Early in the morning of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, took off from Tinian Island in the Pacific Ocean to drop a bomb that would change the course of history forever. Piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, it carried just one devastating payload: an atomic bomb codenamed “Little Boy.” Its target was Hiroshima, a Japanese city, but the impact would be more than just speeding up the end of World War II, it would introduce the atomic age and forever alter the nature of global politics and warfare.
The story of the Enola Gay began with a world at war. It was a global conflict that has been waged since 1939 between the Axis and Allied Powers. By mid-1945, the Allies had triumphantly conquered the key European territories and were focusing their campaign on the Pacific Theater of Operations. Japan was becoming ever more isolated and weakened, yet refused to surrender.
The United States was looking for a decisive action to make Japan surrender and thus avoid the alternative: a very costly live invasion of the Japanese mainland. The need for such an action paved the way for the top-secret development of the atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project. The program was for developing two atomic bombs: “Little Boy.”
In the early morning of August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, named after Tibbets’ mother, started its takeoff roll from Tinian Island. The crew consisted of 12 hand-picked men specially trained for this mission of importance. The target was Hiroshima, a city of strategic military importance with factories, military bases, and a large civilian population.
At 8:15 AM local time, the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” over Hiroshima. It exploded about 1,900 feet above the city, with an estimated force of 15,000 tons of TNT. The immediate blast obliterated buildings and structures within a one-mile radius and ignited fires that spread at a rapid rate. The heat and radiation in turn caused catastrophic destruction and immense loss of life.
The bomb had an immediate, staggering effect. It’s estimated that 70,000 to 80,000 were killed outright, with total deaths of some 140,000 from injuries and radiation sickness. Hiroshima lay in ruins, and the harrowing truths of nuclear warfare bared themselves to the world.
On 9 August 1945, a few days later, another B-29 bomber, Bockscar, dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, called “Fat Man.” Together, the two bombs were devastating enough to make Japan finally surrender unconditionally on August 15, 1945, and thus ended World War II.
The use of atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been one of the most debated decisions made in military history. Proponents argue that these bombings served to bring a quick end to the war, thereby saving numerous lives that would otherwise have been lost. Detractors argue that these bombings were inhumane and unnecessary, resulting in enormous civilian losses and highly dangerous precedence for future conflicts.
The Enola Gay now rests in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. It is a huge reminder of the still-great bomb, the atomic bomb, and the high responsibilities related to such power.
On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay flew, not just a great military crisis but something greater in history, the nuclear age. In a way, it made a breach in the mission by showing the world what atomic weapons were capable of, even though it fulfilled its immediate goal: ending World War II. Therefore, the Enola Gay bequeathed reflection and debate, a prime example of how technological progress, military strategy, and humanitarian considerations are so interwoven.