The Enola Gay is a purpose-built aircraft, which contained the very first atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was called Little Boy. Despite his name, Little Boy, he did a lot of damage to Japanese territory. The Enola Gay is a modified B-29 Super Fortress in the cabin of the plane had enough space to contain the atomic bomb. The pilot of the plane was Colonel Paul W. Tibblets Jr. The plane was named after Tibblet's mother. He was known as America's best pilot, and was so good that he served as a personal pilot for the future president. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Enola Gay is so significant to the history of the United States because the Enola Gay held and dropped the first atomic bomb used in war, which demonstrated the strength of the American military and demonstrated what power the United States had. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The reason for the war between Japan and the United States was due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was an American base located in Hawaii, the Japanese took it as a gift because America was expanding their military. The Japanese also attacked Pearl Harbor because this was the only opportunity they had to carry out a surprise attack. The attack destroyed many American fleets and caused heavy casualties and this bombing brought America into World War II. The leader of Japan was Kōki Hirota and the president of the United States was Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Enola Gay had a great crew, the crew people are Captain Theodore Van Kirk, the navigator, he was 24 years old, he was a veteran of 58 wars in North Africa. Major Thomas Ferebee was a bombardier his job was to press the button that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, he fell asleep before and after doing his job, he died in 200. Lieutenant Jacob Beser was for electronic countermeasures he died cancer in 1992 at age 71. Sergeant Joseph Stiborik was the radar operator, he died of a heart attack in 1984 at the age of 69. 2nd Lieutenant Morris Jeppson was the artillery expert, he was 23 years old he had to arm the bomb and had to make sure it worked. Morris Jeppson died in 2010. Private Richard Nelson, he was the radar operator, was 20 years old when he served. Richard Nelson died at age 77 from emphysema. Sergeant Major Robert Caron, tail gunner. Robert Caron died at age 75 of pneumonia. Sergeant Major Wyatt Duzenburry died at the age of 71. Sergeant Robert H. Shumard was the assistant flight engineer. Captain Deze Parsons, was the armorer, died of a heart attack at the age of 52. Captain Robert Lewis was the co-pilot. He was 65 when he died of a heart attack. There are no living members of the Enola Gay crew. The last living member of the crew to die recently was Van Kirk. The Enola Gay had a bomb code named Little Boy, this bomb was special because it was the first atomic bomb dropped from an aircraft. Lieutenant Commander Francis Birch's group were the people who created the bomb. The first material sought was uranium-25 because it was known to be fissile. The Shinkolobwe mine provided most of the uranium needed to produce the bomb. The CEO of the High Katanga Mining Union, his name was Edgar Sengier, who transported 1,000 tons of uranium to a warehouse in New York. Some of the 1,200 tons of uranium ore and uranium oxide found by the Alsos mission in 1944 and 1945 were used in the bomb. Little Boy was 120 inches long, 28 inches in diameter and weighed approximately 9,700 pounds. The bomb had a design in which it forced a hollow submarine into a mass. The Little Boy bomb had a fusion system that detonated the bomb at the highest altitudedestructible. The bomb had a timer which ensured that the bomb did not explode until 15 seconds after being dropped from the Enola Gay, 580 meters was the distance at which the bomb was dropped before exploding. Multiple redundant radar altimeters used to detect the altitude of bombs, after which the chambers close causing a chain reaction that stops after a microsecond. The altimeter used on the bomb was nicknamed Archie. In July 1945 the bomb was dropped on the sea near Tinian to test the radar altimeter, two more bombs were tested using the L-2 and L-5 which tested all components of the bomb these tests took place on July 24 and 25. The crew then tried to plant the bomb on the Enola Gay and repeated this until July 31st. The crew was pretty efficient at what they did because they practiced their given job every day until the routine was perfect. The Little Boy was the biggest thing the Enola Gay did because of the damage it caused. The mission day of the Enola Gay was August 5, 1945. The painting on the side of the Enola Gay was done by Allan L. Karl. Robert Lewis was angry about the painting that Tibblets allowed to be painted on the plane as it arrived. Hiroshima was the primary targets while Kokura and Nagasaki were the alternative targets. After 6 hours of flight they ordered Captain George Marquardt to take photographs, at 9,855 meters the plane arrived and could clearly see their target. The release of the bomb was at 8:15, which was Hiroshima time, which was the scheduled time, then Cree dropped the bomb and the bomb took 43 seconds to hit the detonation point about 1,968 feet above the city of Hiroshima. The Enola Gay flew over 11.5 miles before feeling the shock of the bomb it dropped. The bomb explosion had 16 kilotons of TNT, the total damage radius of the bomb was approximately one mile, and it caused fires for 4.4 miles across the city. Japanese officials said that 69 percent of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 7 percent of buildings were damaged by the bomb. The Little Boy bomb dropped from the Enola Gay killed 70,000-80,000 city residents, or 30% of the cities. population. People were killed by the explosion and the fire the fire caused. 70,000 people were also injured, among all the dead 20,000 were Japanese soldiers, after 12 hours and 13 minutes the security of the Enola Gay returned and landed at the Tinian base. Photographers and journalists waited until the Enola Gay landed. Tibbets was first off the plane and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross. America decided to preserve the aircraft On August 30, 1946, the aircraft's title was moved to the Smithsonian Museum and removed from the USAAF inventory. The Air Force then owned it but, due to lack of hangar space, placed it outdoors in a remote part of the air base, and time exposed the elements of the Enola Gay. Then souvenir hunters broke into the base and stole some parts of Enola's gays. Then insects and birds entered the plane. The owner of the Smithsonian was concerned about the conditions of the gays on the Enola, and on August 10, 1960, Smithsonian staff began taking parts of the plane. The Enola also became popular at the museum in 1995 to make its history. The aircraft's restoration took place in 1984 and staff spent 300,000 hours of work to fully restore it. The aircraft has been on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center since the museum annex opened on December 15, 2003. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay The Enola 2.