Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, Navigator on the Enola Gay | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• THE ENOLA GAY: WAR AND REMEMBRANCE THE MOJAVE DERT
• UTAH HISTORIANS, WWII VETERANS WANT TO BRING ENOLA GAY HOME TO WENDOVER
• VIS THE ENOLA GAY AIRFIELD - HISTORIC WENDOVER AIRFIELD
• THEODORE “DUTCH” VAN KIRK, NAVIGATOR ON THE ENOLA GAY
• ENOLA GAY CAFE
• ENOLA GAY HANGAR
• WENDOVER 'ENOLA GAY' HANGAR BEG RTORED

THE ENOLA GAY: WAR AND REMEMBRANCE THE MOJAVE DERT

This remote sert landspe was a specialized trag base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews, cludg the 509th Compose Group and B-29 Enola Gay un who rried the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

See some of the most remarkable ary history Nevada at the Historic Wendover Air Field mm, where you n tour masterfully rtored World War II-era buildgs like the Enola Gay B-29 hangar, atomic bomb loadg ps, and see uniforms, medals, propellers and more. See the B-29 Enola Gay Aircraft Hangar on a Wendover Airfield Tour.

Suated ls than a e om Wendover, Utah along the Nevada borr, the origal Wendover Air Force Base was where the Enola Gay crew traed for their missn to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the send World War. "I'm imprsed, " says Gat, who liv Park Cy and, for the first time Tuday, vised the historic airfield on the Bonneville Salt Flats 120 wt of Salt Lake and several iends saw the ps where bomb prototyp were load onto the massive plan, the rtored vlts where the then-cuttg-edge Norn bombsights were kept unr wraps and the B-29 hangar that has e to be lled the Enola Gay Hangar.

UTAH HISTORIANS, WWII VETERANS WANT TO BRING ENOLA GAY HOME TO WENDOVER

6, 1945, when they left the Pacific island of Tian the B-29 he had dubbed the Enola Gay (for his mother), bound for, they dropped the world's first atomic bomb, the 9, 700-pound Ltle Boy. The foundatn is raisg money to rtore more Enola Gay Hangar rtoratn project was helped by a $500, 000 natnal parks grant but still needs $700, 000 to remove asbtos and do other old officers club is beg transformed this summer to a buildg that will hoe a new mm (the current mm is a cramped space). Ralph Gat of Park Cy take a historil tour si the "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield.

The Enola Gay, piloted by Col.

VIS THE ENOLA GAY AIRFIELD - HISTORIC WENDOVER AIRFIELD

Tour group looks si the "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield. (L to R) Bill Coyne, Gulf Shor AL, Gee Uthlt, Hoton, TX, Craig Cooper and Ralph Gat of Park Cy take a historil tour si the "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield.

The "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield still has a strong ame. Old Army Air Force "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield foreground wh the morn sos a e to the north Wendover, UT.

THEODORE “DUTCH” VAN KIRK, NAVIGATOR ON THE ENOLA GAY

The "Enola Gay" hanger at Wendover Airfield still has strong ame. Air Force, the ground crew of the B-29 "Enola Gay" which bombed Hiroshima, Japan on Aug.

The hangar where Petersen stands once served the Enola Gay — the plane known as the first aircraft to unleash an atomic bomb warfare — and s crew. In 2009, the buildg known as the Enola Gay Hangar was add to the Natnal Tst for Historic Prervatn’s list of the natn’s most endangered historic plac.

Thomas Petersen, historian and board member of the Historic Wendover Airfield Foundatn, left, and Jim Petersen, print and founr of the foundatn, open the doors of the Enola Gay hangar durg a tour ofÊHistoric Wendover Airfield, a World War II-era base that has nearly 100 stctur still remag, Wendover, Utah, on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

ENOLA GAY CAFE

Wendover was home to the Enola Gay and the 509th Compose Group, which was tasked wh the operatnal ployment of nuclear weapons. The offer prsed a hot button: In 1995, officials at Washgton’s Natnal Air and Space Mm igned a prott over plans to clu the Enola Gay as part of an exhibn to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Pl Tibbets and Enola Gay durg a tour ofÊHistoric Wendover Airfield, a World War II-era base that has nearly 100 stctur still remag, Wendover, Utah, on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

His father, William Ellsworth Bishop, was a backup flight engeer who worked on the Enola Gay and flew on the plane to Tian Island, where prepared to drop s famo bomb.

One picture shows his mother, stg atop a rock on base drsed her nurse’s uniform, wavg as the Enola Gay lifted off toward Asia and s sty. Pl Tibbets, the pilot on the Enola Gay, which he named after his mother, had allowed Bishop to rry a beloved bicycle to Tian Island.

ENOLA GAY HANGAR

The event, he said, was not to cricize “the crew of the Enola Gay … but regnize their service and heroism. Utah historians and World War II veterans would like to see the Enola Gay returned to a place of honor at the Army's old Wendover air base on the Utah-Nevada borr.

WENDOVER 'ENOLA GAY' HANGAR BEG RTORED

If they had their way, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima 1945 would fd a home a hangar-turned-mm, perhaps as part of Tooele County's 1996 Utah Centennial was at Wendover where the crew of the Enola Gay traed om October 1944 to June 1945.

The Enola Gay, a space shuttle and other historic aircraft would be hoed there.

The elements have left their mark on the Enola Gay's old Wendover hangar, now owned by the cy.