Where is the enola gay at

The Indelible Enola Gay

The Enola Gay, fully restored and on view at the Smithsonian, left an indelible mark

Everything changed in an instant. One moment, it was a warm summer’s day with a limited clouds in the sky. The next, a brilliant flash of light blinded everyone and altered the course of history.

Seventy-five years ago, on August 6, 1945, the world entered the nuclear age with the detonation of the first atomic bomb in warfare over Hiroshima, Japan.

“There was a 10,000-degree flash of intense light,” says historian Richard Rhodes, who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for his book The Making of the Atomic Bomb. “It was like a huge sunburn over the entire area. Then there was a flush of neutrons from the fireball that followed, and that was the primary killing mechanism.”

Thousands of Japanese died immediately following the detonation of Little Boy, the nickname of that first atomic bomb. Some were vaporized by the initial blast; others were charred beyond recognition by the unbelievable heat. All told, at least 100,000 people died from the explosion and resulting firestorm that leveled a four-square-mile section of Hiroshima.

“The primary cause of death in Hir


THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA
(Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945)
Events > Dawn of the Atomic Era, 1945

  • The War Enters Its Final Phase, 1945
  • Debate Over How to Use the Bomb, Behind Spring 1945
  • The Trinity Examine, July 16, 1945
  • Safety and the Trinity Test, July 1945
  • Evaluations of Trinity, July 1945
  • Potsdam and the Closing Decision to Bomb, July 1945
  • The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
  • The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945
  • Japan Surrenders, August 10-15, 1945
  • The Manhattan Project and the Second World War, 1939-1945

In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan.  The bomber's primary aim was the city of Hiroshima, located on the deltas of southwestern Honshu Island facing the Inland Sea.  Hiroshima had a civilian population of almost 300,000 and was an important military center, containing about 43,000 soldiers.

The bomber, piloted by the commander of the 509th Composite Group, Colonel Paul Tibbets, flew at minor altitude on automatic pilot before climbing to 31,000 feet as it neared the target area.  At approxima

The B-29 Superfortress ‘Enola Gay’ Forever Changed Warfare When It Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima

For many, the maturation of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a turning gesture of the Second World War. Hitting the skies in mid-1944, the bomber gave the Allies the ability to launch more efficient air raids against the Japanese, giving them a leg up in the Pacific Theater. One such B-29, Enola Gay, went down in history on August 6, 1945, when it dropped the atomic bomb Little Boy over Hiroshima, marking the first time an atomic munition had been deployed in warfare.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress was a game-changer in aerial warfare during World War II. Featuring advancements that weren’t seen in the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress‘ design, the aircraft could fly faster, farther and for longer than its predecessor. This was aided by its Wright R-3350 turbo-supercharged engines, which gave it a uppermost speed of 357 MPH and a service ceiling of over 31,800 feet.

Among the B-29’s most notable features was its pressurized cabin, which allowed crews to serve comfortably at high altitudes. It also had remote-controlled machine gun turrets that allo

6 August 1945: At 0245 hours local time (1445 hours, 5 August, UTC), a four-engine, lengthy range heavy bomber of the 509th Composite Group, Combined States Army Atmosphere Forces, took off from North Field on the island of Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands, on the most secret combat mission of Earth War II.¹

The Martin-Omaha B-29-45-MO Superfortress, 44-86292, under the authority of Colonel Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.,² was carrying Bomb Unit L-11, the first nuclear weapon to be used during war. This was an 8,900-pound (4,037 kilogram) “gun type” fission bomb, the Mark I, code-named Little Young man. It contained 64.15 kilograms (141.42 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium. The bomb was 10 feet, 6 inches (3.2004 meters) long with a diameter of 2 feet, 4 inches (0.711 meters). The gun tube had a bore diameter of 165 millimeters (6.496 inches) and a length of 6 feet (1.8 meters). It weighed approximately 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).

The gun fired a hollow uranium projectile, consisting of a stack of nine rings of varying thickness contained within a sheet metal can, and with a 4 inch (10.16 centimeters) inside diameter, against a cylindrical uranium target insert. The projecti

The Smithsonian’s Decision to Exhibit the ‘Enola Gay’

By Herken, Gregg on •

Abstract:
This essay is an insider’s account of one of the most significant salvos in America’s contemporary culture wars: the 1994 proposal of an exhibit on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the Smithsonian. Despite attempts to productively engage with critics, the curators were overwhelmed by political currents and the sensitivities associated with memorial anniversaries. With critical study pitted against veneration, the author asks, were teaching and commemoration compatible goals?
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1515/phw-2022-20578
Languages: English

See the corresponding PHW Concentrate Interview with the author

 

 

 

 


When curators at the Smithsonian planned a critical commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the fiftieth anniversary of the end of WWII, the clash between professional historians, public interest groups, veterans, and politicians launched an era of high stakes contention in the United States over the meanings of America’s pasts for its introduce. What harbingers of the future of public history in the US re
where is the enola gay at