The Enola Gay was the [B-29 Superfortress]
? bomber that dropped the first
atomic bomb ("[Little Boy]
?") used in warfare over the Japanese city of
Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. (Another ("
Fat Man") was dropped over
Nagasaki three days later by the B-29
Bockscar? - thankfully, these are the only two [nuclear weapons]
? ever used in war.) The Enola Gay was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Force's 509th Composite Group and flew her mission out of Tinian
?, a small island in the Marianas
? chain. She was one of only 15 B-29s modified to deliver atomic bombs. Colonel [Paul Tibbets]
?, the plane's pilot, named her after his mother.
The Enola Gay has been fully restored and is stored at the Smithsonian's Paul E. Garber facility in Suitland, Maryland. The Smithsonian?'s site on the Enola Gay includes links to crew lists and other details. http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal103/gal103.html
General (USAF, retired) [Paul Tibbets]?, has his own web site dedicated to the plane at http://www.theenolagay.com