The Enola Gay's History Liv On > U.S. Department of Defense > Blog

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• MEMORI OF THE UN THAT HID THE ENOLA GAY, WHICH DROPPED THE A-BOMB ON HIROSHIMA 75 YEARS AGO TODAY
• HERE’S WHY THE PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS ABOUT DROPPG THE FIRST ATOM BOMB
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS FOR HIROSHIMA
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• HOW BIG WAS THE ENOLA GAY?
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• WHERE IS THE ENOLA GAY TODAY?
• MIC HISTORY #15: "ENOLA GAY"
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• MEMORI OF THE UN THAT HID THE ENOLA GAY, WHICH DROPPED THE A-BOMB ON HIROSHIMA 75 YEARS AGO TODAY

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.

MEMORI OF THE UN THAT HID THE ENOLA GAY, WHICH DROPPED THE A-BOMB ON HIROSHIMA 75 YEARS AGO TODAY

And the air and ground crews flyg off that hard-won soil to fally reach the heart of the enemy that dared attack the Uned Stat at Pearl plane that dropped the big there was another piece of ary technologil history that some argue had a larger hand endg the war than gets cred for — the B29 Tian was where the famed “Enola Gay” lnched s fateful missn to liver the first A-bomb, was also home to the 6th Bomb Group, which served as ver for the super-secret un also hid the “Enola Gay” for a time, before load s famo payload “Ltle Boy” the first Atomic Bomb dropped war — on Hiroshima, Japan on Augt 6, 6th Bomb Group, part of the Army Air Corps’ 313th Bomb Wg, 20th Air Force, ma to Tian, one of the last Pacific islands a cha leadg to maland Japan, months after Allied forc took the island a battle that lasted jt a few days but claimed more than 5, 000 Japane forc and more than 300 U.

HERE’S WHY THE PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS ABOUT DROPPG THE FIRST ATOM BOMB

Air Force B29 bomber, the Enola Gay, took off om the s base Tian, near Guam, and head for the cy of Hiroshima southern Japan.

So when Enola Gay approached at 8.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

The Enola Gay was 10 away when the blast went off, but still felt the shockwav. But how did the explosn weigh wh the 12 men aboard the Enola Gay who dropped the bomb that day? A sgle airplane livered the new weapon of mass stctn—the 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. The ckp of the B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay.

Although missg a few parts, the Enola Gay is now rtored so generatns of Amerins n see the plane that left an lible mark the annals of time. But you have to be that wh the missn of the Enola Gay, which brgs the dimensn of the role of technology war.

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

As lead pilot, he named the Enola Gay after his mother. As the Enola Gay ma s fal approach to Hiroshima that day, Tibbets ascend to 31, 000 feet, then turned over ntrols to Ferebee.

The Enola Gay was then buffeted vlently when stck by two shock wav—one direct and the other reflected om the ground. This was two plan—the Enola Gay and the backup plane.

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. The Enola Gay was the bt aircraft of s era, but the velopment of that technology me wh a price.

PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS FOR HIROSHIMA

When the rtored Enola Gay went on permanent display 2003 at the Udvar-Hazy Center, attracted que a b of attentn. The rtored Enola Gay is now on view at the Smhsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center Chantilly, Virgia.

For years after the war, the crew of the Enola Gay never wavered their belief they did what they had to do. After the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug.

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

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. 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.

HOW BIG WAS THE ENOLA GAY?

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.

Enola Gay Pilot Pl Tibbets, 92, Di. 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.

Tibbets and his crew took off om Tian  Enola Gay at 2:45 am on Augt 6, 1945.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

Upon visual lotn of Hiroshima, Tom Ferebee aimed for the cy center and Enola Gay dropped the “Ltle Boy” bomb om 31, 000 feet at 9:15 am. 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 land back at Tian 12 hours later at approximately 3 pm.

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. The Smhsonian has been at the center of bat over those differg perspectiv terms of the terpretatn and public display of Enola Gay.

WHERE IS THE ENOLA GAY TODAY?

Air Force the late 1940s, Enola Gay remaed storage for s. 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.

The Boeg B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay is now on display at the Steven F. 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. Enola Gay on display the Boeg Aviatn Hangar of the Steven F.

MIC HISTORY #15: "ENOLA GAY"

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.

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.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

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.

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.

MEMORI OF THE UN THAT HID THE ENOLA GAY, WHICH DROPPED THE A-BOMB ON HIROSHIMA 75 YEARS AGO TODAY

(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. 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. 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.