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.ĭuring 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. Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb bay modification, and flew to Tinian on 6 July. Lewis, aircraft commander), who flew the bomber from Omaha to the 509th's base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah on 14 June 1945. The aircraft was accepted by the USAAF on, and assigned to Crew B-9 (Captain Robert A. 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. This would be the B-29 that he would use to fly the atomic bomb mission. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, on while still on the assembly line.
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. The bomber was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver nuclear weapons.
The Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292, victor number 82) was assigned to the USAAF's 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. In 2003, the entire restored B-29 Enola Gay went on display at NASM's new Steven F. The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. 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 B-29 was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Paul Tibbets. 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.īecause of the bomber's role in the atomic bombings of Japan, its name has been synonymous with the controversy over the bombings themselves.