ORLANDO, Fla. - Charles Albury, co-pilot of the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, died May 23. He was 88.

Albury died in a hospital after suffering for years from congestive heart failure, Family Funeral Care in Orlando confirmed.

Albury not only flew the B-29 Bockscar, which dropped a nuclear weapon on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, but he witnessed the deployment of the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima three days earlier as a pilot for a support plane. The support plane dropped instruments to measure the magnitude of the blast and levels of radioactivity for the Hiroshima mission led by Col. Paul Tibbets Jr.

Three days later, Albury copiloted the mission over Nagasaki. Cloud cover caused problems for the mission until the bombardier found a hole in the clouds. The 10,200-pound explosive instantly killed an estimated 40,000 civilians. Another 35,000 residents died from injuries and radiation sickness. Japan surrendered on Aug. 14.