Enola Gay Pilot Dies at 92

[Reaper]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7073441.stm

Hiroshima bomb pilot dies aged 92

Gen Paul Tibbets (centre)
Gen Tibbets (centre) always said he had no regrets

Tibbets on Hiroshima
The commander of the B-29 plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima in Japan, has died.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, aged 92.

The five-ton "Little Boy" bomb was dropped on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing about 140,000 Japanese, with many of them dying later.

On the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the three surviving crew members of the Enola Gay - named after Tibbet's mother - said they had "no regrets".

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62386

[Red Squirrel]

Wow had no idea he'd even still be alive, given how long ago that was, not to mention the pist of people trying to kill him.

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62388

[manadren]

You can argue about the pandora's box opened the day Little Boy dropped, but the a-bomb was going to happen sooner or later, it was just a matter of who got there first and what they did with it.

If nothing else, dropping the bomb effectively ended the war, no doubt the allies had Japan backed into a corner at that point, but had not the bomb been dropped, it would've dragged on a lot longer than it did.

To say he had no regrets is rather amazing, that's an incredible burden to bare.

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62392

[manadren]

[the full article]

Hiroshima bomb pilot dies aged 92

The commander of the B-29 plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima in Japan, has died.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, aged 92.

The five-ton "Little Boy" bomb was dropped on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing about 140,000 Japanese, with many of them dying later. On the 60th anniversary of the bombing, the three surviving crew members of the Enola Gay - named after Tibbet's mother - said they had "no regrets".

'No headstone'

A friend of the retired brigadier-general told AP news agency that Paul Tibbets had died after a two-month decline in health. Gen Tibbets had asked for no funeral nor headstone as he feared opponents of the bombing may use it as a place of protest, the friend, Gerry Newhouse, said.

The bombing of Hiroshima marked the beginning of the end of the war in the Pacific. Japan surrendered shortly after a second bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki, three days later.

On the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima, the surviving members of the Enola Gay crew - Gen Tibbets, Theodore J "Dutch" Van Kirk (the navigator) and Morris R Jeppson (weapon test officer) said: "The use of the atomic weapon was a necessary moment in history. We have no regrets".

Gen Tibbets said then: "Thousands of former soldiers and military family members have expressed a particularly touching and personal gratitude suggesting that they might not be alive today had it been necessary to resort to an invasion of the Japanese home islands to end the fighting."

Air show

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr was born in Quincy, Illinois, in 1915 and spent most of his youth in Miami. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1937 and led bombing operations in Europe before returning to test the Superfortress. He retired from the forces in 1966.

In a 1975 interview he said: "I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did... I sleep clearly every night."

In 1976, Gen Tibbets was criticised for re-enacting the bombing at an air show in Texas.

A mushroom cloud was set off as he over flew in a B-29 Superfortress in a stunt that outraged Japan. Gen Tibbets said it was not meant as an insult but the US government formally apologised.

In 1995, Gen Tibbets denounced as a "damn big insult" a planned 50th anniversary exhibition of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution that put the bombing in context of the suffering it caused.

He and veterans groups said too much attention was being paid to Japan's suffering and not enough to its military brutality.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7073441.stm
Published: 2007/11/01 16:57:00 GMT
© BBC MMVII

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62393

[Red Squirrel]

Actually it would be interesting to know what would of happened if the bombs never would have been dropped. I think, like you said, the war would of dragged on and in the end just as much people would of been killed, if more.

Though apparently the effects of the bomb are still present to this day, which shows had bad of a weapon that can be. With today's technology such bomb would be 10 times worse, and be constructed in probably a matter of days, so thats a scary thought. I don't think the US would ever use one again though, at least I would hope not.

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62401

[Reaper]

Actually it would be interesting to know what would of happened if the bombs never would have been dropped.  I think, like you said, the war would of dragged on and in the end just as much people would of been killed, if more. 

Though apparently the effects of the bomb are still present to this day, which shows had bad of a weapon that can be.  With today's technology such bomb would be 10 times worse, and be constructed in probably a matter of days, so thats a scary thought.  I don't think the US would ever use one again though, at least I would hope not.

Since, you know, I'm pretty much an expert on this kind of stuff ( ) I'll respond to this.

I think, like you said, the war would of dragged on and in the end just as much people would of been killed, if more. 

The two bombs together killed 120-180,000 people (I've seen estimates as high and low as this). There were basically two other choices for the US to take: blockade or land invasion. If you're worried about losing more lives, whether friend or foe, you do neither. You drop the bombs. A blockade would result in the relative slow death of no doubt millions, and a land invasion more millions, and the Japanese military was preparing a nasty surprise at the place they thought the Allies would land (they guessed right.). And of course the war is extended indefinitely if you choose either.

With today's technology such bomb would be 10 times worse

Well, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was I believe 21 kilotons. That was in 1945. 1961 the USSR dropped it's own bomb, weighing 50 MEGAtons (with a potential of 100, but they scaled it down, and 1 megaton = 1,000 kilotons). But if you go back further, 1952, the US's Operation Ivy had the first multimegaton explosion with the bomb Mike. Which was 8-10 megatons. Operation Ivy had two bombs though. The other was King, a 500 kiloton.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that in less than 10 years there was a nuclear bomb more than 10 times as powerful. And just think, if they had 100 megatons in 1962, I can't imagine what they can REALLY make today.

And now I'm done expressing my knowledge.

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62420

[Red Squirrel]

Bombs are like CPUs, they go up exponentially.

"Introducing the US Navy 5.6Giga ton explosive! Now with instant rebate, its the best bang for your buck!"

Archived topic from Anythingforums, old topic ID:3396, old post ID:62424