Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Richard McNamara

Pilot on the Enola GayTinian Island

Wendover, UT
509th Composite GroupManhattan Project VeteranMilitary Veteran

Richard McNamara served as a 2nd lieutenant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron of the 509th Composite Group. The 509th Composite Group was headed by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets and tasked with the deployment of the two nuclear bombs in August of 1945. McNamara served as the pilot on the Enola Gay, but was not part of the mission that dropped the Little Boy bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Related Profiles

Samuel Goudsmit

Alsos Mission

Samuel Goudsmit (1902-1978) was a Dutch-American physicist. In May 1944, Goudsmit became scientific director of the Manhattan Project’s Alsos Mission, a top-secret operation responsible for gathering intelligence on Germany’s atomic program.

B. Anita West

Hanford, WA

William Walter Atterson

William W. Atterson lived in Oak Ridge Tennessee and worked at the Y-12 plant where he was in charge of keeping the machine’s working and making sure the work place was running smoothly.

E.H. Smallwood

B Reactor/100 Area

Smallwood worked at the 100-F Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project.