Enola Gay facts
While investigating facts about Enola Gay Song and Enola Gay Lyrics, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Paul Tibblets, the pilot of the Enola Gay when it dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima, did not have a funeral or headstone on his death, fearing it would become a site for protest. Instead he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the English Channel.
how high was the enola gay when it dropped the bomb?
In 1955, Hiroshima survivor Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, on tour to raise funds for victims of the blast, was tricked into meeting with Enola Gay co-pilot Capt. Robert A. Lewis on national television
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In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what does enola gay mean. Here are 24 of the best facts about Enola Gay Pilot and Enola Gay Crew I managed to collect.
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One of the B-29s that escorted the Enola Gay into Japan was called 'Necessary Evil'.
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The Grandson of Col Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay (Hiroshima, Aug 6, 1945) is now the second in command of all US Nuclear bomber and missile forces. General Paul Tibbets IV.
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The Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima named by it’s pilot Col Paul Tibbets, after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who was named after a character of the book, *Enola; or, Her fatal mistake.* With eerily prophetic passages including “He is the bird of ill omen.”
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About Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He appeared on the American television show This is Your Life, where the host surprised him by bringing out the copilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb.
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There are a lot of declassified photos of the first nuclear weapon "Little Boy" as it was loaded onto Enola Gay. The men seem incredibly casual about the whole thing
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The President's speech in Independence Day was filmed on 6 August 1995 in front of an old aeroplane hangar. The hangar once housed the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima exactly 50 years earlier on 6 August 1945.
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A survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima, Rev Tanimoto, was on an American television show in 1955 to raise money for the victims and was forced to meet and listen to the co-pilot of the Enola Gay talk about what he did.
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When the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima there were three planes in the 509th Composite Group: "Enola Gay", "The Great Artiste", and "Necessary Evil".
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One of the pilots of the Enola Gay met survivors 10 years later on a U.S. television show.
Why did enola gay drop the atomic bomb?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
..During an episode of This Is Your Life, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing was introduced to Robert A. Lewis, the Co-Pilot of the Enola Gay.
The military radio call sign of Enola Gay, the B-29 aircraft used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was ‘Dimples Eight Two’. - source
The battle cruiser USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese sub as it attempted to return to the fleet after it had delivered its cargo of the first atomic bomb "Little Boy" to Tinian Island destined to be loaded on the Enola Gay and dropped on Hiroshima--out of 1,196 crew, only 317 survived - source
The plane that carried the atomic bomb to Hiroshima was called the Enola Gay.
The bomber used to drop the first atomic bomb was named after the pilots mother, Enola Gay - source
How high was the enola gay when it dropped the bomb?
The plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the pilot's mother.
How did enola gay escape the blast?
2nd Lt. Jacob Beser, the only man to witness both atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII. 2LT Beser performed as the radarman on both the Enola Gay and Bockscar for those two missions.
In 1955, Hiroshima survivor Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto, on tour to raise funds for victims of the blast, was tricked into meeting with Enola Gay pilot Col. Paul Tibbets on national television
The last Hiroshima bomber from Enola Gay commented that "the Japanese today are nice people", has hosted Japanese students in his California home and couldn't ask for better ones
Hiroshima bomber and Enola Gay crew member Theodore Van Kirk has hosted Japanese exchange students who stayed at his home
Paul Tibbets, one of the pilots flew the Enola Gay to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, literally took a nap on the flight back from the bombing. He really didn't loose any sleep over the incident. (Relevant part at 1 min 30 sec)