Grosse Pointe News - Local History Archives

GROSSE POINTE NEWS, AUGUST 9, 2012
NEWS
Above and beyond
By Brad Lindberg
StaffWriter
It took 200,000 years of
human evolution to reach
the age of atomic warfare,
and "Dutch" Van Kirk got
us there within six seconds
of schedule.
"Well, you get lucky
once in a while," he said.
Not quite.
Van Kirk made his
mark on history with talent.
Paul Tibbets, pilot of
the B-29 "Enola Gay,"
which dropped the atom
bomb on Hiroshima,
Japan, 67 years ago
Monday, Aug. 6, chose
Van Kirk to navigate the
world's first atomic mission.
Tibbets said, "There
just wasn't anybody in the
same class as Dutch when
it came to accurate navigation,"
according to a excerpt
from the book,
"Enola Gay," by Gordon
Thomas and Max Morgan
Witts.
Tibbets always contended
Van Kirk's timing
on the 6 1/2-hour flight to
the drop point was 12 seconds
off.
"His watch was never
right," Van Kirk said.
Military people often
talk about building upon
the legacies of those who
sacrificed before them
and laying a path forward
for those about to serve.
For Van Kirk, the legacy
he'd like to leave is clear:
"Don't have another
war," he said. "You do not
win anything in a war."
Theodore "Dutch" Van
Kirk, 91, of Georgia, is
one of those World War II
guys who saw their duty,
went above and beyond
and got on with life.
"We went in, dropped
the bomb and that Was all
there was to it," he'said.
After the war, he got out
of the Army Air Corps
and finished college.
"I worked for DuPont
and retired as a vice president,"
he said. "All in all, it
was a very good life."
Van Kirk is the sole sur-
PHOTO BY BRAD LINDBERG
Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, 91, in wheelchair, the
lone surviving crew member of the B-29 bomber that
dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan,
tours the National Museum of the United States Air
Force in Dayton. He also signed copies of his 600-
page autobiography, "My True Course."
viving member of the
Enola Gay's 12-man crew.
"There's not many people
who remember these
things," he said.
Milk run
Van Kirk was a 24-yearold
captain when Enola
Gay, named for Tibbets'
mother, lifted off the
South Pacific island of
Tinian at 2:45 a.m. for
Hiroshima.
The silver, four-engine
Boeing B-29
Superfortress has a 141-
foot wingspan, 21 feet
longer than the Wright
brothers' first powered
flight in 1903.
"Enola Gay" carried a
single, 9,000-pound plutonium
bomb. The bomb,
nicknamed "Little Boy"
and painted gunmetal
gray, measured 10 feet by
28 inches in diameter.
Van Kirk sat at his navigation
station on the left
side of the cabin, directly
behind Tibbets' chair on
flight deck and forward of
the first of two bomb
bays.
Unlike the flight deck
arid" riosef wmcTi 'offered
the pilots and bombardier
panoramic views through
more than two dozen
Plexiglass windscreens,
the navigator station had
one porthole.
If something went
wrong and Van Kirk had
6 r hdqy]
&r nd q i
love
Aug s
to bail out, he could dive
forward through a hatch
or back out the bomb bay
If Tibbets had to ditch
in the Pacific Ocean, Van
Kirk was to remove his
parachute harness, give
the radio operator the aircraft's
position and
course, inform the pilot of
surface winds, destroy
classified documents,
close the pressure door to
the bomb bay, tighten seat
belts, slide his seat forward
and brace his head
on the chart table at his
lap.
The bomb was armed
in flight. If the target was
socked in and couldn't be
seen well enough for a
good hit, there were procedures
about that, too.
"If we could not drop
the bomb visually, we
were supposed to take it
out and drop it in the
ocean — do not bring it
back to the base," Van
Kirk said.
The flight to target
would have been routine
if it hadn't been done before.
"Over Iwo Jima, we
staffed bur "climb to
bombing altitude of
31,000 feet, as high as we
could get," Van Kirk said.
"We would have gone
higher if we could have
got up there."
In air warfare, there's
safety in altitude.
"No flack or fighters
could reach us," Van Kirk
said. "The Japanese were
a licked people before we
dropped the atomic
bombs. We'd practically
burned Japan down. The
atomic bombs did not win
the war. It just gave Japan
the excuse to get out of
the war and save face."
Boiling oil
In his navigator's log,
Van Kirk noted "bomb
away" at 9:15 a.m. Tinian
time. It was 8:15 a.m.
Hiroshima time.
Tibbets immediately
put the plane in a 60-degree
bank, turning tail to
the coming explosion.
"People want to know if
that maneuver had a
name," Van Kirk said.
In court
Bob Bashara, accompanied by his new attorney Mark Kriger, pleaded not guilty at
PHOTO BY KATHY RYAN
his arraignment Tuesday, Aug. 7, in Wayne County Circuit Court. Bashara has been
charged with one count of solicitation to murder a witness. Prosecutors allege
Bashara attempted to hire a hit man to kill Joseph Gentz, who confessed to killing
Bashara's wife, Jane. No date for a preliniary examination has been set. Gentz will
be in court for a preliminary examination Monday, Aug. 13. He has been charged
with first-degree murder and co-conspiracy to commit murder. No one else has
been named in the co-conspiracy charge, and Kriger had no comment when asked
if he expected additional charges to be brought against Bashara. Jane Bashara was
found murdered on Jan. 25 after her husband reported her missing the night before.
Meth suspect arraigned
By Brad Lindberg
StaffWriter
CITY OF GROSSE
POINTE — A redheaded
babysitter with shoulderlength
hair pulled back
wore a blue dress and ruby
flats to her arraignment
Thursday, Aug. 2,
for possession of
methamphetamine.
"This is a felony punishable
by up to two years
imprisonment jail and/or
a $2,000 fine," Municipal
Judge Russell Ethridge
told the defendant, Mary
Elizabeth Novak, 21, of
Grosse Pointe Farms.
Ethridge scheduled a
preliminary hearing for
9:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug.
16.
"It's a hearing where
the prosecution has to
show me two things: a
crime was committed and
there's probable cause
you committed that
crime," Ethridge explained.
Novak indicated she
has little money left over
from college expenses to
hire defense counsel.
"I go to school and a I
pay for all of it," she told
Ethridge. "I babysit."
He said he'll appoint
her an attorney.
When deciding bond,
Ethridge said he takes into
consideration the safety
of the community and
the defendant's odds of
skipping court.
"She has one arrest for
retail (fraud) third degree
in Harper Woods (in)
2009," Detective Sgt. Al
Gwyn told Ethridge. "I
don't believe she's a flight
risk. I don't believe she'll
continue this activity."
Ethridge set a $1,000
personal bond.
Conditions include:
"No use of alcohol or
drugs, unless prescribed
by a physician," Ethridge
said. "You're not to leave
Michigan for the next few
weeks without talking to
me first. You are to continue
your educational activities."
Novak was arrested at
shortly after 2:30 a.m.
Friday, July 20, during a
traffic stop for running a
red light on Rivard and
Mack.
A search of her purse
revealed a pill she described
as "Molly."
The arresting officer
didn't know the name was
slang for meth until
checking the Internet.
Novak said she lives
with her parents.
"Are they aware of this
situation?" Ethridge
asked.
"No," she answered.
"This might be something
you might want to
share with your parents,"
he said, ending the hearing.
"You have some paperwork
to fill out. Take
care."
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