On August 6, 1945, Tibbets participated in a picture-perfect mission.
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When the crews were fully trained they deployed to Tinian Island in the Marianas to await the arrival of the A-bombs. He activated the 509th Composite Group at Wendover, Utah, where he trained his crews in the specialized requirements of dropping a 10,000-pound atomic bomb without being destroyed by the blast. Tibbets, who had made more than 1,000 hours in the B-29, was given the assignment of training the men who would drop the first atomic bomb. When a high accident rate threatened the training program, Tibbets came up with the innovative idea of checking out two Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) in the B-29, then sending them around to the various training fields to convince the male pilots that the plane was safe. Stationed at the Boeing factory, he worked with the engineers to iron out major problems in the most complex airplane built up to that time. Tibbets remained in North Africa after that, leading bombing missions against the Germans, until he was moved up to a staff position.Īfter returning to the United States, Tibbets was tasked with unraveling the troubled B-29 program. Eisenhower to Gibraltar for the North African campaign. Because of his wealth of experience he was chosen to fly General Dwight D. With 1,000 hours’ flying time in multi-engine aircraft, Tibbets was one of the early B-17 pilots, taking the 97th Bomb Group to England in 1942.
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An aviation career proved more attractive than a medical one, however, and in 1937 Tibbets became an Aviation Cadet in order to obtain the training necessary to become a commercial pilot.Īfter graduation, Tibbets flew long hours towing targets and serving as General George Patton’s pilot during the 1940 Army maneuvers. After graduation from a military high school (a family tradition), Paul went to college intending to become a medical doctor (also a family tradition). That first flight had a lifelong effect on young Paul. The family moved to Miami, Fla., where on Paul’s first flight he dropped Baby Ruth candy bars with small parachutes over Hialeah Racecourse. Paul Tibbets was born in 1915, the son of a World War I Army captain. Tibbets, who had led the first American strategic bombing mission against a European target in 1942, also dropped the bomb that ended World War II. The command pilot of the Boeing B-29 that dropped the bomb, named Enola Gay after the pilot’s mother, was 29-year-old Colonel Paul W.
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On August 6, 1945, a bomb burst above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, effectively bringing to an end almost 61Ž2 years of global warfare. Tibbets, Mid Coast Marketing, Columbus, Ohio, 1999, $21.95. Return of the Enola Gay: Book Review | HistoryNet Close