He attended both the University of Florida at Gainesville and the University of Cincinnati pursuing a degree in medicine. Later, the family moved back to the Midwest where Tibbets graduated high school from the Western Military Academy. As part of an advertising stunt, Tibbets tossed Baby Ruth candy bars with tiny paper parachutes to the crowd. Tibbets was flying with barnstormer Doug Davis in a biplane. Tibbets had his first airplane ride when he was 12 at a carnival at the Hialeah horse track outside of Miami. As a boy, he was very interested in flying. In 1923, his family moved to Hialeah, Florida, to escape from harsh midwestern winters. was born in Quincy, Illinois, on February 23, 1915, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets Sr.
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He stated that his actions had brought an end to the bloodshed of World War II and ultimately saved lives by stopping the carnage. In his later years, he would draw the ire and criticism of nuclear activists something he would make no apologies for. Tibbets was the first to disembark, and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross on the spot.Paul Tibbets was a retired Air Force brigadier general who flew the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Several hundred people, including journalists and photographers, had gathered to watch the planes return. The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil followed at short intervals. Some 70,000–80,000 people, 30% of the city's population, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 injured. Out of those killed, 20,000 were soldiers.Įnola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare, touching down at 2:58 pm, after 12 hours 13 minutes. Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6–7% damaged. The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km 2). Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles (12 km 2) of the city were destroyed. The U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.7% of its fissile material fissioning. The detonation created a blast equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT (67 TJ). Although buffeted by the shock, neither Enola Gay nor The Great Artiste was damaged. Enola Gay traveled 11.5 mi (18.5 km) before it felt the shock waves from the blast. The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet (9,470 m) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet (600 m) above the city. Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area. His assistant, Second Lieutenant Morris R. "Deak" Parsons of Project Alberta, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb during the flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 9,855 meters (32,333 ft). On request, he gave a friendly wave for the cameras.Īfter leaving Tinian, the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima, where they rendezvoused at 2,440 meters (8,010 ft) and set course for Japan. When he wanted to taxi, Tibbets leaned out the window to direct the bystanders out of the way. Groves, Jr., wanted the event recorded for posterity, so the takeoff was illuminated by floodlights.
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The director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Enola Gay, piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, in the Mariana Islands, about six hours' flight time from Japan, accompanied by two other B-29s, The Great Artiste, carrying instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, to take photographs. Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets.
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Following delivery to the US Twelfth Air Force, the aircraft was assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron (VH) of the 315th Bombardment Wing, receiving individual aircraft number 82. The aircraft was named for the mother of Colonel Paul Tibbets, who flew the aircraft on the Hiroshima mission.Įnola Gay was one of the 536 B-29s built at the Martin-Omaha plant from mid 1944. It is famed for dropping the world's first nuclear bomb used in warfare, which was dropping the Little Boy on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. You can help the Aircraft Wiki by expanding it.Įnola Gay on the ground, showing the arrowhead painted on the tail in place of the group letter