Guy who flew the enola gay
![guy who flew the enola gay guy who flew the enola gay](https://natedsanders.com/ItemImages/000051/Enola%20Gay%20Signed%20Photo%2053914c_lg.jpeg)
Guy who flew the enola gay serial number#
Martin Aircraft factory in Omaha, Nebraska, a Model B-29-45-MO, Serial number 44-86292. #Who flew the enola gay on its historic mission serial number He named his aircraft Enola Gay after his mother. The bomber was delivered to the 509th's base at Wendover Field, Utah, on June 14, 1945. In less than two weeks, she was winging her way to Guam where some bomb-bay modifications were made before proceeding to Tinian Island on July 6. The "gadget" developed by the Manhattan Project was, of course, the atomic bomb. Enola Gay flew eight training missions in July, including dropping "pumpkin bombs" (bombs which were the same size, weight, and shape as the "Fat Man" implosion devices but loaded with conventional explosives) on industrial targets in Kobe and Nagoya. The "Little Boy" gun-type nuclear weapon was loaded into the bomb-bay and Enola Gay took off from Tinian in the early morning darkness of August 5 for the six-hour flight to the target. Over Iwo Jima, she rendezvoused with two other B-29s, the Great Artiste loaded with instrumentation and Necessary Evil carrying photographic equipment. "Deak" Parsons was in overall charge of the mission and armed the "gadget" in flight to minimize danger to ground personnel. A half hour before reaching the target, the safety devices were removed from the device and at 8:15 local time "Little Boy" was released from Enola Gay from an altitude of 31,060 feet. It took 43 seconds for the device to drop to its detonation point 1,968 feet above the city of Hiroshima, Japan. By the time the shockwaves from the detonation reached the aircraft it had traveled eleven and a half miles.
![guy who flew the enola gay guy who flew the enola gay](https://i1.wp.com/vulcantothesky.org/wp-content/uploads/77-BT-124-Little-Boy-about-to-be-loaded-into-Enola-Gay.jpg)
Although there was major buffeting, the aircraft on the mission suffered no damage.Įnola Gay touched down on Tinian at 2:58 after the twelve-hour and thirteen-minute mission. LtCol Tibbets was the first to disembark the aircraft and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on the spot. George Marquart was the weather observation aircraft over Kokura, Japan, the primary target for B-29 Bockscar carrying the "Fat Man" implosion-type device. The day before, two hundred and twenty-four B-29s had dropped conventional bombs on nearby Yahata and smoke from those fires obscured the primary target, so Bockscar was diverted to Nagasaki. Because of delays over the primary target, mission aircraft were low on fuel and had to touch down at the emergency field on Okinawa before returning to Tinian. The 509th's new base was at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico, and Enola Gay arrived on November 8, 1945. In April 1946 she returned to the Pacific where she was an alternate aircraft to drop the Able test bomb during Operation Crossroads (B-29 Dave's Dream was selected for the test).