Enola Gay

The Enola Gay is a specially built plane, that held the very first atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was named Little Boy. Despite its name, the Little Boy, made a lot of damage to Japanese land. The Enola Gay is a modified B-29 Super Fortress in the cabin of the plane it had enough room to hold the atomic bomb. The pilot of the plane was Colonel Paul W. Tibblets Jr. The Plane was named after Tibblets mother. He was known as the best flier in America, and he was so good that he served as a personal pilot for the future President. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Enola Gay is so significant to US history because the Enola Gay held and dropped the first ever atomic bomb used in war, which showed the strength of the US Military and showed what power the US had.

The reasoning for the war between Japan and American was because the Japan attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was an American base located in Hawaii, Japanese took this as a treat because America was expanding their military. The Japanese also attacked Pearl Harbor because this was the only opportunity they had to have a surprise attack. The attack destroyed many American fleet and caused heavy casualties and this bombing brought American into World War 2. The leader for Japan was Kōki Hirota and the United States President was Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Enola Gay had great a crew the people from the crew is Captain Theodore Van Kirk the navigator, he was 24 years old, he was a veteran of 58 wars in North Africa. Major Thomas Ferebee he was a bombardier his job was to push the button that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, he fell asleep before and after he did his job, he passed away in 200.

Lieutenant Jacob Beser he was the electronic counter measures he died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 71. Sergeant Joseph Stiborik he was the radar operator, he died of a heart attack in 1984 at the age of 69. 2nd lieutenant Morris Jeppson he was the ordnance esper, he was 23 years old he had to arm the bomb and he had to make sure the bomb worked. Morris Jeppson died in 2010. Private Richard Nelson, he was the radar operator he was 20 years old when he was on the job. Richard Nelson died at the age of 77 emphysema. Staff Sergeant Robert Caron, tail gunner . Robert Caron died at the age of 75 from from pneumonia. Staff sergeant Wyatt Duzenburry died at the age of 71. Sergeant Robert H. Shumard he was the assistant flight engineer. Captain Deze Parsons, he was the weaponeer, he died of a heart attack at the age of 52. Captain Robert Lewis he was the Copilot. He was at the age of 65 when he died from a heart attack. There are no living Enola Gay crew members. The last living crew member that died recently was Van Kirk. The Enola Gay had a bomb code named Little Boy, this bomb was special because it was the first atomic bomb dropped by a plane. Lieutenant Commander Francis Birchs group were the people who creat the bomb. The first material that was pursued was uranium-25 because it was know to be fissionable. The Shinkolobwe mine offered Most of the uranium necessary for the production of the bomb. The CEO of High Katanga Mining Union his name was Edgar Sengier who transported 1,000 tons of uranium to a New York warehouse, Part of the 1200 tons of uranium ore and uranium oxide found by Alsos Mission in 1944 and 1945 was used in the bomb.

The Little Boy was 120 inches in length, 28 inches in diameter and weighed approximately 9,700 pounds. The bomb had a design where it had forced a hollow sub into a mass. The Little Boy bomb had a fusing system that made the bomb go off at the most destructible altitude. The bomb had a timer that made sure that the bomb wouldn't go off until 15 seconds after the bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay, at 580 meters was the distance the bomb was dropped before exploding. Multiple redundant radar altimeters using used to detect the bombs altitude, after that the chambers shut that causes a chain reaction and it stops after a microsecond. The altimeter that was used on the bomb was nicknamed Archie. In July of 1945 the bomb was dropped on the sea near Tinian in order to test the radar altimeter, there were two other bombs tested that used the L-2 and L-5 that test all the components of the bomb these test happened on July 24th and 25th. The crew then rehearsed putting the bomb on the Enola Gay they repeated this until July 31. The crew was pretty efficient at what they did because they practiced their certain job everyday until there routine was perfect. The Little Boy was the most important thing of the Enola Gay do to the damage it has caused.

The day of the Enola Gay mission was on August 5th 1945. The painting on the side of the Enola Gay was made by Allan L. Karl. Robert Lewis was mad about the painting they Tibblets allowed to be painted on the plane as it rolled in. Hiroshima was the primary targets as Kokura and Nagasaki were the alternative targets. 6 hours into the flight they commanded Captain George Marquardt, to take photographs, at 9,855 meters the plane arrived and could see their target clearly. The release of the bomb was 8:15 which was the Hiroshima time, which was the time they planned, then cree dropped the bomb and the bomb took 43 seconds to hit the dentonation location was about 1,968 feet above the city of Hiroshima. The Enola Gay flew over 11.5 miles before it felt its shock wakes from the bomb it had dropped. The bomb blast had 16 kilotons of TNT, the total radius of the bombs damage was around a mile and the made fires across 4.4 miles throughout the city. The Japanese officials said that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 7% of the buildings were damaged from the bomb.

The bomb Little Boy that The Enola Gay dropped killed 70,000–80,000 of the cities people, which is 30% of the cities population. The people were killed from the blast and the fire the fire has cause. 70,000 people were also injured, out of all the people that died 20,000 of them were Japanese soldiers, after 12 hours and 13 minutes The Enola Gay safety returned and landed on base Tinian. Photographers and journalist waited until The Enola Gay landed. Tibbets was the first to get off the plane, and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross. America has made the decision to preserve the plane On 30 August 1946, the title to the aircraft was moved to the Smithsonian Museum and was removed from the USAAF inventory. The air forced then owned it but due to no space on the hangar they put it outdoors on a remote part of the air base, and the weather exposed the elements of The Enola Gay. Then souvenir hunters broke into the base and stole some of The Enola gays parts. Then insects and birds got inside the plane. The owner of the Smithsonian was concerned about The Enola gays condition on 10 August 1960, Smithsonian staff began taking parts of the aircraft. The Enola became a popular even at the museum during 1995 do to its history. Restoration on the plane happen in 1984 and it took the staff 300,000 working hours to completely restore the plane. The aircraft has been on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center since the museum annex opened on 15 December 2003.

The Enola Gay will always be a part of the American history, The Enola Gay had the bomb which was one of the reason we won the war against China. The B-29 plane will always be one of the best known planes in World. The Enola Gay was a pretty gig plane that held all 12 of the crew members. The Enola gays engine has a 4 Wright R-3350-57 Cyclone turbo-supercharged radials, 2,200 hp which was a great engine for a plane during World War 2. The weapons on the plane was two .50 caliber machine guns. The wingspan was on the Enola Gay was 43 m and the ength was 30.2 m. The top speed of the plane was 546 km/h. The Enola Gay has made a legacy that will last for ever in wars. The Enola Gay was the reason why we have peace around the world. The Enola Gay also showed of the technologies that America had because it was advanced during the time in World War 2. The Enola Gay showed everyone the capability The B-29 Super fortress had when it carried the first atomic bomb in air. The Enola Gays name means alone because it is alone backwards, they named it Enola because the plane itself was so advanced during the war that it was alone on the standings because the Enola Gay was the best plane during World War 2.