The aircraft was named after the mother of pilot Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. we have spent thousands of man hours and significant funds during the past decade to conserve and restore the Enola Gay to its original condition."Ībout the exhibit, he added, "Its basic, explicitly stated posture is that while the use of atomic weapons is hardly something our nation would want to celebrate, neither is it anything for which we should apologize. Enola Gay, the B-29bomber that was used by the United States on August 6, 1945, to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the first time the explosive device had been used on an enemy target. "The Enola Gay is, without question, one of the Smithsonian Institution's and the Air and Space Museum's premiere artifacts. "I must state unequivocally that this is not an option," he replied. Politely but firmly, Smithsonian Secretary Robert McC. The Wendover Army Air Base is home to the hangar where the famous Enola Gay was housed and from which it initially departed on its mission to drop the first. The Enola Gay (/ n o l /) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets.On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. The plane was one of 15 B-29s with the Silverplate modifications necessary. "In order to resolve this situation, I suggest the famed B-29 be displayed with understanding and pride in another museum." She suggested three Kansas museums. Enola Gay was assigned to the USAAFs 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group.
"It seems a travesty that when the Enola Gay is finally exhibited, it will be in a manner that many veterans find objectionable. It helped bring the war to an end in that after the bombing of Nagasaki, shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, surrendered. The Enola Gay was a bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the. "For 44 years, the Smithsonian has been in possession of the historic plane, and in that time it has never been properly and prominently displayed," she wrote. In the end, the Enola Gay played a decisive role in World War II.