451st Bombardment Group, which arrived in September 1943. Other groups were the 485th, 504th, 16th, 98th, 467th, and 489th. Hangars of various sizes housed B-24s, B-17s, and B-29s. Extensive concrete runways and other structures were built. The field had barracks for nearly 6,000 officers and enlisted men. Its 350-bed hospital was the largest in Nebraska. In September 1944 Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets visited Fairmont and selected the 393rd Bomb Squadron of the 504th to join the 509th Composite Group at Wendover Field, Utah. This group dropped both atomic bombs on Japan. The field was declared surplus in 1946. Nebraska State Historical Society Fillmore County Historical Society 451st Bombardment Group (H) Ltd. Robert M. Karstensen, Sr., President

Where it stands

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