Udvar Hazy Center of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and can be viewed by the public. Hiroshima by the aircraft Enola Gay on 6 August 1945, toward the conclusion of World War II. As of, the fully restored Enola Gay is located at the Steven F. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in warfare. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Work on its preservation and reconstruction did not begin until 1984 and the first phase lasted ten years after which parts of it were put on display between June 1995 and May 1998. The Enola Gay was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. In 1961 it was disassembled by the Smithsonian and moved to a restoration facility. It last flew on when it landed at Andrews AFB in Maryland where it was left to rust in outdoor storage until 1961.
John Porter (ground maintenance officer)įollowing the end of the war, the Enola Gay took part in the nuclear program known as Operation Crossroads and was placed in storage at an Arizona airfield after being retired on before being given to the Smithsonian on. : World War Ii Enola Gay Ncolonel Paul W Tibbets (Center) And Ground Crew Of The B-29 Enola Gay Which Dropped The First Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima. William Parsons, (Scientist on the Manhattan Project) Jacob Beser, radar (countermeasure officer) Tibbets ( pilot and CO of the 509th Group) The crew of the Enola Gay on that fateful Monday morning were: Three days later it flew again, this time towards Nagasaki, supporting the second atomic bomb drop with weather reconnaissance. This was the bomber's thirteenth mission and third combat mission, following raids on Kobe and Nagoya during the last eight days of July. By the time it returned at 1458 local time, the world had changed. He gave it the name and had it painted on the plane before taking off from Tinian Island in the Marianas at 0245 local time amidst a media circus. Tibbets as a tribute for her support of his becoming an aviator. The plane was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the bomber's captain, Col.
Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S.
Paul Tibbets in front of the Enola GayUS Air Force photo) The Enola Gay Crew Airplane Crew Col. On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Įngines: Four 2200 HP Wright Cyclone R-3350īuilt at the Martin plant in Omaha, Nebraska, delivered and personally selected by Tibbets. front of the restored Enola Gay, shaking hands and receiving the high regard of visitors. Enola Gay was the name of the specially modified B-29 US Army Air Force long-range bomber of the 509th Composite Group that dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on the morning of.