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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Victor McKee “Mack” Newsom

Ground Crew on Next ObjectiveTinian Island

CubaWendover, UT
509th Composite GroupManhattan Project VeteranMilitary VeteranProject Worker/Staff
Victor McKee "Mack" Newsom Listen to Victor McKee “Mack” Newsom’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Victor McKee “Mack” Newsom was a member of the 509th Composite Group and served as a sergeant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He worked as an airplane mechanic and B-29 engine specialist on Tinian and at Wendover Airfield, and was also deployed to Cuba. He was a member of the ground crew of the B-29 Silverplate plane Next Objective.

Newsom was deployed to Tinian with Captain, Ralph N. Devore, in crew A-3, aboard 44-27299, later named “Next Objective.” Air Transport Command Operational Order No. 147 named “Next Objective,” on June 12, 1945. 

Victor McKee “Mack” Newsom’s Timeline
1922 Mar 21st Born in Texas.

1943 Jan 1st Joined the U.S. Army.

19431945 Worked as an airplane mechanic and engine specialist at Salt Lake City, Utah; Boise, Idaho, Fairmont, Nebraska; Wendover, Utah; and Cuba.

1945 Deployed to Tinian Island as a mechanic on the Next Objective.

1945 Nov 21st Discharged from the Army.

Mack Newsom in front of the 509th headquarters sign on Tinian

Mack Newsom on Tinian

Mack Newsom

Mack Newsom by Next Objective

Mack Newsom

Mack Newsom with friends

The Enola Gay on Tinian

Mack Newsom being interviewed by the Atomic Heritage Foundation in 2016

Mack Newsom being interviewed by the Atomic Heritage Foundation in 2016

Crew A-3. Newsom is at the bottom row, far right. Photo courtesy of Richard H. Campbell and the Janet Chapman Pence Collection from the Air Force Museum.

Order 147. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

Order 147. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

Order 147. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

Air Transport Command, 1945. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

Air Transport Command, 1945. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

Air Transport Command, 1945, Newsom’s name is listed here. Image courtesy of Robert Krauss.

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