Tibbets later expressed some regret for naming the aircraft after his mother. Parsons of the United States Navy was seconded to the mission as the weaponeer because he had nuclear training.įor its role in the bombing of Japan, the Enola Gay has become famous. The assistant weaponeer was Second Lieutenant Morris R. Stiborik was radar operator, and the VHF radio operator was Private First Class Richard H. Lieutenant Jacob Beser handled radar countermeasures, while Sergeant Joe S. Duzenberry was flight engineer and Sergeant Robert S. Lewis as copilot, Captain Theodore van Kirk as navigator, and Major Thomas Ferebee as bombardier. In addition to Captain Tibbets, the crew included Captain Robert A. Notably, the Enola Gay's bombing mission over Hiroshima was considered a textbook perfect mission, proceeding precisely as planned and scheduled. The plane took off from Tinian, in the Marianas Islands, with a 12 man crew aboard, accompanied by The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil. He christened it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. When the order was given to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 5 August 1945, Captain Paul Tibbets, the pilot in charge, decided to rename the plane. When completed, the plane measured 99 feet (30.2 meters) long and had a wingspan of 141.25 feet (43 meters). This modification mission, codenamed "Silverplate," turned out a number of aircraft equipped to handle nuclear weapons. It was selected along with a group of other aircraft for modifications designed to allow it to carry a nuclear weapon while flying above antiaircraft guns. This B-29 Superfortress bomber was manufactured at Lockheed Martin's Omaha plant. bomber that dropped atomic bombs on Japan during the second world war. Today, the restored Enola Gay can be viewed at the National Air and Space Museum. After the bombing, the plane flew only one other combat mission, a scouting mission to prepare for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, before being preserved at the Smithsonian Institution as a historic artifact. The Enola Gay is an aircraft that was famously used to drop the atomic weapon on Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945. Tibbets and the men of the 509th are confident they did nothing wrong by dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima - no matter how others may judge them.The Enola Gay carried and dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. But there's no morality in warfare and I've never tried to equate it to morality. It's unfair to inject morality into a wartime situation that existed 1945. Today many question the wisdom of ever making the decision to drop the bomb.īut despite the tens of thousands who died at Hiroshima, Tibbets says
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The bomb's devastation was hailed as a victory in newspapers of the time. SUPER CAPTION: Dutch Van Kirk, "Enola Gay" Navigator
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And on a net basis, the bomb did save lives." Both Allied lives, Japanese lives, prisoners of war who would have suffered otherwise. "I am thoroughly convinced that the bomb saved lives. He and his crew mates have spent the last 50 years mulling over the morality of their mission. Other crewmen from the Enola Gay have also attended the reunion, including bombardier Tom Ferebee. SUPER CAPTION: Paul Tibbets, "Enola Gay" Pilot And that cloud up above us was just tumbling and rolling. "Where there had been a distinct city below us, there was nothing down but what in my vernacular was a black, boiling mess.
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With a flash over Hiroshima, the course of human history changed forever.
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Tibbets says he was well aware of the mission he and his crew were undertaking. On August Sixth, 1945, he piloted the Enola Gay to its target. On hand for this gathering, Paul Tibbets. The 509th was the home of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It's the type of reunion of old military units that go on all the time.īut the 509th Composite Group holds a special place in history.Īmong the old photos of the B-29 bombers that made up this wing, one stands out. Surviving members of the U-S Air force plane that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima have held reunion in New Mexico.įifty years on - they still believe it was the right thing to do - because it saved lives by ending the war against Japan.