Who was the captain of the enola gay

He graduated at the top of his class. The Enola Gay’s crew consisted of 12 men led by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr., who commanded the historic atomic bombing mission on August 6, Key members included co-pilot Robert Lewis, bombardier Thomas Ferebee, navigator Theodore Van Kirk, and radar countermeasure officer Jacob Beser.

Only his hearing betrays him: He is as close to stone deaf as one can get and still hear. As a colonel, he piloted the Enola Gay, which dropped the Little Boy bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. His is the right way and no other.

He has a full head of silver hair. His gaze, even with the heavied lids of age, is intense. Unlike all the other men who had a choice of career paths, he did not opt for fighter training. Certitude with attitude can be a bit much, and Paul Tibbets, by any measure, can be a bit much by half.

Perhaps even flirted with greatness.

Paul Tibbets The Man

In this article, we will explore the life and career of Col. Tibbets, highlighting his. From the day he graduated from Western Military Academy in North Alton, Illinois, to the present, there has never been an assignment at which he did not excel. He has never been able to abide adequacy, much less foolishness.

He has the countenance and bearing of a man who has spent time on fields of high adventure and great achievement. Flight Training and Early SuccessAfter receiving basic flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas in. This article appears in: September Today, in his nineties, Paul Tibbets is still a handsome man.

His walk has slowed, but he remains erect and dignified. General Paul Tibbets lived for decades with the memory of dropping the atomic bomb.

Captain Paul Tibbets in

His father wanted him to become a doctor, but he wanted to fly. From his earliest days he exuded a self-confidence that could be, and frequently was, insufferable. Paul Tibbets, Jr. ( – ) rose to brigadier general in the United States Air Force.

Bomber pilots do not drop bombs, bombardiers do. The Pilot of the Enola Gay: Who Was Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr.? The Enola Gay, a B Superfortress bomber, dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6,during World War II.

The pilot of the Enola Gay was Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) officer. During the Depression era, there was only one avenue open for people of modest means to become pilots—enlist in the Aviation Cadet program.

The Enola Gay was a bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. Although not one American in 10, can place it, a good case can be made that, absent the name, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.

He is the man who is credited with dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

On 6 Augustduring the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army. Paul Tibbets is an absolutist. He is, and for all of his adult life has been, a most remarkable man.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February – 1 November ) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. Within that hairsplitting context, the late Tom Ferebee actually dropped the weapon. He does look like an old man, but not a year-old man.

Technically, that is a mistake.