What Was the Enola Gay? | At the Smhsonian | Smhsonian Magaze

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?
• EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY
• IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT
• MOCKSVILLE MAN HELPED LIVER ATOMIC BOMB ON BOARD ENOLA GAY
• CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB
• HERE’S WHY THE PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS ABOUT DROPPG THE FIRST ATOM BOMB

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:.

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

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.

EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY

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.

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

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.

MOCKSVILLE MAN HELPED LIVER ATOMIC BOMB ON BOARD 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.

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.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

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.

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

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. Gay was the name of the Boeg B-29 Superfortrs bomber that was ed to drop the atomic bomb on the Japane cy of Hiroshima durg World War II.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

The Enola Gay was built by Boeg Aircraft Wicha, Kansas, and was livered to the Uned Stat Army Air Forc on May 18, 1945. On Augt 6, 1945, the Enola Gay took off om Tian Island, rryg the first atomic bomb, -named “Ltle Boy”. The Enola Gay and s crew of 12 flew towards Hiroshima, which was a major dtrial cy and a ary target.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

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. The Enola Gay unrwent extensive rtoratn and prervatn work the 1980s, and was put on display at the Natnal Air and Space Mm 1995. The Enola Gay remas on display at the Natnal Air and Space Mm to this day.

The Enola Gay ntu to be a symbol of the atomic bombg of Hiroshima and the vastatg impact of nuclear weapons.

Sourc: “Enola Gay.

THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB

” “Enola Gay.

Ce This Article"Enola Gay: What Exactly Was It and Who Used It? 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.

Unlike the ncelled exhibn, "Enola Gay" ntaed no terpretatn, no graphic imag, and no melted objects. 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. 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.

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

Robert Lewis, -pilot and aircraft manr of the Enola Gay — the B-29 bomber that unleashed the first atomic bomb, Ltle Boy, on the cy of Hiroshima on Aug. “He wasn’t horrified by meetg Capta Lewis, the -pilot of the Enola Gay.

After growg up there, Thomas Ferebee served on the Enola Gay flight crew and would ultimately bee the man who pulled the leaver to ploy “Ltle Boy” on Hiroshima on Aug.

In 1945, roughly 100 days before Hiroshima, Ferebee would be asked to serve one of the most secretive missns of the war, as a member of the Enola Gay crew. “[The Enola Gay crew] ma no apologi for the job that they did, ” he said. Tman, pulled the lever om the Enola Gay’s drop hatch and released “Ltle Boy” onto the unexpected cy below.