Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945 died at his home in Columbus, Ohio early Thursday November 1, 2007. He was 92. Tibbets was a 30-year-old Lt. Col. when he was called on to plan and execute the world-changing mission, a mission he told Studs Terkel in a 2002 interview that could have been even more dramatic.

In that interview, Tibbets told Terkel that the original plan called for simultaneous drops on Europe and Japan to ensure surprise in both theaters. However, the war in Europe ended three months before the weapon was ready so efforts were concentrated on the still-resisting Japanese.

Tibbets had been in ill health for a couple of months. At his request, there will be no funeral or grave marker, which he believed would become a rallying point for protesters. Tibbets never expressed regret over dropping the bomb, saying it was his duty. He asked that his ashes be spread over the English Channel, where he flew for part of his war service. R.I.P.

It carried the most destructive weapon of World War II and now the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, is set to go on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

The newly-reassembled B-29 bomber was unveiled to the media in a giant hangar at the museum's Steven Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. The center opens to the public on December 15.

"Because of the work of some very talented men and women, future generations will sense first-hand the unalterable significance of this aircraft in World War II and human history. Let's learn from it," said museum director Gen. J.R. "Jack" Daily in prepared remarks.

The Enola Gay unleashed an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" on the Japanese port city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. It killed more than 140,000 people and left tens of thousands more disfigured and suffering from lingering radiation illness that later raised the death toll to more than 230,000.

The bombing was carried out on a sunny day at 8:15 a.m. from an altitude of 31,600 feet. The Enola Gay was then used as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft for the follow-up attack (by Bock's Car) on Nagasaki that killed 70,000 people. Six days after that, Japan surrendered.

With a wingspan of 141 feet (43 meters) and a gross weight of 137,500 pounds (62,370 kilogram), the Enola Gay was too large and heavy to be housed at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall.

The museum has spent more than 300,000 staff hours restoring the Enola Gay, which was one of 15 B-29s modified specifically for the secret atomic bomb missions.

The planes were fitted with special engines, propellers and faster-acting pneumatic bomb bay doors. They were also the first successful large-scale use of pressurized crew compartments.

After the war, the Enola Gay was modified for tests in the Pacific to determine the effects of atomic weapons on naval ships but it never took part in the program.

Here Comes the Enola Gay

Motorists driving into Washington, D.C., September 5 met an unusual sight: the forward fuselage of the Enola Gay--the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima--rolling along on a flat bed truck, gleaming brightly in the morning sunshine.

The historic bomber was on its way from the National Air and Space Museum downtown to the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Md., where it will be prepared for display as the centerpiece of a huge new museum annex that will open in 2003.

In 1994, a previous administration at the Air and Space Museum had planned to use the Enola Gay as a prop in a political horror show. The scheme began to untangle when Air Force Magazine exposed the plan in "War Stories at Air and Space" in April 1994. Under fire from Congress and public opinion, the museum canceled the horror show and fired the museum director.

A de-politicized exhibit, built around the 53-foot forward fuselage of the airplane and featuring facts, film, and artifacts from the mission, opened to the public in 1995. By the time it closed in May 1998, it had drawn nearly four million visitors, making it, by far, the most popular special exhibition in the museum's history. Since 1998, the forward fuselage has been stored in a walled-off section of the museum.

Fully assembled for the first time in many years, the Enola Gay will be on display at the museum's Udvar-Hazy Center when it opens in 2003 at Dulles Airport outside Washington. The entire airplane, 99 feet long with a wingspan of 141 feet, is too large for exhibit in current facilities.

When the Enola Gay was brought to the museum for the 1994 exhibit, it was transported through the streets in the middle of the night. This time, museum officials decided to transport it openly and invited the news media to come watch.

The wide-load truck and escort vehicles moved from the west entrance to the museum along Independence Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue into the Maryland suburbs and on to the Garber facility by Silver Hill Road.

--Air Force Magazine / November 2001

        "The Smithsonian Institution yesterday unveiled the stored World War II Bomber Enola Gay--in one piece for the fist time since 1960.

        "The Boeing B-29 Superfortress helped end the war when it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 Japanese. It will be one of the main attractions of a massive aircraft display at the National Air and Space museum's new facility in Northern Virginia.

        "...It is one of 80 historic aircraft that will be on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center when the museum opens in December at Dulles International Airport...."

--Excerpted from an article by Jacqueline Trescott, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, August 19, 2003

The Enola Gay photo [at the top of the page] was taken in 1947. The Bockscar(s)? I am not sure probably about the same time. I have a photo somewhere of the Enola Gay landing at Timinun or how ever you spell it when she was getting ready to drop the big one. The ones of Bockscar in color were taken at WPAFB museum around 1999.
~CLICK~ For Larry's New Web Site

Aircraft Locator For The Boeing B-29 Superfortress: The A-Bomber Gallery

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Selected and Related Links: Aircraft List A Journey of Time: F100F 56-3857 The Enola Gay Remembered Fleet Air Museum, Great Britain Flying Forum Fly the Fortress! The Mosquito Page RAF Museum, Great Britain USAF Air Museum-Dayton, Ohio World War II Air Museum

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