The Enola Gay and the secret history behd the Hiroshima missn - Washgton Post

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• THE REAL MEANG BEHD THE NAME ENOLA GAY, THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?
• WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE PLANE THAT WAS ENOLA GAY’S BACKUP?

ENOLA GAY

Enola Gay, the B-29bomber that was ed by the Uned Stat on Augt 6, 1945, to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the first time the explosive vice had been ed on an enemy target. ” The Enola Gay—Tibbets had a matenance man pat that name on the aircraft’s nose shortly before takeoff—was acpanied by var other plan. Tibbets flew the Enola Gay back to Tian, where he was award the Distguished Service Cross.

Three days later the Enola Gay nducted weather rennaissance the lead-up to the bombg of Nagasaki, Japan.

Japan officially surrenred on September 2, Enola Gay remaed service for several years before beg given to the Smhsonian Instutn on July 3, 1949. In 2003 the fully rtored Enola Gay was put on display at the NASM’s Steven F.

THE REAL MEANG BEHD THE NAME ENOLA GAY, THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB

However, several plane nam of the World War II-era are known exclively by their name, cludg the famo Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber that was ed to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (via Branni). Yet the Enola Gay, another animate object, had a dark tentn — the vice was schled to drop an atomic bomb on an enemy target. It's important to note that durg the war, not many plan which were mass-produced were given as much fanfare, so the Enola Gay stood out om the pack.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB

Pilot Pl Tibbets nam Enola Gay. On Augt 5, 1945, the 29-year-old Tibbets formally named his B-29 "Enola Gay" after his mother (née Haggard).

The Enola Gay name liv on. In 1995, the Natnal Air and Space Mm hosted a ntroversial exhib of the Enola Gay to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. The fully reassembled Enola Gay is now on display permanent display at the Natnal Air and Space Mm's Steven F.

After the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. The Enola Gay is a B-29 Superfortrs, which pilot Pl Tibbets named after his mother, and which had been stripped of everythg but the necsi, so as to be thoands of pounds lighter than an ordary plane of that make. While did not drop the bomb on Nagasaki, the Enola Gay did take flight to get data on the weather the lead-up to the send strike on Japan.

HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON

In the aftermath of World War II, the Army Air Forc flew the Enola Gay durg an atomic tt program the Pacific; was then livered to be stored an airfield Arizona before beg flown to Illois and transferred to the Smhsonian July 1949. But even unr the ctody of the mm, the Enola Gay remaed at an air force base Texas.

The Commtee for the Rtoratn and Display of the Enola Gay now has 9, 000 signatur of prott. Adams, who is leavg his job after 10 relatively ntroversy-ee years, sent back a three-page answer stiffly turng down her requt for the Enola Gay.

Demonstrators prott at the Enola Gay exhib at the the Smhsonian Natnal Air and Space Mm's Steven F. And as long as is on display, the qutns rais are likely to ntue — after all, they have been wh the Enola Gay sce first beme a hoehold name.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

Tibbets Jr., 30, had handpicked the airplane on the assembly le Nebraska three months before and had jt had his mother’s name, “Enola Gay, ” pated black letters on the the plane mbled down the airstrip at over 100 mph, he had his lucky cigarette se wh him one pocket, and a box ntag 12 cyani psul Aug.

Two other B-29s, the “Great Artiste” and “Necsary Evil, ” were supposed to go along to take pictur and rerd “Enola Gay” was the “strike ship. ”Fifteen hundred to the north-northwt, unr a wang crcent moon, lay a 400-year-old Japane cy most Amerins probably had never heard of but whose name was about to be etched to the pag of was an important enemy ary se wh a wartime populatn about 280, 000, acrdg to the historians Gordon Thomas and Max half of them were about to be cerated, cshed, and irradiated by the c atomic weapon named “Ltle Boy” that the Enola Gay of thoands more would die the same way at Nagasaki a few days later, and the world would subsequently be hearg about megatons, mutual assured stctn, proliferatn, nuclear wter, meltdowns and dirty would be the start of a ightful era of weapons that uld fy ntrol and menace as “Dimpl Eight Two” picked up speed that morng, s missn was born of s time: liver a blow that the Uned Stat hoped might fally end the global butchery of World War II. )This week, memoratns are schled across the untry, wh socially distanced ndlelight vigils and the tollg of bells, and bee of the vid-19, ceremoni and remembranc have moved Enola Gay, the Boeg B-29 Superfortrs that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is seen on display July 29, 2020, at the Steven F.

(Matt McCla/The Washgton Post)One of the Enola Gay’s four eng. If this ighteng new weapon worked, the thkg went, would shorten the war, albe at a dreadful st human first the Enola Gay had to get off the ground.

THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB

William Parsons, who flew on the missn as the bomb bee of that risk, the 10-foot-long “Ltle Boy” had not yet been was a “gun-type” bomb, one which an explosive charge would fire a “subcril” piece of uranium 235 down a six-foot-long “gun” barrel to a send subcril piece of uranium, acrdg to Thomas and created cril mass and the explosive nuclear cha reactn that would lay waste to four cloth bags of explosive and the tonator would not be serted until the plane was the Enola Gay was now dog 180 mph but was nng out of ground.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

(Natnal Archiv)The weapon is hoisted to the bomb bay of the B-29 dubbed “Enola Gay” Augt 1945 on Tian Island the Northern Mariana Islands. (Natnal Archiv)‘A fiery red re’Thirty-one thoand feet above, the Enola Gay’s bombardier, Maj. So had an ternal radar system that tected the ground, tripped the tonator at that altu, and iated the tonatn bomb traveled for six and explod jt short of the Enola Gay, meanwhile, lurched upward on sheddg the weight of the bomb and executed a hairp turn to pe the expected shock wave of the first, the crew saw and felt nothg.

(AP)‘Brighter than the sun’As the Enola Gay and s two rt plan head back Tian, a young scientist named Luis W.

ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?

Seventy-five years ago, the Uned Stat dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, brgg an end to a long and vastatg World War II and makg the Enola Gay, the B-29 that livered , one of the most famo history. The Enola Gay, known only as No. He handpicked the plane the night before the missn, to the surprise of s crew, and had his mother’s name -- Enola Gay -- pated on s si.

6, 1945, the Enola Gay took off for Hiroshima, an important Japane ary center.

WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE PLANE THAT WAS ENOLA GAY’S BACKUP?

It was a moment for which none of the Enola Gay’s crew -- away by then, but still rocked by the blast -- was que prepared. What some don’t know is that the Enola Gay flew that missn, too. Some fly ahead to check the weather to see what ’s like at the actual target, and Enola Gay was part of that for Nagasaki, " Kney said.

After the bombgs and the war’s quick end, the Enola Gay remaed wh the Army Air Forc, takg part the Biki Atoll atomic tts before beg shipped to the Smhsonian 1960. The origal patg of the words “Enola Gay” n still be seen on s si. While no members of the crew that flew the Enola Gay rema to tell s story, the aircraft liv on for visors.

"Enola Gay is a regnized airplane of World War II, and people want to see , " Kney said.

"They want to see the spachip Disvery, they want to see the [SR-71] Blackbird, and they want to see the Enola Gay. Enola Gay. While this exhib is now closed, Mm specialists ntued to rtore the remag ponents of the airplane, and after an addnal ne years the fully assembled Enola Gay went on permanent display at the Natnal Air and Space Mm’s Steven F.

This past exhibn, cidg wh the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, told the story of the role of the Enola Gay securg Japane surrenr. It ntaed several major ponents of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber ed the atomic missn that stroyed Hiroshima, Japan.