The Enola Gay Controversy - Rourc - Books/Articl

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• THE REAL MEANG BEHD THE NAME ENOLA GAY, THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB
• IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT
• THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’
• ENOLA GAY
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA 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. ” 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.

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

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 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.

Experience the evolutn of the Enola Gay ntroversy by readg through a chronologil list of documents divid to five rounds:.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

The ntroversy over how the Enola Gay should reprent history gradually be history self. 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.

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

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.

IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT

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. 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.

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

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.

ENOLA GAY

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.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

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. 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).