The Enola Gay bears a label describing it as the “most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II”. “We would not mind the plane going on display if they showed the tragedy they caused,” said Tomonaga, a Red Cross nurse at the time of the bombing. Survivor Tamiko Tomonaga wantsthe death toll to be displayed Survivors are disappointed the Enola Gay is being displayed with no reference to casualty figures at Hiroshima. However, some historians contend that despite the horror, the bombings shortened the war with Japan, saving untold lives.īoth viewpoints vied for prominence at the museum, located under the flightpath of Dulles international airport and which also houses a retired Air France Concorde and a space shuttle prototype. Opponents argue the action, which killed up to 230,000 people – if those who died from radiation sickeness are included, was nothing short of a war crime. “My Dad fought in the war – go home” shouted another man.įifty-eight years after the Hiroshima bombing, and a second atom bomb strike a few days later on Nagasaki, opinion here on the first nuclear strikes is still sharply divided. When I saw the Enola Gay today, I was overcome by anger.”Īnother survivor, Tamiko Tomonaga, 74, said she had travelled from Japan in memory of the dead.īut their act of remembrance next to the plane was too much for some museum visitors who angrily shouted, “Remember Pearl Harbor” and “What about the Nanjing massacre?” referring to actions of imperial Japanese forces. “The first time was on 6 August, 1945, when I saw it flying high in the sky. “This is the second time I have seen the Enola Gay,” said Hiroshima survivor Minoru Nishino, 71, who was two kilometres from the epicentre of the blast, and still bears scars. When I saw it today, I was overcome by anger” The first time was on 6 August, 1945, when I saw it flying high in the sky. “This is the second time I have seen the Enola Gay. One demonstrator was charged with destruction of property, the other faces loitering charges, police said. Two men were arrested after a bottle of red paint, meant to symbolise blood, was thrown, denting a panel on one side of the plane, which is parked in the new annex to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Holding pictures of hideously burned victims of the blast, six survivors and about 50 peace activists visited the new museum in Chantilly, Virginia, where the shiny, four-engined Boeing B-29 Superfortress has just gone on display.
It was not until August 14 that Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender.The Japanese survivors on Monday visited a museum exhibiting the aircraft, named the Enola Gay, on a trip that has jarred raw US emotions over Japan’s wartime role. Even a second atomic attack three days later on the city of Nagasaki failed to bring an immediate end to the hostilities. Yet, this was not enough to persuade the Japanese leadership to surrender. After the war, Supreme Allied Headquarters estimated that 129,558 were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the blast. Tibbets and his crew looked back to behold an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud boiling into the upper atmosphere. A blast of blinding light engulfed the crew as the plane made a radical turn to escape the explosion. At 8:16 the bomb was released and detonated a few thousand feet above ground. The Enola Gay arrived over the city at 7:25 a.m. The remainder of the trip to their target was unmarred by any Japanese opposition as the bomb was armed and prepared for release. Their objective was a city of approximately 350,000 located on the southwestern portion of Japan's largest island and as yet untouched by the massive bombing raids carried on by US forces. Tibbets announced to his specially trained crew that they carried the world's first atomic bomb and that their target was Hiroshima. Approximately four hours into the flight, Col. In the early morning darkness of Augthe B-29 "Enola Gay" piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets lifted off the runway at Tinian Island and flew into history.