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. 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. "I am thoroughly convinced that the bomb saved lives. 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. Painstakingly researched, the story behind the decision to send the Enola Gay to bomb Hiroshima is told through firsthand sources. SUPER CAPTION: Paul Tibbets, "Enola Gay" Pilot A detailed history of the World War II American B-29 Enola Gay, its crew, and the controversial mission to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. 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. Tibbets says he was well aware of the mission he and his crew were undertaking. On August Sixth, 1945, he piloted the Enola Gay to its target. On hand for this gathering, Paul Tibbets. The blast, equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, destroyed a four square-mile area, and killing.
General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project, had warned the Enola Gays commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets, to expect 'a little publicity', but Tibbets and his crew are surprised by the scene of the.
Bathed in floodlights, the B-29 Enola Gay awaits the start of its historic mission to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. The 509th was the home of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Tibbets (1915-2007, born in Quincy, Illinois) was the pilot of the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, named after Tibbets’ mother, that dropped the first atomic bomb (nicknamed Little Boy) on the city of Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. The Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress Bomber, was responsible for dropping the atomic bomb Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan. August 6, 1945, 2:00 a.m., Tinian Island, the Central Pacific. 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. Surviving 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.