TOKYO, July 18 Kyodo - Charles Sweeney, who piloted the U.S. bomber that dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, died in a Boston hospital Thursday, the Associated Press reported Saturday. He was 84.

The retired U.S. Air Force general piloted the B-29 Bock's Car that attacked Nagasaki. He also flew a plane that accompanied Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima three days before the Nagasaki attack.

The cause of death was not disclosed, according to the AP.

After the attack, Sweeney reiterated comments of supporting the atomic bombings, saying they put an end to the war. He also wrote the book ''War's End'' to counter theories that the bombings were unnecessary.

He became a brigadier general in 1956, and at that time was the youngest in the Air Force to reach that rank, the AP said. ==Kyodo