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It is in its 6th Bombardment Group livery, with victor number 82 visible on fuselage just forward of the tail fin.Įnola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Įnola Gay after Hiroshima mission, entering hardstand. These modifications included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors and British bomb attachment and release systems, reversible pitch propellers that gave more braking power on landing, improved engines with fuel injection and better cooling, and the removal of protective armor and gun turrets. The bomber was one of the first fifteen B-29s built to the " Silverplate" specification- of 65 eventually completed during and after World War II-giving them the primary ability to function as nuclear "weapon delivery" aircraft. Martin Company (later part of Lockheed Martin) at its bomber plant in Bellevue, Nebraska, located at Offutt Field, now Offutt Air Force Base.
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The Enola Gay (Model number B-29-45-MO, Serial number 44-86292, Victor number 82) was built by the Glenn L. The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on 28 July 2014 at the age of 93. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. The cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on the National Mall, for the bombing's 50th anniversary in 1995, amid controversy. In the 1980s, veterans groups engaged in a call for the Smithsonian to put the aircraft on display, leading to an acrimonious debate about exhibiting the aircraft without a proper historical context. Later that year it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, and spent many years parked at air bases exposed to the weather and souvenir hunters, before being disassembled and transported to the Smithsonian's storage facility at Suitland, Maryland, in 1961. In May 1946, it was flown to Kwajalein for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific, but was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead.Īfter the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, where it was operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. Enola Gay participated in the second nuclear attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. The bomb, code-named " Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused the destruction of about three quarters of the city. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in warfare. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. The Enola Gay ( / ə ˈ n oʊ l ə/) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Paul Tibbets waving from the Enola Gay 's cockpit before taking off for the bombing of Hiroshima For other uses, see Enola Gay (disambiguation). Official photograph of the Office of Chief of Engineers, now in the collections of the National Archives.This article is about the bomber. Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, returns after the strike Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Image: 77-BT-91: Tinian Island, August 1945. Four days later, Japanese submarine, I-58, sank Indianapolis, northeast of Leyte.Ī replica of Little Boy can be found at " In Harm's Way: Pacific" exhibit area in the National Museum of the Navy, Bldg. Previously, on July 26, the bomb, along with " Fat Man" was transported to Tinian Island by USS Indianapolis (CA-35) for final assembly. A U-235 projectile fired down a gun barrel collided with a stationary element, causing a mass increase leading to nuclear fission. Nuclear fission was achieved by the collision of two parts of active material (Uranium-235). The gun-type weapon possessed the power of 26,000,000 pounds of high explosives. The bomb weighed 9,000 pounds and had a diameter of only 28 inches. The bomb was dropped by a USAAF B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, piloted by U.S. The atomic bomb used at Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, was "Little Boy".