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

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• THE REAL MEANG BEHD THE NAME ENOLA GAY, THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY
• WHY DID THE ENOLA GAY’S TAIL MARKGS CHANGE?
• CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN
• ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?
• THE SMHSONIAN’S DECISN TO EXHIB THE ‘ENOLA GAY’
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• IN 1955 AN AMERIN TV SHOW DID THE UNTHKABLE: IT AMBHED A HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR WH AN ENOLA GAY PILOT

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.

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

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

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. 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.

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

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.

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.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

(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.

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.

EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY

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.

WHY DID THE ENOLA GAY’S TAIL MARKGS CHANGE?

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. 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. 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.

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. While no members of the crew that flew the Enola Gay rema to tell s story, the aircraft liv on for visors.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

"They want to see the spachip Disvery, they want to see the [SR-71] Blackbird, and they want to see the Enola Gay. 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.

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

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.

Stan Harris of Brighton, Colorado, wr wh a qutn about the Enola Gay, the Boeg B-29 Superfortrs that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Augt 6, 1945. The Enola Gay tail markg was changed om the circle-arrow to circle-R, which was the markg for the 6th Bomb Group, 313th Wg, North Field, Tian. Krss not that while three B-29s of the 509th did have a square-P tail mark (which stood for the 39th Bomb Group, 314th Wg, North Field, Guam) while on Tian, the Enola Gay was not among them.

The Enola Gay and other 509th bombers also had the last two digs of their serial numbers pated on the nose and on the felage near the tail.

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

It’s possible, Krss says, that the Enola Gay might have had a P on s tail when flew as one of 13 B-29s performg weather and radlogil rennaissance missns Operatn Crossroads, the atomic bomb tts at Biki atoll July 1946, “but not durg s time on Tian. 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 veterans formed “the Commtee for the Rtoratn and Proud Display of the Enola Gay” to raise funds.

At first, the Enola Gay was planned to be displayed at an annex NASM facily near Washgton Dull Internatnal Airport.

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. They cid to exhib the Enola Gay at the annex, wh an acpanyg msage about the dangers of strategic bombg and latn. 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.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

” Still, Harw phed for a follow-up wh an exhibn on World War II that would clu the Enola Gay. 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. The planned exhibn was replaced by a simple display of the felage of Enola Gay wh ltle historil ntext.

Officials om the Universy stated was not tend as a replacement for the Enola Gay exhibn at the Smhsonian.

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

Loted near Dull Airport, provis a permanent home for Enola Gay, as origally proposed back 1988.

The 2003 exhibn of Enola Gay, followg s trend of ntroversy, also raised a new round of protts, om Japane survivors and others. 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. The Enola Gay was built by Boeg Aircraft Wicha, Kansas, and was livered to the Uned Stat Army Air Forc on May 18, 1945.