Project Alberta - Key Personnel

Key Personnel

• Captain William S. Parsons, USN, Officer-in-Charge
• Cdr. Frederick L. Ashworth, USN, Operations Officer/Deputy Officer-in-Charge
• Dr. Norman F. Ramsey, Jr., Scientific and Technical Deputy
• Lt.Col. Peer de Silva, USA Military Intelligence, Commander, 1st Technical Service Detachment, and pit courier
• Dr. Roger S. Warner, Jr., Fat Man Assembly Team
• L.Cdr. Albert Francis Birch, USNR, Little Boy Assembly Team

Project Alberta members on the Hiroshima mission were:

• Captain William S. Parsons weaponeer, on 'Enola Gay (weapon delivery plane)
• Luis Alvarez on The Great Artiste (instrument plane)
• Harold Agnew on The Great Artiste
• Lawrence H. Johnston on The Great Artiste
• Bernard Waldman: camera operator on Necessary Evil (observation & photography plane)

Project Alberta members on the Nagasaki mission were:

• Cdr. Frederick L. Ashworth weaponeer, on Bockscar (weapon delivery plane)
• S/Sgt. Walter Goodman on The Great Artiste (instrument plane)
• Lawrence H. Johnston on The Great Artiste
• William G. Penney British observer on Big Stink (observation & photography plane)
• Dr. Robert Serber was meant to go on Big Stink, but was left behind by Major James I. Hopkins, the aircraft commander, as the scientist had forgotten his parachute, reportedly after the B-29 had already taxied onto the runway. Since Serber was the only crew member who knew how to operate the high-speed camera, Hopkins had to be instructed by radio from Tinian on its use.

Lawrence H. Johnston observed the Trinity test, and went on both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions, so saw all three nuclear explosions.

The physicist Bernard Waldman, a member of Project Alberta, was assigned to the crew of Necessary Evil, the B-29 that photographed the explosion of Hiroshima. Waldman was responsible for the Fastax camera that could take 7000 frames per second.