The Smhsonian’s Decisn to Exhib the 'Enola Gay' - Public History Weekly - The Open Peer Review Journal

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY
• THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’
• CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN
• THE HISTORY OF THE ENOLA GAY
• DEFN OF 'ENOLA GAY'
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?
• THE ENOLA GAY
• DEFINITIONS FOR ENOLA GAYENO·LA GAY

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.

Japan officially surrenred on September 2, Enola Gay remaed service for several years before beg given to the Smhsonian Instutn on July 3, 1949.

The exhib markg the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II featurg the refurbished B-29 Enola Gay proposed by the Smhsonian's Natnal Air and Space Mm rulted fierce ntroversy over how history should reprent droppg an atom bomb on Japan.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

On permanent display at the Natnal Air and Space Mm’s Udvar-Hazy Center Chantilly, Virgia, the Enola Gay was donated to the Smhsonian Instutn by the U. In 1995, a 50th anniversary exhibn of the end of World War II, anized by curators and the director at the Natnal Air and Space Mm and displayg the felage of the Enola Gay, met wh unprecented cricism after veterans groups cricized the exhibn’s script for beg overly sympathetic to the Japane and the mm’s historians for beg misleadg and unpatrtic.

Many veterans had advoted for the display of the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortrs ed to drop the bombs, as a celebratn of Amerin triumph over Japan, but there were already ncerns that the Smhsonian was creatg a polilly rrect, revisnist terpretatn of the events. Harw rigned on May 2, 1995, jt days before he was schled to ttify Senate June 28, 1995, an exhibn, simply tled "Enola Gay, " opened at the Natnal Air and Space Mm.

Only the felage was on display, acpanied by basic facts and rmatn about the plane's entire Enola Gay bomber is currently on display the "World War II Aviatn" exhibn at the Natnal Air and Space Mm's Steven F.

EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY

Related RourcCollectns related to the Enola Gay, Smhsonian Instutn ArchivThe Enola Gay: A Natn's, and a Mm's, Dilemma, Edorial by Mart Harw, The Washgton Post, Augt 7, 1994Special Report: The Smhsonian and the Enola Gay, Air Force Associatn, March 15, 1994Smhsonian Cancels Exhib on Atomic Bomb, The Baltimore Sun, January 31, 1995Recent Acquisn - Rerds om Mart Harw, Director, NASM, 1986-1995, The Bigger Picture, Smhsonian Instutn Archiv. When the Smhsonian cid to exhib the “Enola Gay, ” the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the director and curators of the Natnal Air & Space Mm (NASM) hardly anticipated the firtorm of ntroversy that would rult.

THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’

While the “Enola Gay fias, ” as some at the mm me to ll , was not the first skirmish Ameri’s ongog culture wars, was an omo warng of the battl to e.

As a NASM curator volved the early planng of the exhib, who was also prent at the bacle, the followg is a first-person acunt of the origs, evolutn, and fate of the “Enola Gay” exhib, tled “The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II.

One project was to brg the “Enola Gay” out of the Garber llectns and rtoratn facily, and fish the plane’s rtoratn time for a major exhib on the Capol Mall to ci wh the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

Sce I had wrten a doctoral dissertatn on the aftermath of the atomic bombg, later published as The Wng Weapon: The Atomic Bomb the Cold War, 1945-1950, Mart asked me to take the ial lead planng the “Enola Gay” exhib, until Tom arrived at NASM. To my amazement, he was entirely supportive of our plans to tell the story of the atomic bombg, and even offered to loan any of the artifacts his mm had s llectn, for as long as the “Enola Gay” remaed on display at NASM. Mart and Steve likewise cid that we should show a draft of the exhib’s planng document and label script to those we thought might be our most proment crics, wh the hope of rpondg to and fg their cricisms before the “Enola Gay” went on display.

My memory is that the AFA required to say the followg three thgs the “Enola Gay” exhib, and we were given to unrstand that the assertns were unequivol and non-negotiable.

The mimal exhib script and a short vio featured quotatns om the “Enola Gay” pilot, retired Air Force brigadier general Pl Tibbets, and the other crew members, scribg the missn. In retrospect, none of at the mm had an appreciatn of how much the polil climate had changed Washgton sce planng for the “Enola Gay” exhib began.

THE HISTORY OF THE ENOLA GAY

On December 16, 2003, the day after the “Enola Gay” was unveiled s new—and likely permanent—home, NASM’s new annex near Dull airport, a half-dozen atomic bomb survivors joed fifty self-intified “peace activists” to unfurl a banner readg: “Hiroshima—Never Aga” ont of the plane.

DEFN OF 'ENOLA GAY'

For the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Natnal Air and Space Mm (NASM) proposed an exhibn that would clu displayg the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortrs that was ed to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. The Enola Gay had recently fished beg renovated and the mm had been ncerned about transportatn and reassemble fe; therefore, the proposed annex appeared to be a ftg lotn.

Commtee member Admiral Noel Gayler believed that any exhibn of the Enola Gay would imply “that we are celebratg the first and so far the only e of nuclear weapons agast human begs. While they were “unanimo agreeg that the Enola Gay is an artifact of pivotal signifince and that should be exhibed, ” they asked the mm to avoid discsg the cisn to drop the bomb and to nsir an alternative se, such as an armed servic mm.

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

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. 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 ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

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.

(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. 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. 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.

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

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. 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.

Another portn of the exhib tailed the pastakg efforts of Smhsonian aircraft rtoratn specialists who had spent more than a rtorg parts of the Enola Gay for this exhibn. nounthe name of the Amerin B-29 bomber, piloted by Colonel Pl Tibbets, Jr., that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Augt 6, Nearby Enola GayEnochEnoch ArnenokienolEnolaEnola Unabridged.

2023How to e Enola Gay a sentenceShe even manag to stow away on the Enola Gay, wh the help of a general she's spent fifty nscent pag Uprisg | Henry Beam Piper, John D. The story of Colonel Pl Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is reunted this three-hour movie adapted by Jam Poe and Millard Kfman om the bt-sellg book.

THE ENOLA GAY

Dpe the rellectn of "blah", the 'Enola Gay' was the b-29 super-fortrs, which dropped the uranium bomb tled 'ltle boy' over Hiroshima, japan.

The send bomb, which was a plutonium vice tled 'fat man' was dropped on Nagasaki, japan by 'Bock's Car' ptaed by Charl the enola gay bomber that dropped the first two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Augt 6, 1945 and Augt 9, 1945, rpectively. To tly nvey the extent of how much the bomb was gonna stroy and otherwise fuck up was named the gay so they would know that they got boned the ass. After the Hiroshima bombg, the Enola Gay ntued to serve the Uned Stat Army Air Forc until 1946, when was retired and placed storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Arizona.

DEFINITIONS FOR ENOLA GAYENO·LA GAY

On Augt 6, 1945, the crew of a modified Boeg B-29 Superfortrs named Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb ed warfare, lled “Ltle Boy, ” on the cy of Hiroshima, Japan. As a new and adly weapon, an atomic bomber, Enola Gay facilated a turng pot human history as hered the dawn of the Atomic Age and the threat of nuclear war. After “Ltle Boy” left the forward bomb bay, Enola Gay lurched upward, and Tibbets iated a high angle evasive manver to get as far away om Hiroshima as possible.

Enola Gay tail gunner Bob Caron took this picture of the cloud of smoke billowg 20, 000 feet above Hiroshima after the explosn of the Ltle Boy atomic bomb on Augt 6, 1945.

The history and memory of Enola Gay and s part the atomic attacks on Japan, and their effect on endg the war the Pacific and the nuclear tensns of the Cold War, reflects differg viewpots. Enola Gay was to be the central artifact a planned exhibn at the Mm examg the atomic bombgs durg the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. In a revised exhibn, Enola Gay’s forward felage and bomb bay, two eng, a propeller, and other ponents, cludg a activated Ltle Boy bomb, went on display the Natnal Mall Buildg om June 1995 to May 1998.

Udvar-Hazy Center opened December 2003, the fully-assembled Enola Gay went on permanent display the World War II Aviatn display area the Boeg Aviatn Hangar.

The display of the Enola Gay has generated a variety of rpons rangg om public protts  1995 and 2003 to opposg pots of view exprsed  alternative exhibns, petns, and reports, and ntu to serve as a se study  prentg history the public sphere that is vigoroly discsed and bated to this day. The flight of the Enola Gay on Augt 6, 1945, signifi an end and a begng terms of our evolvg unrstandg of technology and warfare the twentieth century. Colonel Pl Tibbets and the Enola Gay Enola Gay Facts: Fast Fact Sheet for kidsFast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Qutns (FAQ's) about the Enola was the Enola Gay?

The Enola Gay was the name given to the airplane, a Boeg B-29 Superfortrs bomber, that dropped the atomic bomb "Ltle Boy" on the cy of Hiroshima, Japan durg was the pilot of the Enola Gay? The "Ltle Boy" uranium re atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Augt 6, 1945 om the 'Enola Gay' Boeg B-29 Superfortrs bomber and the "Fat Man" a-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Augt 9, 1945 om the 'Bocksr' Gay Facts - 2: Project Alberta (Project A) was a sectn of the Manhattan Project that prepared for the livery of the atomic bomb by nductg bomb livery tts and modifyg aircraft for rryg the atomic Gay Facts - 3: Details of the Enola Gay cludg the serial number, height, weight, length, speed and bomb load are as follows:Mol Type: Boeg B-29 Superfortrs bomberSerial Number: 44-86292Length: 30.

2 m (99 ft) Height: 9 m (29 ft 7 )Wgspan: 43 m (141 ft 3 )Weight: 31, 400 kg (69, 000 lb) emptyWeight: 54, 500 kg (120, 000 lb) fully loadCise Speed: 355 km/hr (220 mph)Maximum Speed: 588 km/hr (365 mph)Combat Radi: 4670 km (2900 )Bomb Load: 9090 kg (20, 000 lb)Enola Gay Facts - 4: Tian, one of the three prcipal islands of the Mariana Islands, was one of the largt airbas of WW2 and the North Field nway was the parture pot of the 509th Compose Group bombers Enola Gay and BocksrEnola Gay Facts - 5: The Enola Gay arrived on Tian on 6 July 1945. Enola Gay Facts - 6: Litenant Colonel Pl Tibbets ma the cisn to e his mother�s name 'Enola Gay Tibbets' as the name for the aircraft bee she was always posive and had once told him, �Whatever happens to you your life, everythg will work out�. The unual name given to his mother was om the heroe of the novel Enola; or, Her fatal Gay Facts - 7: The Enola Gay was built unr a top secret program, -name "Silverplate", to produce huge B-29 Superfortrs bombers specially modified for atomic bombg Gay Facts - 8: On Augt 5, 1945, the day before the missn, B-29 was manvered over a bomb loadg p om which the atomic bomb "Ltle Boy" was hoisted on an hydrlic lift to the aircraft weapon bay and then taxied to Runway Able at North Field, Tian.

45 hrs the morng Tian time on Augt 6, Gay Facts - 12: Once the Enola Gay was safely airborne, Navy Capta William Parsons climbed to the bomb bay and armed the 9, 000-pound "Ltle Boy" atomic bombEnola Gay Facts - 13: At 0815, Hiroshima time, bombardier Tom Ferebee released the nuclear weapon. As soon as the bomb was released the Enola Gay began s pe Gay Facts - 14: The effects of the atomic bomb explosn produced an tense light flash and a tremendo roar due to the shock wave of the explosn. A ball of fire rose rapidly, followed by a mhroom cloud that extend to the height of 40, 000 feet (12, 200 metr) Gay Facts - 15: The Enola Gay was rocked by the shock wave that traveled directly om the fireball.

Several sends later the aircraft was stck by a send weaker shock reflected om the Gay Facts - 16: The mhroom cloud, which had climbed to 40, 000 feet, was visible om the Enola Gay for almost an hour and a half, fally beg lost om sight 363 om Gay Facts - 17: After a return flight, lastg 12 hours and 13 mut, the Enola Gay land safely at Tian Island.

It is timated that 265, 000 people died due to the Hiroshima atomic bomb, cludg s radactive Gay Facts - 19: On 4 July 1949 the Enola Gay was transferred by the U.

The airplane unrwent rtoratn om 1984 to Gay Facts - 20: After nsirable ntroversy the Enola Gay was put up for exhibn and moved to s permanent lotn at the Steven F. The lyrics of the anti-war song relate directly to the events of the day the atomic bomb was dropped wh reference to "eight fifteen" the time the bomb was dropped and asks the qutn "Is mother proud of ltle boy today" reference to the Hiroshima bomb's Gay Facts for kidsFacts about the Enola Gay Facts for kids: The Flight CrewThe followg fact sheet ntu wh tertg rmatn, history and facts on the crew of Enola Gay for Gay Facts for kids: The Flight CrewEnola Gay Facts - 22: The flight crew of the Enola Gay nsisted of twelve men, cludg Pl Tibbets, who were all traed secret for the missn. Jeppson, bomb electronics tt officerEnola Gay Facts - 23: The only people who knew the signifince of the top secret bomb on the Enola Gay were the Pl Tibbets, the pilot, Capta Robert Lewis the -pilot and Capta Deke Parsons.