Enola Gay B-29 Superfortress

The Enola Gay is the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", to be used in war, by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the attack on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945, just before the end of World War II. Because of the bomber's role in the atomic bombings of Japan, its name has been synonymous with the controversy over the bombings themselves. The B-29 was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Paul Tibbets.[1]

The Enola Gay gained additional national attention in 1995 when the cockpit and nose section of the aircraft was exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. In 2003, the entire restored B-29 Enola Gay went on display at NASM's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

World War II history

The Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292 [2], victor number 82) was assigned to the USAAF's 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. [3]The bomber was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons. Enola Gay was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at its Bellevue, Nebraska plant at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base and was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945 while still on the assembly line. This would be the B-29 that he would use to fly the atomic bomb mission.

The Enola Gay was accompanied by two other B-29s, Necessary Evil which was used as a camera plane to photograph the explosion and effects of the bomb and carry scientific observers, and The Great Artiste which was the blast measurement instrumentation aircraft.
Enola Gay in its 6th BG livery, victor number 82 visible on fuselage just forward of the tail fin

The aircraft was accepted by the USAAF on 18 May 1945, and assigned to Crew B-9 (Captain Robert A. Lewis, aircraft commander), who flew the bomber 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 Tinian on 6 July. It was originally given the victor number "12," but on 1 August was given the circle R tail markings of the 6th Bomb Group as a security measure and had its victor changed to "82" to avoid misidentification with actual 6th BG aircraft.

During July of that year, after the bomber flew eight training missions and two combat missions 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. A "dummy" Little Boy assembly was dropped off Tinian.

On 5 August 1945, during preparation for the first atomic mission, pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets who assumed command of the aircraft, renamed the B-29 after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets (1893–1983), who had been named for the heroine of a novel. According to Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts [4], 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. Tibbets himself, interviewed on Tinian later that day by war correspondents, confessed that he was a bit embarrassed of having attached his mother's name to such a fateful mission.

The Hiroshima mission had been described as tactically flawless, and Enola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare on the base. The first atomic bombing was followed three days later by another B-29 (Bockscar) [5] (piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney) which dropped a second nuclear weapon, "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. The Nagasaki mission, by contrast, had been described as tactically botched, although the mission had met its objectives. The crew encountered a number of problems in execution, and Bockscar had very little fuel by the time it landed on Okinawa.[6] On that mission, Enola Gay, flown by Crew B-10 (Capt. George Marquardt, aircraft commander, see Necessary Evil for crew details), was the weather reconnaissance aircraft for Kokura.

[edit] Subsequent history

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 and 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, and reached Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Field, California, the next day.
Enola Gay in the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, 1987.

The decision was made to preserve the aircraft, and on 24 July 1946, the plane was flown to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in preparation for storage. On 30 August 1946, the title to the aircraft was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and was removed from the USAAF inventory. From 1946 to 1961, the Enola Gay was put into temporary storage at a number of locations:

* 1 September 1946, Davis-Monthan AFB
* 3 July 1949, Orchard Place Air Field, Park Ridge, Illinois, flown there by Gen. Tibbets for acceptance by the Smithsonian.
* 12 January 1952, Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, moved after O'Hare International Airport's location was announced
* 2 December 1953, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland
* 10 August 1960, disassembly at Andrews begun by personnel of the Smithsonian
* 21 July 1961, components transported to Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland.

Restoration of the bomber began on 5 December 1984, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland.

[edit] Recent developments
Enola Gay today at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Enola Gay became the center of a controversy at the Smithsonian Institution in 1994, when the museum put its fuselage on display 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 and arranged around the restored Enola Gay.

Critics of the 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 World War II conflict with Japan. The exhibit brought to national attention many long-standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings (see the debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). As a result, after various attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups had failed, the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995, though the fuselage did go on display. On 18 May 1998, the fuselage was returned to the Garber Facility for final restoration.
Under the cockpit window of the Enola Gay, while in storage 1987.

The entire aircraft has since been restored for static display and is currently a major permanent exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. As a result of the earlier controversy, the signage around the aircraft provides only the same succinct technical data as is provided for other aircraft in the museum, without discussion of the controversial issues.

The aircraft is shielded by various means to prevent a repetition of the vandalism which was attempted against it when it was first placed on display, which was the throwing of a jar of red paint onto the Enola Gay's wing. A video analytics system was installed in 2005. Multiple surveillance cameras automatically generate an alarm when any person or object approaches the aircraft.

The propellers that were used on the bombing mission were later shipped to Texas A&M University. One of these propellers was trimmed to 12½ ft for use in the university's Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The lightweight aluminum variable pitch propeller is powered by a 1,250 kVA electric motor providing a windspeed up to 200 mph.[7]

[edit] Mission personnel
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:

(An * denotes regular crewmen of the Enola Gay.)

* Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. – Pilot and Aircraft commander
* Captain Robert A. Lewis – Co-pilot; Enola Gay's assigned aircraft commander*
* Major Thomas Ferebee – Bombardier
* Captain Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk – Navigator
* U.S. Navy Captain William S. "Deak" Parsons – Weaponeer and bomb commander
* 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
* Technical Sergeant George R. "Bob" Caron – Tail gunner*
* Technical Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenberry – Flight engineer*
* Sergeant Joe S. Stiborik – Radar operator*
* Sergeant Robert H. Shumard – Assistant flight engineer*
* Private First Class Richard H. Nelson – VHF radio operator*
General characteristics

* Crew: 11: (A/C)Airplane Commander, Pilot, flight engineer (a rated pilot),[26][27]. bombardier, navigator, radio operator, radar operator, blister gunners (two), CFC upper gunner, and tail gunner
* Length: 99 ft 0 in (30.2 m)
* Wingspan: 141 ft 3 in (43.1 m)
* Height: 29 ft 7 in (8.5 m)
* Wing area: 1,736 sqft (161.3 m²
* Empty weight: 74,500 lb (33,800 kg)
* Loaded weight: 120,000 lb (54,000 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 133,500 lb (60,560 kg -- 135,000 lb plus combat load (144,000 lb on record[18]))
* Powerplant: 4× Wright R-3350-23 and 23A turbosupercharged radial engines, 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) each
* * Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0241
* Drag area: 41.16 ft² (3.82 m²
* Aspect ratio: 11.50

Performance

* Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 574 km/h)
* Cruise speed: 220 mph (190 knots, 350 km/h)
* Stall speed: 105 mph (91 knots, 170 km/h)
* Combat range: 3,250 mi (2,820 nmi, 5,230 km)
* Ferry range: 5,600 mi (4,900 nmi, 9,000 km, (record 5,839 mi, 5,074 nmi, 9,397 km[18]))
* Service ceiling: 33,600 ft (10,200 m)
* Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
* Wing loading: 69.12 lb/sqft (337 kg/m²
* Power/mass: 0.073 hp/lb (121 W/kg)
* Lift-to-drag ratio: 16.8

Armament

* Guns:
o 10× .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber Browning M2/ANs in remote controlled turrets
o 2 x .50 in and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon in tail position (the cannon was eventually removed as it proved unreliable in service )
o B-29B-BW - All armament and sighting equipment removed except for tail position; initially 2 x .50 in M2/AN and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon, later 3 x 2 x .50 in M2/AN with APG-15 gun-laying radar fitted as standard.
* Bombs: 20,000 lb (9,000 kg) standard loadout