I was part of the original security team from 1/2004 to 9/2009. If you've never been there it's a place that you have to see to believe. I miss the people, aircraft it's a very special place. I miss it every day.
Both Germany and Japan had active nuclear weapons development programmes. I know of no evidence that either would have refrained from using them against the Allies, had they been ready.
@@thespacecatjenkins8539 History is history. Shameful or otherwise it needs to be preserved. Or would you rather our entire historical record tell an incomplete story where the past is all butterflies and rainbows. This kind of thinking is why so many historical artefacts have been destroyed.
It is a real shame this incredibly important aircraft does not have its own hanger and associated display. I believe that is a missed educational opportunity.
@@JB-mb6lm I think displaying it seperately can cause more controversy while amid other important planes it takes away too much attention to the sensible atomic mission. The replica nuclear bombs (outer shells) are not displayed with the plane either. One could consider however a special "atomic display center" to tell about the Manhattan project.
I touched this aircraft and immediately felt an enormous.... sadness, if you will. What a true feeling behind what an aircraft and crew went though. I'm glad I wasn't there, but I would have been.
An aircraft which triggers strong deeply personal feelings , it represents humanity, the blood sweat and tears the best and worse side of civilization and a stark reminder for all what never to repeat again!! Cheers from Salt Lake City!
The Soviets reversed engineered there own version of the B-29, known as the Tupelov Tu-4 and it shared a unique place in history with the American ones having dropped the first Russian Atomic Bomb as well. Over 840+ Tu-4s were built starting in 1947 and China flew 10 retrofitted with turboprop engines and the last one was retired 1988. One offspring of the B-29 was a massive double decker transport prototype was built using its wings/engines and still survive to this day even though it came close to being scrapped numerous times over the years.
Richard Mattingly - US General LeMay was in charge of the whole bombing of Japan campaign and he said the “B-29s had as many bugs as the entomological department of the Smithsonian Institution,” - General LeMay was also in the best position to observe the official transcripts of the results of ALL bombings including the atomic bombings and the effect they had on the war which he said "the atom bombs had nothing to do with the end of the war" this is expert opinion
@@calebclark6696 --- Wrong. The atomic bombs dropped on the targets in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by two B-29 Superfortress Silverplate bombers were nuclear weapons, and the B-52 did not exist yet.
7,200 lbs. of armor was removed, which gave the aircraft a 7,000 ft. higher ceiling. I saw this plane years ago sitting in the dark at the Paul Garber center and it was amazing. Unrestored, with no wings, I was feet from the actual Enola Gay! I'm glad the lefties at the Smithsonian didn't destroy it.
I have to see the Enola Gay in person in the remainder of my life. If it hadn't been for the mission that she flew, I might never have known my father or any of my uncles.......and the same goes for Bock's Car!! - Marc Smith, born August 16, 1943
Good to see that it was restored all intact. The last time l heard, the Smithsonian was going to restore and display only the port side of the plane. That would have been a tragedy. Now, l wonder if they restored it to complete, fly able condition. When Paul Tibbits named his plane the Enola Gay, several people made fun of the curious name, until he informed them that that was his mothers' name. They quit the smirking and smart ass comments after they were TOLD!
I believe most, if not all, Smith M aircraft resorations, are complete to where the aircraft are completely airworthy, but none of them will ever fly again. If you think of what it requires to put any large AC into the air for even one flight, the cost would be tens of thousands of dollars.
“Is mother proud of Little Boy today?” “It’s 8:15, and that’s the time that it’s always been.” “This kiss you give is never ever gonna fade away.” Pure poetry.
4:30 he hits the nail on the head. The B-29 was as costly, if not costlier, that the atomic bomb. Both ran into huge technical hurdles and set backs. Look up the Battle of Kansas sometime.
There are plenty of photos online from shortly before or after the bombing, so you can check for yourself. I took a brief look, and it looks about the same size to me.
@@diooverheaven4137 be quite a sight at 3ooo' flying coast to coast. Kinda like they did with the space shuttle. Of course, she would be under her own power.
@@FiveCentsPlease I have seen that P-38 for myself. I really appreciate the fact that they left the original paint. Fun fact: the leading U.S. ace of WWII (Richard "Dick" Bong) flew that P-38 on a test flight out of Wright-Patterson AFB (then Wright Field), but the test was cut short due to an engine fire. As for the B-25, I think you have that confused with the B-26 Marauder "Flak Bait", which still has it's original WWII paint, and is getting worked on. The Air and Space Museum has a B-25, but it doesn't have it's original paint, but rather the paintjob it wore for the 1970 movie Catch 22. The B-26 Flak Bait flew over 200 missions from 1943 to 1945, the B-25, named Carol Jean in the movie, and it has never gone on public display, having been in storage since the 1980s due to lack of space. The B-26 has a rounder fuselage than the boxy B-25, and the former is faster, can carry a better bomb load and has a longer range. But the B-25 was easier to fly, and when the war ended, there were more B-25s than B-26s, so the b-25s were adapted for new purposes such as transports, photo planes, etc., while most B-26s were scrapped right after WWII, save a few that found other means.
@@adamestes5227 Sorry, yes "Flak Bait." As for other stored aircraft, if they were repainted by the Allies then they should be stripped and returned to original service paint. I fear that the Ta-152 may languish in those layers of paint and never be returned to correct Luftwaffe paint.
FiveCentsPlease I agree. If the Ta 152 is restored, it is almost certain that they will try to figure out the correct colors using the same technology of x-rays and computer programs they are using do determine Flak Bait’s original paint, and which weren’t there at the end of WWII. Unfortunately, I don’t anticipate that the Ta 152 will get done soon. They are renovating the entire museum in downtown D.C. and have moved most of the planes and spacecraft to Udvar Hazy for temporary storage. And speaking of storage, the museum is building new storage facilities next to the Udvar Hazy Center to move all the remaining planes from the Garber facility (aka Silver Hill) to said new facilities. From there, they can restore them at the Udvar Hazy Center, rather than taking them by truck to the restoration hangar at Udvar-Hazy (The Garber facility used to do restoration work, but the facilities at UHC are much bigger and more sophisticated, so most of the restoration staff is over there now.
Can you imagine how many allied soldiers would have had to die, if they had had to storm the beaches of Japan. I personally don't think that the second atomic bomb was necessary. But the first one was.
I can't help but wonder how the crew of the Enola Gay, Especially the bombardier Thomas Wilson Ferebee felt Knowing he was the one that pressed the button that killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people in Hiroshima . I know it was war times and I'm not judging anyone. But I would have a hard time dealing with just taking one life. But having to kill so many, I just couldn't imagine.. I'm so sorry for all that are forced to endure such travesties During war times. I hope one day we as human-beings will be at a place in the world were war will never be needed or seen again. Thank you all in every branch of the worlds great militarizes, US and abroad, for servicing your countries needs..
the emperor chose to bomb pearl harbor! the emperor chose to allow his servants to be bombed! TWICE! then he chose to have his generals surrender. then allied money paid to rebuild their infrastructure.
It was said that an invasion of Japan would kill 10 Million Japanese people and 1 to 3 million allied forces over 6 years. The 300k is tragic but the Japanese started it and paid a price. And your comment shows incredible ignorance.
It is very hard to ponder on that situation as a part of the whole situation, a single person responsible for the realization of the Manhattan Project. Yet, the Bible stated it clear, the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24:6-8. Two World Wars that heralded His imminent coming. People were used as instruments to fulfiill God"s prophecies for the ultimate end of the world. History witnesed an event that fire indeed could wipe out entire city, and the world and the universe are held in store for the geatest incineration on Judgment Day. Its time for mankind to obey the Lord Jesus Christ command to enter His Church which He would save, the Church of Christ. Don"t miss the whole picture of God's plan of salvation. We are really fortunate indeed! Be baptized in the Iglesia ni Cristo before the ultimae power in the universe is unleashed to end the flow of time!
The Enola Gay wasn't Paul Tibbets aircraft and he took the B-29 away from another pilot then had the name painted on it just before the bombing run over Hiroshima. The original pilot had been assigned to fly his B-29 for the mission but Tibbets decided to fly it instead putting himself into the history books.
Put in millions for a restoration that will just be used in one flight at an air show... Not really worth it. These are such important historical pieces too that the whole idea in general isn’t worth the risk.
@@mikewaterfield3599 What does the Kee Bird have to do with this? What I'm saying is that the risk of Enola Gay or Bockscar crashing is too high for there historical value. If it went down, never would anyone even fly a warbird of historical value again due to people wimping out. The P/F-82 for example, imagine it crashed, no one would want to fly such rare aircraft anymore even without high historical value like these B-29's.
@@erichhartmann1 kee bird was a b29 in the ice. they tried a on site restoration, during taxi maneuvers a fuel line busted lose on a aux generator causing a fire. She burnt to the rivets, good news is the whole crew got out alright.
@@erichhartmann1 Its a reference to the hell they went through to try and get another bird flying. I don't deny the risk, yet every CAF project ive been 0n was for RTS not display.
When Japan attacks us again but all of their planes has no fuel except enlona gay:oh sorry don’t mind me gonna terrorize Japan again Japanese: does nothing Enlona gay:prepare to die
They was not ready to use it on Hitlir the monster who stared all this destruction in the first place no not to take him out just t scare him out of his wits that will teach him
The atrocities committed by the Japanese Military on civilians, was equal to the Nazi's on the Jews. So it was an act of compassion to use atomic weapons on their citys.
2 wrongs doesn’t make the 3rd right. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was purely targeted for civilian casualties, so therefore it’s a war crime and both the crew that dropped the bombs, and those who ordered the bombings should be arrested and hanged for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
@@niclasthehero Hiroshima had military significance, headquarters of Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's Second General Army, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan, and was located in Hiroshima Castle. Hata's command consisted of some 400,000 men, most of whom were on Kyushu where an Allied invasion was correctly anticipated. Also present in Hiroshima were the headquarters of the 59th Army, the 5th Division and the 224th Division, a recently formed mobile unit. The city was defended by five batteries of 2.8 and 3.1 inch anti-aircraft guns of the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division, including units from the 121st and 122nd Anti-Aircraft Regiments and the 22nd and 45th Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalions. In total, an estimated 40,000 Japanese military personnel were stationed in the city. Nagasaki had strategic significance with Mitsubishi Shipyards, Electrical Shipyards, Arms Plant, and Steel and Arms Works being the biggest industrial complex's. Your allegation that we simply targeted the two cities simply to bomb civilians is erroneous.
@@niclasthehero well maybewe should send you to have a nice chat with Assad and settle the war and save us the bother of bombing Syria -my betting is they would simply exterminate you in sight -the meek inherit the earth -6 feet by 2 of it !!!
@@niclasthehero Dude, the pilots didn't even know what exactly they were trained for with the pumpkin bombs, they learned it about a week prior. And if you quit or refuse to do the job, you got a real problem, it's the same in every army. Everybody had to do bad stuff during the wars, but the Enola Gay crew is not "worse" than any other crew. The only ones who really should have gotten trouble were those who started and commanded all that stuff
Boeing 29,starfortress enola gay is name of it at bring go to dropped nuclear Fatman nuclear bomb and littleboy nuclear bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 6in,1945
Horror ore Joy? how something this horrible ended all wars, there are no real wars if you freak people out to much they are going to end it once and for all extinguishing man kind. The Peacemaker.
Robert Schuster - slow down bumpkin there is no actual evidence these bombs ended the war for Japan - Japan's leaders surrendered for their reasons which had more to do with the Russian advance on Japan from August 8 to Sept 30 and on August the 24, 1945 the Russians got within 30 miles of landing forces on Hokkaido but called it off due to President Truman's threat it would start ww3 - the ww2 war was still running hot for weeks following the atomic bombings in fact Truman dropped another massive load of conventional bombs in a 900 plane air raid on Tokyo on August 14 which means the war was still on even then
The crew of this airplane did the world A favor.I met paul tibbets years ago and have his book. If there were more people in the world today like the crew of the enola gay the world would be A much better place
Rob Vee - sadly no - unless you can prove that all the Hiroshima civilians women and children that died were all combatants the murderousness of the bombings is undeniable
These "civilians" were every bit as guilty as the "civilians" working in the plants in Dresden, Nuremberg, and Munich. You support the war effort - you get added to the target list.
Robert Hamilton - our side also committed many war crimes like we took no IJA prisoners in many combat scenarios while the Russians took over 600,000 IJA POWs back to Siberia gulags many never to return to Japan why stop there last century the Chinese slaughtered over 70 million of their own Chinese civilians and yet China was out WW2 Allie - if you take a moment to think about those numbers are much worse for the Allies than anything from Japan and Germany combined
@@majorrgeek The Japanese usually thought to the death, with not chance of surrender. Also, some carried suicide bombs on them. Thats why prisoners were rare. Also The Allies never did any thing NEAR Unit 362 or The Holocaust
"Aqueles que não lembram do seu passado estão fadados a repeti-lo" Não é só por que você não gosta de parte da história que ela deve ser apagada, falta de Sapiens na palavra Homo Sapiens. Imagine se fosse assim, alguém não gosta do nazismo documentado em livros e ordena que seja tudo apagado, museus fechados e tudo mais, como você acha que ficariam as famílias dos quase 6 milhões de judeus mortos, ao verem seus familiares serem apagados da existência. Esses objetos existem não para serem idolatrados mas sim para mostrar tudo que já ocorreu no mundo, guerras entre outras ocorrências mais, e também para nos mostrar a realidade e deixar bem claro, QUE ESSAS COISAS NUNCA SE REPITAM. Ganhou alguns neurônios hoje, espero que não doa a cabeça pensar por si próprio ao inves de repetir frases prontas.
Ganhei 2 neuronios tico e teco com a covardia americana. Matando milhares de japoneses que ficaram so a sombra na parede devido a repito covardia americana em atacar um povo que se rendeu a duas bombas repito covardes. A força a serviço da ignorancia do poderio militar. Esse aviao tem que ser sim preservado pra mostrar repito a covardia americana e supremacia de um povo que acha que buenos aires é a capital do Brazil... Aplausos a ignorancia....
@@thespacecatjenkins8539 All you’ve got to worry about are those kitten stickers. I guess I’m jealous considering I never got any stickers like that when I was 4.
It serves as a reminder that if you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. If the Japanese had the A bomb first rest assured they would have used it on American and wouldn’t feel bad.
An invasion of Japan would have cost even more innocent lives. The invasion of Okinawa cost around the same number of lives that the bombing og Hiroshima did.