Enola gay named after

Boeing's B Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments.

The Enola Gay is a B Superfortress, which pilot Paul Tibbets named after his mother, and which had been stripped of everything but the necessities, so as to be thousands of pounds lighter than an ordinary plane of that make. In , it was given an important task. When the bomb left the airplane, the plane jumped because you released 10, lbs. We lost 2, ft. Then it exploded. All we saw in the airplane was a bright flash.

Enola gay named after

Seventy-five years ago, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, bringing an end to a long and devastating World War II and making the Enola Gay, the B that delivered it, one of the most famous in history. The famous B Superfortress rolled off the Glenn Martin assembly line in the spring of with what was known as a "silverplate modification" specifically for the atomic mission. The remote-controlled gun turrets were also taken away to increase speed. Only the tail gun position was left to defend it from enemies. Paul W. Tibbets Jr. The Enola Gay, known only as No. Robert Lewis, of the th Composite Group, from the factory to New Mexico, then to Tinian in the Mariana Islands, where its crew practiced flight maneuvers, loading the massive bomb and dropping it. But Lewis would not end up leading the atomic mission. That role belonged to Col. Paul Tibbets Jr. In the early morning hours of Aug. Around a. In one blinding flash, it leveled the heart of Hiroshima with the equivalent of 15, tons of TNT.

This included about twenty American airmen being held as prisoners in the city. Less than 10 percent of the buildings in the city survived without any damage, and the blast wave shattered glass in suburbs twelve miles away.

In the early morning hours of August 6, , a B bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan. The bomber's primary target was the city of Hiroshima , located on the deltas of southwestern Honshu Island facing the Inland Sea. Hiroshima had a civilian population of almost , and was an important military center, containing about 43, soldiers. The bomber, piloted by the commander of the th Composite Group, Colonel Paul Tibbets, flew at low altitude on automatic pilot before climbing to 31, feet as it neared the target area. At approximately a. Hiroshima time the Enola Gay released "Little Boy," its 9,pound uranium gun-type bomb , over the city. Tibbets immediately dove away to avoid the anticipated shock wave.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B Superfortress known as the Enola Gay named after his mother when it dropped a Little Boy , the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army in and qualified as a pilot in After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In February , he became the commanding officer of the th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group , which was equipped with the Boeing B In July , the 97th became the first heavy bombardment group to be deployed as part of the Eighth Air Force , and Tibbets became deputy group commander. He flew the lead plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against Occupied Europe on 17 August , and the first American raid of more than bombers in Europe on 9 October Tibbets was chosen to fly Major General Mark W.

Enola gay named after

In the early hours of 6 August , three aeroplanes took off from the Mariana Islands in the Pacific. For hours they charted a course towards the Japanese coast, with Paul Tibbets piloting one of the planes. After hours of nothing but ocean beneath him and his crew, land became visible. At am Tibbets was able to complete his mission, by dropping one single bomb onto the city of Hiroshima. The resulting blast would become the most powerful explosion created by man up to that point, bringing unspeakable destruction to the Japanese city. B Bombers were designed to be a high altitude aircraft, capable of performing devastating bombing raids. They were one of the crowning achievements of the American military, with the development cost exceeding the Manhattan Project.

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In the Pacific, Bs delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons. Skip to main content. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enola Gay. Nearby birds burst into flames in mid-air, and dry, combustible materials such as paper instantly ignited as far away as 6, feet from ground zero. The forward fuselage went on display on 28 June Archived from the original on 2 February Later, the U. Nuclear Weapons Archive. Soon the death rate actually began to climb again as patients who had appeared to be recovering began suffering from this strange new illness. By , the Japanese radar net detected aircraft heading toward Japan, and the alert was broadcast throughout the Hiroshima area. Theodore J. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B Flying Fortress.

August 6, , marks the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Army Col.

In September , he was given command of the th Composite Group , the unit that would later drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Archived from the original on 24 June Offers may be subject to change without notice. At the moment of impact, those closest to ground zero turned to char, while birds reportedly ignited in mid-air. World War II, the bloodiest conflict in human history, was over. Richard H. Three days later, Bockscar on display at the U. Design work began on the modification of the B into an atomic bomber under the Silverplate project in June Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B found its niche on the other side of the globe. Archived from the original on 27 September They arrived at Wendover, Utah, for training and practice bombing on June