In 1965 the Smithsonian took possession of the Enola Gay. The Air Force put the Enola Gay in open storage in 1959. It flew a number of nuclear test missions but the Enola Gay never again dropped an atomic bomb. The Aioi Bridge had a T-shape which made it a good aiming point for a bombing mission.Īfter the war the Enola Gay served with the 393 rd Composite Squadron. The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, An exhibition label script for the National Air and Space Museum, Octoversion, © 1994, Smithsonian Institution. The Hiroshima bombing destroyed two Japanese Army divisions but most of the casualties were civilians. Many survivors also suffered a number of other health issues that lasted long after the war. Hiroshima survivors had a higher than average rate of leukemia for many years after the bombing. The bomb killed approximately 130,000 people from the time of its detonation until the end of 1945. This was about 1,000 feet away from the aiming point, which was the Aioi Bridge. The bomb detonated over the foot of the Moyasu Bridge. At 8:15 AM Tom Ferebee, the Enola Gay’s bombardier, release the bomb and 43 seconds later the Tall Boy detonated. Colonel Tibbets flew the Enola Gay to its primary target Hiroshima. A uranium bomb had not been detonated before.
![udvar hazy enola gay udvar hazy enola gay](https://historyprints.net/images/model/EnolaGayatUdvarHazyWWIIWarbirdCustomPrintedPhotograph-model-24x36-w.jpg)
On the morning of August 6 Enola Gay took off from Tinian with a uranium bomb nicknamed “Little Boy”. Prior to flying his atomic bombing mission the 509 th commander then Colonel Paul Tibbets had the aircraft he would fly on the mission named “Enola Gay”, after his mother. It flew its first Pumpkin mission on July 6. The Enola Gay arrived on Tinian on July 2, 1945. These missions were nicknamed “Pumpkin Missions”. The B-29s would carry a single large bomb that was painted orange. These were training missions for atomic bombing missions. The 509 th began flying combat missions on July 20, 1945.
![udvar hazy enola gay udvar hazy enola gay](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/06/4e/aa/46/smithsonian-national.jpg)
This B-29 flew to Tinian in the Pacific Ocean as were the other B-29s of the 509 th Composite Group.