The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on 28 July 2014 at the age of 93. John 'Jack' Dailey, director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, the most widely visited museum in the world, has announced plans to display the Enola Gay-the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima-as the centerpiece of the museum's new. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy Statement of Principles. 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. After the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, where it was operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead. 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. Udvar-Hazy Center The Enola Gay (/ no l /) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola əˈ ʊ ə Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska Manufactured Serial 44-86292 Radio code Victor 12 (later changed to Victor 82) Owners and operators United States Army Air Forces In service – 24 July 1946 Preserved at National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Enola Gay Tibbets-wave.jpg Paul Tibbets waving from the Enola Gay's cockpit before taking off for the bombing of Hiroshima Type B-29-45-MO Superfortress Manufacturer Glenn L. For other uses, see Enola Gay (disambiguation).
Enola Gay From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search This article is about the bomber.