What airfield did the enola gay take off from
When news of the successful mission appeared in American newspapers the next day, Tibbets and his family became instant celebrities. Tibbets was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Major General Carl Spaatz immediately after landing on Tinian. At 08:15 local time, they dropped the atomic bomb, code-named “Little Boy,” over Hiroshima. At 02:45 the next day, Tibbets and his flight crew aboard the Enola Gay departed North Field for Hiroshima.
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On August 5, 1945, Tibbets formally named his B-29 Enola Gay after his mother.
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In late May 1945, the 509th was transferred to Tinian Island in the South Pacific to await final orders. Flight crews practiced dropping large “dummy” bombs modeled after the shape and size of the atomic bombs in order to prepare for their ultimate mission in Japan. Paul Tibbets from the Atomic Heritage Foundation’s website.įrom September 1944 until May 1945, Tibbets and the 509th Composite Group trained extensively at Wendover Air Force Base in Wendover, Utah. Tibbets, who had accumulated more flying time on the B-29 than any other pilot in the Air Force, was selected to lead the 509th Composite Group, a fully self-contained organization of about 1,800 men that would be responsible for dropping the first atomic bomb on Japan. Ramsey, who briefed him about the Manhattan Project. On September 1, 1944, Tibbets met with Lt. In February 1943, Tibbets returned to the United States to help with the development of the B-29 Superfortress bomber. As a colonel, he piloted the Enola Gay, which dropped the Little Boy bomb on Hiroshima. (1915–2007) rose to brigadier general in the United States Air Force. Įditor’s Note: This biography and photograph was taken directly from the Atomic Heritage Foundation’s website (Source 5).Ĭol. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.īoeing B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar” at the National Museum of the U.S. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
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Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the National Museum of the U.S. The aircraft was built in 1945 by the Martin Company of Omaha, Nebraska. On August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29–45-MO, nicknamed the “Enola Gay,” dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima. B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons. During the last two months of 1944, B-29s began operating against Japan from the islands of Saipan, Guam and Tinian (Source #3). Army Air Forces leadership committed the Superfortress to Asia and the Pacific Theater in WWII, where its great range made it particularly suited for the long over-water flights against the Japanese homeland from bases in China. Although designed to fight in the European Theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe.ĭesigned in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the B-17 and B-24 bomber aircraft, the first B-29 made its maiden flight on September 21, 1942. īoeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments.
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Photograph of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Weighing about 9,000 pounds, it produced an explosive force equal to 20,000 tons of TNT.Įditor’s Note: This information was taken directly from the website of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, where the Enola Gay aircraft is on display. The result of the Manhattan Project, begun in June 1942, “Little Boy” was a gun-type weapon, which detonated by firing one mass of uranium down a cylinder into another mass to create a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. It was delivered by the B-29 Enola Gay (on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum), and detonated at an altitude of 1,800 feet over Hiroshima. The Mk I bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy,” was the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. Air Force website, of a non-operational “Little Boy” Mk I bomb constructed in 1945 that was never used in WWII. Official photograph from the National Museum of the U.S.