 Project Alberta proceeded with the plan to have the Little Boy ready by 1 August, and the first Fat Man ready for use as soon as possible after that.In the meantime, a series of twelve combat missions were flown between 20 and 29 July against targets in Japan using high-explosive pumpkin bombs, versions of the Fat Man with the explosives, but not the fissile core.Project Alberta's Sheldon Dike and Milo Bolstead flew on some of these missions, as did the British observer Group Captain Leonard Cheshire.