Tibbets and the men of the 509th are confident they did nothing wrong by dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima - no matter how others may judge them. But there's no morality in warfare and I've never tried to equate it to morality. It's unfair to inject morality into a wartime situation that existed 1945.
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Today many question the wisdom of ever making the decision to drop the bomb.īut despite the tens of thousands who died at Hiroshima, Tibbets says The bomb's devastation was hailed as a victory in newspapers of the time. SUPER CAPTION: Dutch Van Kirk, "Enola Gay" Navigator And on a net basis, the bomb did save lives." Both Allied lives, Japanese lives, prisoners of war who would have suffered otherwise. Tibbets says he was well aware of the mission he and his crew were undertaking. "I am thoroughly convinced that the bomb saved lives. On August Sixth, 1945, he piloted the Enola Gay to its target. He and his crew mates have spent the last 50 years mulling over the morality of their mission. Other crewmen from the Enola Gay have also attended the reunion, including bombardier Tom Ferebee. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first. SUPER CAPTION: Paul Tibbets, "Enola Gay" Pilot And that cloud up above us was just tumbling and rolling. "Where there had been a distinct city below us, there was nothing down but what in my vernacular was a black, boiling mess. With a flash over Hiroshima, the course of human history changed forever. He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets. On August Sixth, 1945, he piloted the Enola Gay to its target. COLUMBUS, Ohio - Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. On hand for this gathering, Paul Tibbets. The 509th was the home of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It's the type of reunion of old military units that go on all the time.īut the 509th Composite Group holds a special place in history.Īmong the old photos of the B-29 bombers that made up this wing, one stands out. He is best known as the pilot who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. He is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on members of the U-S Air force plane that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima have held reunion in New Mexico.įifty years on - they still believe it was the right thing to do - because it saved lives by ending the war against Japan. (23 February 1915 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. The pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, has a 140,000+:1 kill/death ratio. Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. Tibbets IV piloted the aircraft to Whiteman AFB for an airshow.
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Paul Tibbets IV, the 509th Bomb Wing commander from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., co-piloted Doc, during this flight. Doc, a restored B-29 Superfortress, takes off June 9, 2017, from McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. Today the Enola Gay remains in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC while Bockscar is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Grandson of Enola Gay pilot flies refurbished B-29. So what is largely forgotten is that while Bock didn’t pilot Bockscar he was in fact present in the other B-29, The Great Artiste, which was used for scientific measures and photography of the effects caused by the release of Fat Man. When the second bomb was dropped (fat man was dropped in Nagasaki). B-29 that dropped Fat Man piloted by Major Sweeney. When Sweeney and his crew were chosen to deliver the Fat Man while Bock and his crew were chosen to provide observation support the decision was made to swap the crews rather than to move the complex instrumentation equipment. The American B-29 that dropped the atomic weapon on the Japanese industrial center at Hiroshima.
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Sweeney had used Bockscar for more than ten training and practice missions even though he and his usual crew had piloted another aircraft named The Great Artiste.