tig brief - Air Force Inspection Agency

History: ENOLA GAY PILOT who led first
nuclear strike group over Hiroshima
Fred L. Borch
Robert F. Dorr
Air Force Times
Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.,
piloted the B-29
Superfortress that
dropped the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan.
But Tibbets, who died at
age 92 at his home in Columbus,
Ohio, on November 1,
2007, is already known for
that.
What you may not know
is that, more importantly,
Tibbets joined the Army Air
Corps in 1937. His first military
airplane was the PT-3
biplane, ancient even by the
standards of the day. But he
mastered it, as well as the
BT-9 monoplane basic trainer,
and earned his wings in
1938. When the U.S. entered
World War II, Tibbets was a
B-17 Flying Fortress squadron
commander. He flew 25
missions to include the first
American daylight raid on
German-occupied Europe on
August 17, 1942.
The next year, Tibbets
joined the B-29 program as a
test pilot. He was a 28-yearold
lieutenant colonel with
3,000 hours of flying time.
In his autobiography,
“Return of the Enola Gay,”
Tibbets wrote that he
learned about the atomic
bomb in September 1944.
That happened when he was
selected to lead the B-29
combat group that would
drop the weapon.
In this extraordinary assignment,
Tibbets received
authority to requisition anything
he needed. He asked
for, and received, 15 new
B-29s designed by Boeing but
built by the Glenn L. Martin
Co. in Omaha, Neb., as well
as 1,800 support personnel.
The planes were modified
to fly longer, higher, and
farther than other B-29s and
The Tibbets Legacy by former Chief of Staff
of the Air Force
On November 6,
2007, General T.
Michael Mosely,
retired Chief of Staff of the
Air Force, wrote. “I know you
are all busy providing our Air
Force’s critical capabilities in
service to our great nation.
I appreciate the sacrifices in
time and effort you make on a
daily basis. Please take a moment
from your busy day and
reflect with me on the recent
passing of a great American
who did his duty when our
nation needed him most.
America lost a remarkable
Airman on November
24 Summer 2011
were configured to carry a
single heavy bomb.
The 509th Composite
Group, called “Tibbets’ Individual
Air Force” by some,
was on Tinian Island, in the
Marianas, when President
Truman authorized the assault
that ended the war.
Tibbets appropriated another
pilot’s plane, named it
Enola Gay after his mother,
and took to the air, dropping
its single 9,000-pound
uranium, gun-type atomic
bomb over Hiroshima. On
August 9, another B-29 from
Tibbets’ group dropped a
plutonium-type atomic bomb
on Nagasaki. Tibbets saw his
destructive mission as part
of his duty and insisted he
had no trouble sleeping at
night. The nation agreed.
He received the Distinguished
Service Cross and
several other awards before
retiring from the Air Force in
1966 as a brigadier general.
1, 2007 when retired Brigadier
General Paul W. Tibbets, Jr.,
passed away. We all know Gen.
Tibbets as the pilot of the Enola
Gay when it dropped the first
atomic weapon on Imperial Japan,
but there’s more to the man
and his legacy for us to consider.
The consummate Airman, Gen.