Both atomic bomb B-29s were preserved, with Bockscar going to the National Museum of the U.S. The Hiroshima B-29 Enola Gay was stored at Pyote AFB in 1953 before flying east for the Smithsonian Institution. They were part of a cadre of Superfortresses identified as Silverplate aircraft, built and modified under contract by Martin in Omaha, Nebraska, to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The B-29s Enola Gay and Bockscar dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on Aug.
The Japanese emissaries were whisked to Manila from Ie Shima in a silver Army Air Forces C-54. Everyone’s heard the basic substantive version of the end of World War II in the Pacific in August 1945: Two atomic bombs, dropped three days apart on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accelerated the Japanese into surrendering.īut the story is much fuller than that, with intrigue and drama leading up to brief consideration of using a third atomic weapon on Tokyo.Īnd inseparable is the use of aviation, from the B-29 Superfortress bombers that delivered the bombs, to a specially painted duo of Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers that carried Japan’s peace negotiators to the American base at Ie Shima on Aug.
