This makes the Enola Gay, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of its commander, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress that would go on to become one of the most famous and controversial aircraft in military history. This aircraft was very famous for the drop, under the command of Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., during World War II of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. It destroyed 90% of the city and directly killed 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more dying in large part from the effects of radiation.
The mission of Enola Gay began in the early hours of August 6, 1945, when Tibbets and his crew became airborne from Tinian at 2:45 am. Dutch van Kirk had carefully charted the course of 1,500 miles to Hiroshima. During the flight, Capt. William S. Parsons activated the bomb and 2nd Lt. Morris R. Jeppson inserted the arming plugs 30 minutes before reaching the target. After Hiroshima came into visual view, bombardier Tom Ferebee took a course for the center of the city and at 9:15 dropped the “Little Boy” bomb from 31,000 feet. It exploded about 2,000 feet above the city, with an equivalent force of 15 kilotons of TNT. The ensuing firestorm razed 4.7 square miles of Hiroshima, leaving fewer than 20 percent of the city’s buildings still intact and an estimated kill count ranging between 135,000 to 200,000.
When the bomb dropped, a tremendous jolt shook the Enola Gay upwards, which sent Tibbets into a steeply banked evasive turn to get the aircraft clear of the blast area. The crew saw a blinding flash and felt shock waves as far away as 11.5 miles from the detonation site. Tail gunner Staff Sgt. George R. “Bob” Caron captured a photograph of a mushroom cloud rising 20,000 feet above Hiroshima. Reactions among the crew went from the stunned silence of Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr., the pilot of the Enola Gay, to the more vocal response of Robert Lewis, who is said to have uttered the words, “My God, what have we done?” The Enola Gay touched down at Tinian 12 hours later, at about 3 pm.
Aftermath of the Enola Gay’s Mission
The impact of the Enola Gay’s mission did not remain confined to Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, a plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by another B-29, called Bockscar. On the same day, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria. In the face of continued atomic bombings and an Allied invasion, Emperor Hirohito announced the intention of Japan to surrender on August 15, 1945. This formal instrument of surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, and with that, the official end of World War II was marked.
The legacy of the Enola Gay is multifaceted and complex, pointing at the same time to the achievements of the moment in science and technology, as well as the serious ethical problems posed by nuclear weapons. The role of this aircraft in ending the war was viewed differently by different groups. Most of the veterans of World War II and their families believe that atomic bombs saved a lot of lives by shortening the war. Survivors of the bombings and anti-nuclear activists, on the other hand, question the need and morality of using such weapons.
The Smithsonian Institution has continuously been part of the controversies surrounding the public exhibition of the Enola Gay. From the time it was turned over from the U.S. Air Force in the late 1940s, the aircraft spent many years in storage. Conservation work began in December 1984, with plans to have the Enola Gay on exhibit during the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. However, other historical interpretations hit the media and caused a nationwide furor. The exhibition had to be canceled by the start of 1995.
The new exhibit opened on 28 June 1995 with the following major parts of the Enola Gay: forward fuselage with a cockpit, bomb bay, two engines, propellers, and a de-energized Little Boy replica. The exhibit finally closed in 1998, and the Enola Gay, fully assembled, went into permanent display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in December 2003. It has engendered a great deal of response, from public demonstration to scholarly debate, and it endures as a case study about the question of how museums present disputed history.
The August 6, 1945 flight of the Enola Gay was a close approximation to the end of World War II but marked the real beginning of the nuclear age. It illustrates quite well that the duality of technological progress, able to place humanity at the height of achievement next to the depth of unprecedented destruction. What this aircraft did accrues to the ongoing responsibility and ethical considerations associated with weapons of mass destruction, whose legacy has remained relevant up to this day.