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But even under the custody of the museum, the Enola Gay remained at an air force base in Texas. In the aftermath of World War II, the Army Air Forces flew the Enola Gay during an atomic test program in the Pacific it was then delivered to be stored in an airfield in Arizona before being flown to Illinois and transferred to the Smithsonian in July 1949. While it did not drop the bomb on Nagasaki, the Enola Gay did take flight to get data on the weather in the lead-up to the second strike on Japan.Īfter the war, the airplane took flight a few more times. dropped another atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki. The plane returned to Tinian Island, from which it had come. Shortly after that, the first shock wave hit us, and the plane snapped all over.” All we saw in the airplane was a bright flash.
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on the turn and ran away as fast as we could. “Immediately took the airplane to a 180° turn. When the bomb left the airplane, the plane jumped because you released 10,000 lbs.,” Theodore Van Kirk, the plane’s navigator, later recalled. “It was just like any other mission: some people are reading books, some are taking naps. in less than 3 minutes, reached 30,000 feet and then went up to 50,000.The Enola Gay is a B-29 Superfortress, which pilot Paul Tibbets named after his mother, and which had been stripped of everything but the necessities, so as to be thousands of pounds lighter than an ordinary plane of that make. In it, he describes the awesome power of the bomb: “There in front of our eyes was without a doubt the greatest explosion man has ever witnessed. Lewis’s autographed logbook was sold in March 2002 for $391,000 as part of the first sale from the Forbes Collection of American Historical Documents. The cloth chart was among hundreds of historical documents, including a souvenir copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln, that fetched $688,000, and an autographed letter by President George Washington that sold for $102,000. It was not clear whether the chart was being bought on behalf of another individual or institution. The 10-man crew trained for nearly a year for what was deemed “a very special mission” that could “end the war.” Only Tibbets and the radio operator knew of the powerful 4,000 kg bomb they were carrying.Ī Christie’s spokeswoman confirmed there were several bidders for the chart, but the winning bid, $72,000 (8,600,000 yen), was phone in by a New York trader and included a buyer’s premium. Paul Tibbets, who also commanded the 509th Composite Group, a special unit created and trained under the highest security for the mission. The pilot of the four-engine bomber was Col. The chart also shows Tinian Island in the Marianas, where the aircraft took off after 2 a.m., and Iwo Jima. Bob Lewis.” Below that, a line in cursive writing reads: “Attested as true/Col. The chart, prepared by the Army Map Service in February 1945, is nearly 77 cm square and depicts the East China Sea, including southern Japan.Ī message written in large block letters on the far right-hand side says: “Hiroshima Bombing/Aug. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. The first atomic bomb, code-named Little Boy, was released over Hiroshima early on Aug.