Where did enola gay fly from

The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed about three-quarters of the. The atomic bomb program, centered on the government laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, was equal in size, scope, and secrecy to the B program.

It was the first time the explosive device had been used on an enemy target, and it destroyed most of the city. It also did advanced tricycle landing gear gay was the first bomber to have an analog computer-controlled defensive armament system and a pressurized and heated fuselage that meant the person crew did not have to wear oxygen masks and heavy, bulky clothing during long missions.

Where aircraft was named after the mother of pilot Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. Enola Gay Flight Path Hiroshima Log of the Enola Gay The Enola Gay left Tinian at am, accompanied by two other Bs: The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil.

As enola new and deadly weapon, an atomic bomber, Enola Gay facilitated a turning point in human history as it ushered in the dawn of the Atomic Age and the threat of nuclear war. Approximately Bs attacked Tokyo in Marchkilling upwards ofpeople and destroying one-fourth of the city in a single 24 hour period.

The installation of reversible Curtiss Electric propellers enabled the use of backwards thrust to slow the lumbering bomber down on the runway if it had to land from the bomb. At am (Tinian time), the bomb run began. The failure to achieve results with daylight, high-altitude, precision bombing in the unique operational environment over Japan led to a switch to low-level, nighttime, firebombing raids.

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Additional raids on selected targets and the aerial mining of shipping lanes effectively left Japan isolated and in military, economic, political, and social shambles by the end of July As the American strategic bombing campaign reached its crescendo against Imperial Japan, the United States was developing a new weapon.

To deliver the new weapon, the U. It was under the command of Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. He chose his fellow 8th Air Force veterans, bombardier Maj. Thomas Ferebee and navigator Capt. On 6 Augustduring the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in warfare.

After a successful test explosion in Julythe United States had a new weapon to use against Japan and to affect a rapid end to the war. The release at AM (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy bomb took 53 seconds to fall from the aircraft.

These planes rendezvoused over Iwo Jima and set course for Japan. So that is exactly what I did not realizing, until fifty-two years later, when going through some old war photos in my Bomb Group Album that I had taken a picture of the Enola Gay the day that it arrived on Tinian.

The Enola Gay (/ əˈnoʊlə /) is a Boeing B Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. The Enola Gay is the B heavy bomber that was used by the United States on August 6,to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Another atomic attack on Nagasaki followed three days later. That was the last time I saw that airplane with the arrow on the tail in our squadron area. The nationwide effort to manufacture the technologically-sophisticated B included factories in Washington, Kansas, Nebraska, and Georgia turning out complete aircraft and thousands of sub-contractors producing smaller components and equipment.

The delivery system for these bombs, the Superfortress, represented the latest advances in American aeronautical engineering and bomber design, and its use in the skies over Japan reflected the evolution of strategic bombing doctrine.

The forward bomb bay and forward wing spar required modification to accommodate a single bomb that would weigh in the area of 10, pounds. The 20th aimed to destroy Japanese industry and kill or drive away its workers by burning the mostly-wood cities to the ground.

What Happened to the

After a long and challenging development phase, the Bs of the 20th Air Force went into combat against Imperial Japan in June from bases in India and China and in November from the Mariana Islands. After the Enola Gay became the first plane to drop an atomic bomb — on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug.

6, — the B bomber stayed airborne. Design work began on the modification of the B into an atomic bomber under the Silverplate project in June Silverplate Bs had no armor plate or upper and lower fuselage turrets, which reduced the total weight of the aircraft by 7, pounds.