The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. 1 The Enola Gay, the giant four engine superfortress, was named after the mother of its pilot, Colonel Paul W. The Enola Gay gained additional national attention in 1995 when the cockpit and nose section of the aircraft was exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. At the approach of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) planned an exhibit with its centerpiece, the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The B-29 was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Paul Tibbets. In 1994, preparing for the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the National Air and Space Museum prepared an exhibit that portrayed the. The Enola Gay is the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", to be used in war, by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the attack on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945, just before the end of World War II. Van Kirk (died July 28, 2014), and the Bombardier-Major Thomas W. 1, 2007), the Navigator-Captain Theodore J.
Udvar-Hazy Center in December 2003.Print of the Enola Gay with boldly signed autographs of the Pilot and Commander-Colonel Paul W. While this exhibit is now closed, Museum specialists continued to restore the remaining components of the airplane, and after an additional nine years the fully assembled Enola Gay went on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. President, the Enola Gay represents a significant piece of our Nations history, and its exhibition is long overdue. It contained several major components of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber used in the atomic mission that destroyed Hiroshima. This past exhibition, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, told the story of the role of the Enola Gay in securing Japanese surrender. It is entitled 'The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb, and the Origins of the Cold War.' The script contains five sections: 'A Fight to the Finish' which shows the last year of World War II 'The Decision to Drop the Bomb' raises question of the need to. WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institutions exhibit on the Enola Gay opened to the. of the need for both accuracy and balance, not just in the script, but in the overall impression of the exhibit. National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The exhibition text summarized the history and development of the Boeing B-29 fleet used in bombing raids against Japan.Īnother portion of the exhibit detailed the painstaking efforts of Smithsonian aircraft restoration specialists who had spent more than a decade restoring parts of the Enola Gay for this exhibition. The first script for the 'Enola Gay' exhibition is completed. This text accompanied the Smithsonian Institution's display, 'Enola Gay,' at the National Air and Space Museum commemorating the end of World War II and the role played by the B-29 aircraft, Enola Gay, that on Augcarried the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. The components on display included two engines, the vertical stabilizer, an aileron, propellers, and the forward fuselage that contains the bomb bay.Ī video presentation about the Enola Gay's mission included interviews with the crew before and after the mission including mission pilot Col.
It contained several major components of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber used in the atomic mission that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan.