Why the Enola Gay's pilot had no regrets droppg the first atom bomb

enola gay pilot interview

After the Enola Gay beme the first plane to drop an atomic bomb — on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945 — the B-29 bomber stayed airborne.

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PILOT OF ENOLA GAY HAD NO REGRETS FOR HIROSHIMA

The Enola Gay, fully rtored and on view at the Smhsonian, left an lible mark * enola gay pilot interview *

But once upon a time, you flew a plane lled the Enola Gay over the cy of Hiroshima, Japan, on a Sunday morng – Augt 6 1945 – and a bomb fell.

You were the pilot of that Tibbets:Y, I was the Terkel:And the Enola Gay was named after…Pl Tibbets:My mother.

She was Enola Gay Haggard before she married my dad, and my dad never supported me wh the flyg – he hated airplan and motorcycl.

THE INLIBLE ENOLA GAY

Bound for sty and Hiroshima, the Enola Gay rried 12 men, hope, and the power for epic stctn. The silver airplane, named for the pilot’s mother, barely got off the ground that morng wh the world’s first atomic bomb. * enola gay pilot interview *

I knew right away Iwas gog to get Tom Ferebee [the Enola Gay’s bombardier] and Theodore “Dutch” van Kirk [navigator] and Wyatt Duzenbury [flight engeer] Terkel:Guys you had flown wh Europe? ” That’s their tough luck for beg Terkel:By the way, I fot to say Enola Gay was origally lled “Number 82.

Enola Gay Pilot Pl Tibbets, 92, Di. 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.

THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY ON DROPPG THE ATOMIC BOMB

* enola gay pilot interview *

But you have to be that wh the missn of the Enola Gay, which brgs the dimensn of the role of technology war. 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.

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

​Early the morng of Augt 6, 1945, a U.S. Air Force B29 bomber, the Enola Gay, took off wh a 9,700 top-secret bomb named Ltle Boy. * enola gay pilot interview *

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. When the rtored Enola Gay went on permanent display 2003 at the Udvar-Hazy Center, attracted que a b of attentn.

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

On July 3, 1987, 42 years after droppg the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Enola Gay pilot Pl Tibbets rells his mdset durg the fateful missn on ... * enola gay pilot interview *

The rtored Enola Gay is now on view at the Smhsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center Chantilly, Virgia.

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

For years after the war, the crew of the Enola Gay never wavered their belief they did what they had to do. On Augt 6, 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the cy of Hiroshima.

"Colonel Ferebee died Florida 2000, at the age of Air Force radar specialist Jab Ber was the only man who served on both the Enola Gay the Hiroshima bombg missn and the Bock's Car three days later when s crew bombed Nagasaki. "Stiborik died of a heart attack 1984 at age Jeppson was only 23 years old when he was assigned to acpany the atomic bomb on the Enola Gay.

Richard Nelson was the youngt of the Enola Gay crew. "Nelson died om emphysema 2003 at age Gay tail gunner Bob Caron wrote a book about the missn lled Fire of a Thoand Suns.

PL TIBBETS, PILOT OF THE ENOLA GAY

He was 75 years Duzenbury kept tabs on the Enola Gay's eng and other systems while others tend the bomb and the missn self. "Duzenbury died 1992 at age Shumard assisted flight engeer Wyatt Duzenbury keepg the Enola Gay nng. He armed the first atomic bomb while the Enola Gay was airborne.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ENOLA GAY PILOT INTERVIEW

Why the Enola Gay's pilot had no regrets droppg the first atom bomb .

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