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6, the crew headed to Japan in a B-29 named Enola Gay after Tibbets’ mother.
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In May of 1945, the crew was relocated to Tinian, a US-occupied island and airfield some 1,500 miles from mainland Japan. The training was for the dropping of atomic bombs, but only Tibbets knew the real reason. Tibbets had personally recommended him, saying he was “the best bombardier who ever looked through the eyepiece of Norden bombsight.” It was to the top-secret 509th Composite Group. Ferebee was sent back to the United States, but not to his home. Udar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.In 1944, things changed. In 2003 the fully restored Enola Gay was put on display at the NASM’s Steven F. Amid fierce opposition, however, the original plans were canceled, and a much scaled-back version was staged. The exhibit had originally been scheduled to include artifacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and highlight the debate over the decision to use the bomb. In 1995 a portion of the plane served as the centrepiece of a controversial exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. The project ultimately spanned some 20 years. In addition, birds had built nests in various compartments. Exposure to the elements had damaged the plane, and it had been vandalized. In 1984 work began on restoring the aircraft, which was in dire need of repair. It was later disassembled and stored in Maryland. The Enola Gay remained in service for several years before being given to the Smithsonian Institution on July 3, 1949. The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay backed over a pit to be loaded with the first atomic bomb, which would be released on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945. Three days later the Enola Gay conducted weather reconnaissance in the lead-up to the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. Tibbets flew the Enola Gay back to Tinian, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. While some 1,900 feet (580 metres) above the city, Little Boy exploded, killing tens of thousands and causing widespread destruction. At 8:15 am, the bomb was released over Hiroshima.
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See all videos for this articleĪt approximately 2:45 am on August 6, 1945, Tibbets-who was now a full colonel-and a crew of 11 took off from Tinian island carrying a uranium bomb that was known as “Little Boy.” The Enola Gay-Tibbets had a maintenance man paint that name on the aircraft’s nose shortly before takeoff-was accompanied by various other planes. From The Second World War: Allied Victory (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation. The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay took off from the Mariana Islands on August 6, 1945, bound for Hiroshima, Japan, where, with the dropping of the atomic bomb, it heralded a new and terrible concept of warfare. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
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