Enola Gay - wikipedia Enola Gay This article is about the bomber. For the song, see Enola Gay ( song ). Enola Gay Paul Tibbets waving from the Enola Gay 's cockpit to get reporters to stand clear of the propellers prior to engine start, before taking off for the bombing of Hiroshima Type B - 29 - 45 - MO Superfortress Manufacturer Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska Manufactured 18 May 1945 Serial 44 - 86292 Radio code Victor 12 ( later changed to victor 82 ) Owners and operators United States Army Air Forces In service 18 May 1945 -- 24 July 1946 Preserved at National Air and Space Museum 's Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center The Enola Gay ( / ɪˈnoʊlə ˈɡeɪ / ) is a Boeing B - 29 Superfortress bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code - named `` Little Boy '', was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused unprecedented destruction. Enola Gay participated in the second atomic attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead. After the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, where it was operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. 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. 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 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. The cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum ( NASM ) in downtown Washington, D.C., for the bombing 's 50th anniversary in 1995, amid controversy. Since 2003, the entire restored B - 29 has been on display at NASM 's Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center. The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on July 28, 2014, at the age of 93. Contents 1 World War II 1.1 Early history 1.2 Hiroshima mission 1.3 Nagasaki mission 2 Crews 2.1 Hiroshima mission 2.2 Nagasaki mission 3 Subsequent history 4 Restoration 4.1 Exhibition controversy 4.2 Complete restoration and display 5 References 5.1 Notes 5.2 Citations 5.3 Bibliography 5.4 Further reading 6 External links World War II Early History The Enola Gay ( Model number B - 29 - 45 - MO, Serial number 44 - 86292, Victor number 82 ) was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company ( now Lockheed Martin ) at its Bellevue, Nebraska plant, located at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base. The bomber was one of the 15 initial examples of B - 29s built to the `` Silverplate '' specification - 65 of these eventually being completed during and after World War II - giving them the primary ability to function as nuclear `` weapon delivery '' aircraft. These modifications included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors and British bomb attachment and release systems, reversible pitch propellers that gave more braking power on landing, improved engines with fuel injection and better cooling, and the removal of protective armor and gun turrets. Enola Gay after Hiroshima mission, entering hardstand. It is in its 6th Bombardment Group livery, with victor number 82 visible on fuselage just forward of the tail fin. Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., the commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line. The aircraft was accepted by the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) on 18 May 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Crew B - 9, commanded by Captain Robert A. Lewis, took delivery of the bomber and flew it from Omaha to the 509th 's base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on 14 June 1945. Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb - bay modification, and flew to North Field, Tinian, on 6 July. It was initially given the Victor ( squadron - assigned identification ) number 12, but on 1 August, was given the circle R tail markings of the 6th Bombardment Group as a security measure and had its Victor number changed to 82 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th Bombardment Group aircraft. During July, the bomber made eight practice or training flights, and flew two missions, on 24 and 26 July, to drop pumpkin bombs on industrial targets at Kobe and Nagoya. Enola Gay was used on 31 July on a rehearsal flight for the actual mission. The partially assembled Little Boy gun - type nuclear weapon L - 11 was contained inside a 41 - inch ( 100 cm ) x 47 - inch ( 120 cm ) x 138 - inch ( 350 cm ) wooden crate weighing 10,000 pounds ( 4,500 kg ) that was secured to the deck of the USS Indianapolis. Unlike the six uranium - 235 target discs, which were later flown to Tinian on three separate aircraft arriving 28 and 29 July, the assembled projectile with the nine uranium - 235 rings installed was shipped in a single lead - lined steel container weighing 300 pounds ( 140 kg ) that was locked to brackets welded to the deck of Captain Charles B. McVay III 's quarters. Both the L - 11 and projectile were dropped off at Tinian on 26 July 1945. Hiroshima mission Main article : Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Little Boy unit on trailer cradle in pit on Tinian, before being loaded into Enola Gay 's bomb bay On 5 August 1945, during preparation for the first atomic mission, Tibbets assumed command of the aircraft and named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who had herself been named for the heroine of a novel. When it came to selecting a name for the plane, Tibbets later recalled that : my thoughts turned at this point to my courageous red - haired mother, whose quiet confidence had been a source of strength to me since boyhood, and particularly during the soul - searching period when I decided to give up a medical career to become a military pilot. At a time when Dad had thought I had lost my marbles, she had taken my side and said, `` I know you will be all right son. '' The name was painted on the aircraft on 5 August by Allan L. Karl, an enlisted man in the 509th. Regularly assigned aircraft commander Robert Lewis was unhappy to be displaced by Tibbets for this important mission, and became furious when he arrived at the aircraft on the morning of 6 August to see it painted with the now - famous nose art. Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. Enola Gay, piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, in the Mariana Islands, about six hours ' flight time from Japan, accompanied by two other B - 29s, The Great Artiste, carrying instrumentation, and a then - nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, to take photographs. The director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., wanted the event recorded for posterity, so the takeoff was illuminated by floodlights. When he wanted to taxi, Tibbets leaned out the window to direct the bystanders out of the way. On request, he gave a friendly wave for the cameras. Hiroshima explosion After leaving Tinian, the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima, where they rendezvoused at 2,440 meters ( 8,010 ft ) and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 9,855 meters ( 32,333 ft ). Captain William S. `` Deak '' Parsons of Project Alberta, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb during the flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. His assistant, Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area. The release at 08 : 15 ( Hiroshima time ) went as planned, and the Little Boy took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet ( 9,470 m ) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet ( 600 m ) above the city. Enola Gay traveled 11.5 mi ( 18.5 km ) before it felt the shock waves from the blast. Although buffeted by the shock, neither Enola Gay nor The Great Artiste was damaged. The detonation created a blast equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT ( 67 TJ ). The U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.7 % of its fissile material fissioning. The radius of total destruction was about one mile ( 1.6 km ), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles ( 11 km ). Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles ( 12 km ) of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69 % of Hiroshima 's buildings were destroyed and another 6 -- 7 % damaged. Some 70,000 -- 80,000 people, 30 % of the city 's population, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 injured. Out of those killed, 20,000 were soldiers. Enola Gay landing at its base Enola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare, touching down at 2 : 58 pm, after 12 hours 13 minutes. The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil followed at short intervals. Several hundred people, including journalists and photographers, had gathered to watch the planes return. Tibbets was the first to disembark, and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross on the spot. Nagasaki mission The Hiroshima mission was followed by another atomic strike. Originally scheduled for 11 August, it was brought forward by two days to 9 August owing to a forecast of bad weather. This time, a Fat Man nuclear weapon was carried by B - 29 Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney. Enola Gay, flown by Captain George Marquardt 's Crew B - 10, was the weather reconnaissance aircraft for Kokura, the primary target. Enola Gay reported clear skies over Kokura, but by the time Bockscar arrived, the city was obscured by smoke from fires from the conventional bombing of Yahata by 224 B - 29s the day before. After three unsuccessful passes, Bockscar diverted to its secondary target, Nagasaki, where it dropped its bomb. In contrast to the Hiroshima mission, the Nagasaki mission has been described as tactically botched, although the mission did meet its objectives. The crew encountered a number of problems in execution, and had very little fuel by the time they landed at the emergency backup landing site Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. Crews The mission runs of August 6 and 9, with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kokura ( the original target for August 9 ) displayed. Hiroshima mission Bombardier Thomas Ferebee with the Norden Bombsight on Tinian after the dropping of Little Boy Enola Gay 's crew on 6 August 1945, consisted of 12 men. The crew was : Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. -- pilot and aircraft commander Captain Robert A. Lewis -- co-pilot ; Enola Gay 's regularly assigned aircraft commander * Major Thomas Ferebee -- bombardier Captain Theodore `` Dutch '' Van Kirk -- navigator Captain William S. Parsons, USN -- weaponeer and mission commander. First Lieutenant Jacob Beser -- radar countermeasures ( also the only man to fly on both of the nuclear bombing aircraft ) Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson -- assistant weaponeer Staff Sergeant George R. `` Bob '' Caron -- tail gunner * Staff Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenbury -- flight engineer * Sergeant Joe S. Stiborik -- radar operator * Sergeant Robert H. Shumard -- assistant flight engineer * Private First Class Richard H. Nelson -- VHF radio operator * Source : Campbell, 2005, p. 30. Asterisks denote regular crewmen of the Enola Gay. Of mission commander Parsons, it was said : `` There is no one more responsible for getting this bomb out of the laboratory and into some form useful for combat operations than Captain Parsons, by his plain genius in the ordnance business. '' Nagasaki mission For the Nagasaki mission, Enola Gay was flown by Crew B - 10, normally assigned to Up An ' Atom : Captain George W. Marquardt -- aircraft commander Second Lieutenant James M. Anderson -- co-pilot Second Lieutenant Russell Gackenbach -- navigator Captain James W. Strudwick -- bombardier First Lieutenant Jacob Beser -- radar countermeasures Technical Sergeant James R. Corliss -- flight engineer Sergeant Warren L. Coble -- radio operator Sergeant Joseph M. DiJulio -- radar operator Sergeant Melvin H. Bierman -- tail gunner Sergeant Anthony D. Capua, Jr. -- assistant engineer / scanner Source : Campbell, 2005, p. 134, 191 -- 192. Subsequent History Enola Gay in the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, 1987 On 6 November 1945, Lewis flew the Enola Gay back to the United States, arriving at the 509th 's new base at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, on 8 November. On 29 April 1946, Enola Gay left Roswell as part of Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific. It flew to Kwajalein on 1 May. It was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll and left Kwajalein on 1 July, the date of the test, reaching Fairfield - Suisun Army Air Field, California, the next day. The decision was made to preserve the Enola Gay, and on 24 July 1946, the aircraft was flown to Davis - Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, in preparation for storage. On 30 August 1946, the title to the aircraft was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and the Enola Gay was removed from the USAAF inventory. From 1946 to 1961, the Enola Gay was put into temporary storage at a number of locations. It was at Davis - Monthan from 1 September 1946 until 3 July 1949, when it was flown to Orchard Place Air Field, Park Ridge, Illinois, by Tibbets for acceptance by the Smithsonian. It was moved to Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, on 12 January 1952, and then to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on 2 December 1953, because the Smithsonian had no storage space for the aircraft. It was hoped that the Air Force would guard the plane but, lacking hangar space, it was left outdoors on a remote part of the air base, exposed to the elements. Souvenir hunters broke in and removed parts. Insects and birds then gained access to the aircraft. Paul E. Garber of the Smithsonian Institution, became concerned about the Enola Gay 's condition, and on 10 August 1960, Smithsonian staff began dismantling the aircraft. The components were transported to the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland, on 21 July 1961. Enola Gay remained at Suitland for many years. By the early 1980s, two veterans of the 509th, Don Rehl and his former navigator in the 509th, Frank B. Stewart, began lobbying for the aircraft to be restored and put on display. They enlisted Tibbets and Senator Barry Goldwater in their campaign. In 1983, Walter Boyne, a former B - 52 pilot with the Strategic Air Command, became director of the National Air and Space Museum, and he made the Enola Gay 's restoration a priority. Looking at the aircraft, Tibbets recalled, was a `` sad meeting. ( My ) fond memories, and I do n't mean the dropping of the bomb, were the numerous occasions I flew the airplane... I pushed it very, very hard and it never failed me... It was probably the most beautiful piece of machinery that any pilot ever flew. '' Restoration of the bomber began on 5 December 1984, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland - Silver Hill, Maryland. The propellers that were used on the bombing mission were later shipped to Texas A&M University. One of these propellers was trimmed to 12.5 feet ( 3.8 m ) for use in the university 's Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The lightweight aluminium variable - pitch propeller is powered by a 1,250 kVA electric motor providing a wind speed up to 200 miles per hour ( 320 km / h ). Two engines were rebuilt at Garber and two at San Diego Air & Space Museum. The work was slow and meticulous. Every component was carefully cleaned. Some parts and instruments had been removed and could not be located. Replacements were found or fabricated, and marked so that future curators could distinguish them from the original components. Restoration Exhibition controversy Under the cockpit window of the Enola Gay, while in storage 1987. Enola Gay became the center of a controversy at the Smithsonian Institution when the museum planned to put its fuselage on public display in 1995 as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The exhibit, The Crossroads : The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War, was drafted by the Smithsonian 's National Air and Space Museum staff, and arranged around the restored Enola Gay. Critics of the planned exhibit, especially those of the American Legion and the Air Force Association, charged that the exhibit focused too much attention on the Japanese casualties inflicted by the nuclear bomb, rather than on the motivations for the bombing or the discussion of the bomb 's role in ending the conflict with Japan. The exhibit brought to national attention many long - standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings. As a result, after various failed attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups, the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995. Martin O. Harwit, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, was compelled to resign over the controversy. The forward fuselage did go on display on 28 June 1995. On 2 July 1995, three people were arrested for throwing ash and human blood on the aircraft 's fuselage, following an earlier incident in which a protester had thrown red paint over the gallery 's carpeting. The exhibition closed on 18 May 1998, and the fuselage was returned to the Garber Facility for final restoration. Complete restoration and display Restoration work began in 1984, and would eventually require 300,000 staff hours. While the fuselage was on display, from 1995 to 1998, work continued on the remaining unrestored components. The aircraft was shipped in pieces to the National Air and Space Museum 's Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia from March -- June 2003, with the fuselage and wings reunited for the first time since 1960 on 10 April 2003 and assembly completed on 8 August 2003. The aircraft is currently at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center, since the museum annex opened on 15 December 2003. The Enola Gay on display at the National Air & Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar - Hazy Center References Notes Jump up ^ The block number was a one to three digit number followed by a two letter code that represented the aircraft built to the same engineering specification. The two letter code represented the plant at which the aircraft was built, in this case, Martin in Omaha. This was combined with the aircraft model designation ( B - 29 ) to form the model number Jump up ^ The atomic bombs were euphemistically known as the `` gadgets '', a tag given to them by scientists at the Los Alamos test facility. Jump up ^ Enola ; or Her fatal mistake ( 1886 ), by Mary Young Ridenbaugh is the only novel of the period to use `` Enola ''. Citations Jump up ^ Mann 2004, p. 100. Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 14 -- 15. ^ Jump up to : March, Peter R. `` Enola Gay Restored ''. Aircraft Illustrated, October 2003. Jump up ^ `` Boeing B - 29 Enola Gay Superfortress bomber, Aircraft history, facts and pictures ''. aviationexplorer.com. Retrieved 4 August 2010. ^ Jump up to : Campbell 2005, pp. 191 -- 192. Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, p. 117. Jump up ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 2. Jump up ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 258. Jump up ^ Ridenbaugh, Mary Young ( 1886 ). Enola ; or Her fatal mistake. St Louis, Missouri : Woodward & Tiernan. Jump up ^ Tibbets 1998, p. 203. Jump up ^ Thomas & Morgan - Witts 1977, pp. 382 -- 383. Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, pp. 31 -- 32. Jump up ^ `` Timeline # 2 - the 509th ; The Hiroshima Mission ''. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 5 May 2007. Jump up ^ `` The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug 6, 1945 ''. United States Department of Energy. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010. ^ Jump up to : Polmar 2004, p. 33. Jump up ^ `` Section 8.0 The First Nuclear Weapons ''. Nuclear Weapons Archive. Retrieved 13 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Bomb - '' Little Boy `` ''. The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 5 May 2007. Jump up ^ `` Radiation Dose Reconstruction U.S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima And Nagasaki, Japan, 1945 -- 1946 ( DNA 5512F ) '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 24 June 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2006. Jump up ^ `` U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey : The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President 's Secretary 's File, Truman Papers. ''. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 9. Retrieved 15 March 2009. Jump up ^ `` U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey : The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President 's Secretary 's File, Truman Papers. ''. Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2009. Jump up ^ `` Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey : The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President 's Secretary 's File, Truman Papers. ''. p. 37. Retrieved 15 March 2009. Jump up ^ `` Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing : Facts about the Atomic Bomb ''. Hiroshima Day Committee. Retrieved 13 April 2013. Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, pp. 35 -- 38. Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, p. 32. Jump up ^ Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997, pp. 210 -- 211. Jump up ^ Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997, pp. 213 -- 215. Jump up ^ `` Boeing B - 29 Superfortress ''. National Museum of the United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ Rossenfeld, Carrie ( 2005 ). `` The Story of Nagasaki : The Missions ''. hiroshima-remembered.com. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ Cooper, Sgt. Jean. `` Photo : P - 574 ( Enola Gay Crew Members ) ''. Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ `` Atom Bomber Crew From Eight States ''. The Miami News. AP. August 8, 1945. Retrieved July 8, 2017 -- via newspapers.com. Jump up ^ Dvorak, Darrell F. ( Winter 2013 ). `` The First Atomic Bomb Mission : Trinity B - 29 Operations Three Weeks Before Hiroshima '' ( PDF ). Air Power History. 60 ( 4 ) : 4 -- 17. ISSN 1044 - 016X. ^ Jump up to : Campbell 2005, p. 193. ^ Jump up to : Polmar 2004, p. 66. ^ Jump up to : Harwit, Martin. `` An Exhibit Denied : Lobbying the History of Enola Gay ''. New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` Enola Gay ''. Solarnavigator.net. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, p. 60. Jump up ^ Sanger, David E. ( 6 August 1995 ). `` Travel Advisory : Correspondent 's Report ; Enola Gay and Little Boy, Exactly 50 Years Later ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ Gallagher, Edward. `` History on Trial : The Enola Gay Controversy ''. Lehigh University. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ `` Enola Gay Archive : The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian ''. Air Force Association. 1996. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010. Jump up ^ Doyle, Debbie Ann ( December 2003 ). `` Historians protest new Enola Gay exhibit ''. Perspectives on History. 41 ( 9 ). ISSN 0743 - 7021. Retrieved 8 May 2015. Jump up ^ `` Head of Air, Space Museum Quits Over Enola Gay Exhibit ''. Los Angeles Times. 3 May 1995. Retrieved 25 April 2013. Jump up ^ Meyer, Eugene L. ( 3 May 1995 ). `` Air and Space Museum Chief Resigns : Harwit Cites Furor Over A-Bomb Exhibit ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 April 2013. Jump up ^ Correll, John T. ( August 1995 ). `` Enola Gay Archive : Presenting the Enola Gay ''. Air Force Association. p. 19. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` Boeing B - 29 ' Superfortress ' : Enola Gay. ''. National air and Space Museum. Retrieved 8 August 2010. Bibliography Campbell, Richard H. ( 2005 ). The Silverplate Bombers : A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B - 29 's Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs. Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0 - 7864 - 2139 - 8. Hoddeson, Lillian ; Henriksen, Paul W. ; Meade, Roger A. ; Westfall, Catherine L. ( 1993 ). Critical Assembly : A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943 -- 1945. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 44132 - 2. Mann, Robert A. ( 2004 ). The B - 29 Superfortress : A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions. Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company. ISBN 0 - 7864 - 1787 - 0. Polmar, Norman ( 2004 ). The Enola Gay : The B - 29 that Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Dulles, Virginia : Brassey 's. ISBN 1 - 57488 - 859 - 5. Sweeney, Charles ; Antonucci, James A. ; Antonucci, Marion K. ( 1997 ). War 's End : an Eyewitness Account of America 's Last Atomic Mission. New York : Avon Books. ISBN 0 - 380 - 97349 - 9. Thomas, Gordon ; Morgan - Witts, Max ( 1977 ). Ruin from the Air : The Enola Gay 's Atomic Mission to Hiroshima. London : Hamilton. ISBN 0 - 8128 - 8509 - 0. Tibbets, Paul W. ( 1998 ). Return of the Enola Gay. New Hope, Pennsylvania : Enola Gay Remembered Inc. ISBN 0970366604. Further reading Dubin, Steven C. ( 2001 ). Displays of Power : Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation. New York : NYU Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8147 - 1890 - 2. Haggerty, Forrest ( 2005 ). 43 Seconds to Hiroshima : The First Atomic Mission. An Autobiography of Richard H. Nelson, `` Enola Gay '' Radioman. Bloomington, Indiana : AuthorHouse. ISBN 1 - 4208 - 4316 - 8. Harwit, Martin ( 1996 ). An Exhibit Denied : Lobbying the History of Enola Gay. New York : Copernicus. ISBN 0 - 387 - 94797 - 3. Hogan, Michael J. ( 1996 ). Hiroshima in History and Memory. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 56682 - 7. Krauss, Robert ; Krauss, Amelia ( 2005 ). The 509th Remembered : A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves, 509th Anniversary Reunion, Wichita, Kansas, 7 -- 10 October 2004. Wichita, Kansas : 509th Press. ISBN 0 - 923568 - 66 - 2. O'Reilly, Charles T. and William A. Rooney ( 2005 ). Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution. New York : McFarland & Company. ISBN 0 - 7864 - 2008 - 1. Rhodes, Richard ( 1986 ). The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0 - 684 - 81378 - 5. Newman, Robert P. ( 2004 ). Enola Gay and the Court of History. New York : Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 0 - 8204 - 7457 - 6. Wheeler, Keith. ( 1982 ). Bombers over Japan. Virginia Beach, Virginia : Time - Life Books. ISBN 0 - 8094 - 3429 - 6. External links United States Air Force portal World War II portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enola Gay. The Smithsonian 's site on Enola Gay includes links to crew lists and other details Eyewitnesses to Hiroshima, Time magazine, 1 August 2005 `` Inside the Enola Gay '', Air & Space, 18 May 2010 Manhattan Project Timeline Sites Ames Berkeley Chicago Dayton Hanford Inyokern Los Alamos Montreal New York Oak Ridge Trinity Wendover Heavy water sites Administrators Vannevar Bush Arthur Compton James Conant Priscilla Duffield Thomas Farrell Leslie Groves John Lansdale Ernest Lawrence James Marshall Franklin Matthias Dorothy McKibbin Kenneth Nichols Robert Oppenheimer Deak Parsons William Purnell Frank Spedding Charles Thomas Paul Tibbets Bud Uanna Harold Urey Stafford Warren Ed Westcott Roscoe Wilson Scientists Luis Alvarez Robert Bacher Hans Bethe Aage Bohr Niels Bohr Norris Bradbury James Chadwick John Cockcroft Harry Daghlian Enrico Fermi Richard Feynman Val Fitch James Franck Klaus Fuchs Maria Goeppert - Mayer George Kistiakowsky George Koval Willard Libby Edwin McMillan Mark Oliphant Norman Ramsey Isidor Isaac Rabi James Rainwater Bruno Rossi Glenn Seaborg Emilio Segrè Louis Slotin Henry DeWolf Smyth Leo Szilard Edward Teller Stanisław Ulam John von Neumann John Wheeler Eugene Wigner Robert Wilson Leona Woods Operations Alsos Mission Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Operation Crossroads Operation Peppermint Project Alberta Silverplate 509th Composite Group Enola Gay Bockscar The Great Artiste Weapons Fat Man Little Boy Pumpkin bomb Thin Man Related topics Atomic Energy Act of 1946 British contribution Chicago Pile - 1 Demon core Einstein -- Szilárd letter Interim Committee Oppenheimer security hearing Plutonium RaLa Experiment S - 1 Executive Committee S - 50 Project Smyth Report Uranium X-10 Graphite Reactor Manhattan Project Coordinates : 38 ° 54 ′ 39 '' N 77 ° 26 ′ 39 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 38.9108 ° N 77.4442 ° W ﻿ / 38.9108 ; - 77.4442 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enola_Gay&oldid=801712923 '' Categories : Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Individual aircraft of World War II Individual aircraft in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution Boeing B - 29 Superfortress Hidden categories : Good articles Use dmy dates from May 2012 Coordinates on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu Azərbaycanca Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Basa Jawa Lëtzebuergesch Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська West - Vlams 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 21 September 2017, at 11 : 01. 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Question: what kind of plane dropped the bomb on hiroshima
Answer: Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber