Col. Paul Tibbets in the Enola Gay

Paul Tibbets Selects the Enola Gay

Colonel Paul Tibbets was only twenty-nine years old when he was tasked with manning the B-29 that would drop the first atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy."  Hand-picked by Tibbets from the assembly line, the Enola Gay was specially modified to carry the atomic bomb.

NH 123862 Nuclear Weapon of the "Little Boy" type, the same kind of weapon dropped on Hiroshima

A Seasoned Pilot

In mid-September, 1944, Col. Tibbets first learned of his bombing assignment, receiving his final instructions in early August, 1945. On the evening of 5 August, Tibbets named the aircraft “Enola Gay” after his mother. The name was painted on the fuselage just hours before take off.

Colonel Tibbets was a seasoned pilot in the American Air Force by the time he boarded the Enola Gay. He had conducted seven bombing missions over Europe prior to his Japan assignment, gaining a reputation as one of the most talented pilots in the army. In 1944, Tibbets was chosen to lead the 1,800-member unit selected for the Hiroshima mission. Ultimately a twelve-member crew was selected for the operation.

Early Morning Hours

Tibbets recounted the atmosphere the night before the mission and in the early morning hours before take off. The crew gathered at the mess hall for steak and eggs around midnight, the traditional meal before bombing missions. The high-protein feast provided stamina for the long journey and was thought to bring good luck to the crew.

Tibbets later described the weather as 'perfect' and the mood among the crew as 'tense, but professional.' No one joked. They had been told enough to understand the gravity of their mission. Not all details, however, were disclosed to the lower ranks.

'I climbed into the cockpit without thinking too much about the magnitude of what we were doing. We were trained. We had a job to do. That’s all there was to it.'

At 2:45 am on 6 August 1945, the Enola Gay took off.