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Martin Company (later part of Lockheed Martin) at its bomber plant in Bellevue, Nebraska, located at Offutt Field, now Offutt Air Force Base.
The enola gay crew serial number#
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). A great complete set of crewmen's signatures.This article is about the bomber. Also present is a loose card signed by 509th Composite Group Chaplain WILLIAM DOWNEY, and inscribed labels signed by both of the books authors are affixed to the title page. PARSONS, signed USNR first day postal cover, Oct. giving his address, signed and Operation Crossroads commander and Weaponeer WILLIAM S. 4to., 1956, his Air Force annual questionnaire form indicating status "READY" Flight Engineer WYATT E. Flight Engineer ROBERT SHUMARD, D.S., 1p. The rest of the crew is present in separately signed items. FEREBEE, Radio Operator RICHARD NELSON, Radar Countermeasures Observer JACOB BESER, Radar Operator JOSEPH STIBORIK, Weaponeer MORRIS R. Included is Pilot PAUL TIBBETS, Co-Pilot BOB LEWIS, Navigator THEODORE J. The front paste down and flyleaf have been signed by nine crew members present onboard the aircraft during the Hiroshima mission, almost all adding their position. 8vo., in red and black cloth with gilt title on spine, with dust jacket. Excellent signed book, the definitive work "Enola Gay" by GORDON THOMAS and MAX MORGAN WITTS (New York: Stein & Day), 1977.