James I. Hopkins Jr.

James Iredell Hopkins Jr. (December 4, 1918 – lost at sea March 23, 1951) was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and the operations officer of the 509th Composite Group during World War II. He is best known for signing Operations Order No. 35, the document authorizing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and for piloting the photography aircraft Big Stink during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Hopkins disappeared on March 23, 1951, when the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II he was traveling in vanished over the Atlantic Ocean following a fire and successful ditching.

Hopkins was born in Palestine, Texas, on December 4, 1918. He attended local schools before enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces. He married Catherine Mary Williamson in Anderson, Texas, on February 15, 1941.^[1] Hopkins attended Texas A&M University for three years before enrolling in the Aviation Cadet Training Program.^[2] His son, James K. Hopkins, later became a professor of history at Southern Methodist University.^[3]

Hopkins initially served in the North African campaign, where he completed 43 combat missions.^[1] He was subsequently assigned to the 509th Composite Group, the unit tasked with deploying nuclear weapons, where he served as the operations officer. At the time of the atomic missions, he held the rank of major. On August 5, 1945, Hopkins signed Operations Order No. 35, which directed the mission details for the dropping of a Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima the following day.^[4][1]

For the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, Hopkins was the pilot of the support aircraft Big Stink. The aircraft's role was to carry scientific personnel and photography equipment to document the explosion.^[1] Hopkins failed to make the rendezvous with the strike plane, Bockscar, at Yakushima, causing a 45-minute delay that critically affected the mission's fuel reserves.^[5] Because of the delay and radio issues, Hopkins arrived at the target area after the detonation and missed photographing the initial blast.^[6]

Hopkins was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 28, 1945, three weeks after the bombings. Japan formally surrendered the next week, ending the war.^[1]

In February 1946, he was stationed at Kwajalein Atoll, and by late 1946 he was serving at Roswell Army Air Field.^[2] On March 23, 1951, Hopkins was a passenger on a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II flying from Walker Air Force Base to RAF Mildenhall in England. The aircraft reported a fire in the cargo hold and ditched in the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles west of Ireland. Although the ditching was successful and survivors were spotted in life rafts by a search plane, no rescue vessels arrived before the rafts vanished. No bodies or debris were ever recovered.^[7][8]

On September 30, 2021, the 509th Bomb Wing held a memorial ceremony for Hopkins at Arlington National Cemetery. A cenotaph was dedicated in his honor.^[9]