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Frederick Ashworth Obituary
News Obituary Article
SANTA FE, N.M.: F. Ashworth, armed atomic bomb that hit Nagasaki
Frederick L. "Dick" Ashworth, 93, the weaponeer aboard the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, died Saturday while undergoing heart surgery in Phoenix. Mr. Ashworth, who retired in 1968 as a Navy vice admiral, was assigned to the Los Alamos-based Manhattan Project that built the A-bomb.
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, he was aboard the bomber that dropped a weapon nicknamed Fat Man on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Mr. Ashworth was responsible for arming the bomb during the flight. Estimates of the death toll in Nagasaki range from 60,000 to 80,000.
Mr. Ashworth, in an August talk to a Los Alamos historical group, said the mission was "fraught with problems," including clouds that hid the city of Kokura, which was the primary target, the potential for a crash landing with the bomb aboard and low fuel after the weapon exploded.
The weather over Kokura was so bad that the B-29 flew on to Nagasaki.
Japan surrendered unconditionally on Aug. 15.
After the war, he did military liaison work with the Atomic Energy Commission and commanded the Navy's Sixth Fleet.
© 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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