Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Jacob Beser

Radar Specialist, Enola Gay and BockscarHiroshima Mission

Nagasaki MissionTinian IslandWendover, UT
509th Composite GroupHiroshima MissionManhattan Project VeteranMilitary VeteranNagasaki Mission
Lt. Jacob Beser and M/Sgt John Kuharek check over equipment Listen to Jacob Beser’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Jacob Beser served as a 1st lieutenant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron’s Radar Section. He was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay bombing mission to Hiroshima and on Bockscar during the Nagasaki mission. He was the only person to be aboard both strike planes on both atomic bombing missions.

Related Profiles

Sarah Dowson

Los Alamos, NM

Sarah Dowson was married to nuclear chemist Rene Prestwood. She worked as a nurse at Los Alamos.

Pierre Auger

France

Pierre Victor Auger was born in Paris on May 14, 1899. He was a French physicist, whose work focused on atomic, cosmic ray, and nuclear physicists.

M.L. Smith

Hanford, WA

Charles J. Spiegl

Los Alamos, NM

Charles J. Spiegl was a civilian scientist employed by the Manhattan Project. He was involved in radiation toxicology, studying the effects of radiation on animals at the Trinity Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.