This time, the B-29 was assigned to serve as the weather reconnaissance craft. Three days later, Enola Gay and Tibbets were scheduled to return to the skies for the bombing of Kokura. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb-known as “Little Boy”-on the city of Hiroshima.
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Paul Tibbets waves from the cockpit of Enola Gay, 6 August 1945Īt the head of the 509th, Tibbets piloted the B-29 Superfortress-which he named for his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets-that led the bombing of the two cities. In 1945, that group was assigned to carry out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the war neared its end, Tibbets was appointed commander of the 509th Composite Group. By 1942, he was promoted to the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group.Īfter taking part in several bombing missions in Europe, Tibbets returned to the United States and played a pivotal role in the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. became a pilot in 1938, which enabled him to take part in anti-submarine patrols after the Decemattack on Pearl Harbor. Although he originally planned o becoming a doctor, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. In 1937, a 22-year-old man from Quincy, Illinois enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. The story of the Enola Gay actually starts before the outbreak of the War in the Pacific. The History of the Plane That Devastated Japan She would soon serve an important purpose that was aimed at finally putting an end to the war. Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress, was placed into service in May of 1945, toward the end of the Second World War. But one plane in particular has a more difficult and ambivalent history. Storied battleships, mighty aircraft carriers, and fearsome warplanes all contributed to the massive Allied forces in the Pacific Theater. There were many memorable ships and planes that played a larger-than-life role in the American war effort of the 1940s. that surrender came only after the deaths of more than 100,000 Japanese people, mostly civilians, and tens of thousands more injured or sickened by radiation.Enola Gay landing after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August 1945 He recalled how the atomic blast over Hiroshima “kicked us pretty good” and how fillings in the crew’s teeth tingled from the jolt of radiation.Ĭrews earlier had dropped leaflets warning of destruction and urging surrender. Granddad spoke more openly about his historic role in the war. He had retired from the Air Force as a brigadier general in the 1960s.Īfter Tibbets IV chose an Air Force path (unlike his father, Paul Tibbets III, who served as an Army reservist), the two flying Tibbetses became kindred spirits. in Ohio, where he helped launch an air taxi service that grew to be the world’s largest. The two lived several states from each other - Tibbets IV in Alabama and Tibbets Jr. “He told me she was very honored,” said Tibbets IV.Īs a boy, Tibbets IV didn’t have a lot of contact with his grandfather. Concerned that his grave site might draw anti-nuclear protesters, he asked his family to cremate his remains and scatter the ashes over the English Channel, Tibbets IV said. “The reason is he knew the lives that were saved” on both sides of the fighting because the United States didn’t carry out a planned invasion of the Japanese mainland. “If he were here he’d tell you, ‘I never lost one night’s sleep after that mission,’” said Tibbets IV.
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The end of World War II marked the beginning of the age of nuclear weapons, which have not been used in warfare since.
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The devastation wrought by the two weapons - the first bomb dubbed “Little Boy,” the second “Fat Man” - hastened Japan’s surrender. was the first commander of the 509th Composite Group, which executed the bombing run and targeted Nagasaki three days later with another pilot at the helm. In June, Tibbets IV was put in command of the unit whose origins go back to that mission his grandfather led over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug.
Who was on the enola gay full#
If the elder Tibbets helped his grandson be his own airman, the outcome reflects a stunning case of history coming full circle for the 509th Bomb Wing, based at Whiteman near Knob Noster.