Straight Flush ( B - 29 ) Straight Flush was the name of a B - 29 Superfortress ( B - 29 - 36 - MO 44 - 27301 , Victor number 85 ) participating in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima on August 6 , 1945 . Assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron , 509th Composite Group , it was used as a weather reconnaissance plane and flew over the city before the attack to determine if conditions were favorable for a visual drop . Pilot Claude Eatherly later expressed remorse , received psychiatric hospitalization , and engaged in anti - nuclear activism , which may be the origin of urban legend s that Eatherly , " Enola Gay " pilot Paul Tibbets , or other members of the two planes ' crews went insane after the bombings . Airplane history . " Straight Flush " was one of the fifteen Silverplate B - 29 ' s used by the 509th in its deployment to North Field , Tinian . It was one of ten B - 29s built at the Glenn L . Martin Company plant in Omaha , Nebraska , as a " block 35 " B - 29 but then designated " block 36 " to denote its special configuration . It was flown from Omaha to the 509th ' s base at Wendover Army Air Field , Utah , on April 2 , 1945 , and assigned to Capt . Claude Eatherly and crew C - 11 , and departed Wendover June 8 , 1945 , arriving at Tinian on June 13 . It was originally assigned the Victor ( unit - assigned identification ) number 5 but on August 1 was given the triangle N tail markings of the 444th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its Victor changed to 85 to avoid misidentification with actual 444th BG aircraft . It was named " Straight Flush " , purportedly based on a gambling penchant of Eatherly . From June to August it flew 11 training missions , and six combat missions in which " pumpkin bomb s " ( five - ton TNT bombs with the same handling characteristics as the nuclear weapons ) were dropped on Japanese industrial targets . Eatherly ' s crew bombed Tokyo ( 20 July ) , Otsu ( 24 July ) , Kanose ( 26 July ) , and Maizuru ( 29 July ) in " Straight Flush " , while 1st Lt . Charles D . Albury and crew C - 15 used it to bomb Koromo . On August 6 , " Straight Flush " flew a mission over Japan as a weather patrol aircraft for the Hiroshima bombing ; two days later , it made its final combat flight , a bombing raid on Yokkaichi . One source ( Campbell ) states that on the first Pumpkin mission , on July 20 , Eatherly attempted to bomb the Imperial Palace through overcast as a " target of opportunity " but missed , hitting a bridge called Gofukubashi . The attack was contrary to bombing restrictions ( to protect the person of Emperor Hirohito ) but apparently was not punished . In November 1945 it returned with the 509th to Roswell Army Air Field , New Mexico . From March to August 1946 it was assigned to the Operation Crossroads task force , then rejoined the 509th BG at Roswell . In June 1949 " Straight Flush " was transferred to the 97th Bombardment Group at Biggs Air Force Base , Texas , then sent to Tinker Air Force Base in April 1950 for modification to TB - 29 trainer specifications at the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area . Subsequent assignments were to : In December 1953 it was sent to the 3040th Aircraft Storage Squadron at Davis - Monthan Air Force Base , Arizona , where it was scrapped in July 1954 . Hiroshima mission crew . Crew C - 11 ( regularly assigned to " Straight Flush " ) Other aircraft named " Straight Flush " . Three FB - 111A strategic bombers of the USAF 509th Bomb Wing , serials 68 - 0256 , 69 - 6503 , and 69 - 6512 , carried the name and original nose art of " Straight Flush " on their nose wheel doors while based at Pease Air Force Base , New Hampshire , in the 1970s and 1980s .