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

Contents:

• ENOLA GAY
• HIROSHIMA’S ENOLA GAY RRIED 12 MEN, HOPE AND THE WORLD’S ADLIT WEAPON
• THE REAL MEANG BEHD THE NAME ENOLA GAY, THE PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB
• THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON
• WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENOLA GAY AFTER IT DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB
• EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY
• THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY
• ENOLA GAY: WHAT EXACTLY WAS IT AND WHO USED IT?
• THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB
• CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

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.

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

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. 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.

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

)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.

(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.

THE ENOLA GAY'S HISTORY LIV ON

(AP)‘Brighter than the sun’As the Enola Gay and s two rt plan head back Tian, a young scientist named Luis W. 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.

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

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.

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.

EXHIBG THE ENOLA GAY

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.

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. Robert Lewis wrote his journal and may have subnscly said out loud over the rad ter, “My God, what have we done?” Enola Gay land back at Tian 12 hours later at approximately 3 pm.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

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.

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.

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

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. 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.

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. It ntaed several major ponents of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber ed the atomic missn that stroyed Hiroshima, Japan.

THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB

A vio prentatn about the Enola Gay's missn clud terviews wh the crew before and after the missn cludg missn pilot Col. 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. Frequently Asked Qutns Regardg Exhibn of B-29 Superfortrs Enola Gay.

CONTROVERSY OVER THE ENOLA GAY EXHIBN

The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima.

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.