![enola gay pilot dies enola gay pilot dies](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_of9ue2vob2g/RyqEypgD7UI/AAAAAAAAB1s/yndeD_UELjg/s320/heroic+enola+gay+crew.jpg)
Arnold as the prime candidate to command the 509th Composite Group, although he was not informed of the selection until September 1. On April 27 he was selected by General Henry H. Armstrong at Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska. Eisenhower, for whom Tibbets served as a personal pilot at times during the war.Īfter a year of development testing of the B-29, Tibbets was assigned in March 1944 to the 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Very Heavy), a B-29 training unit, as director of operations under Brig. One of those who confirmed this reputation was then-General Dwight D. "By reputation", Tibbets was "the best flier in the Army Air Force". Lauris Norstad, Assistant Chief of Staff of Operations (A-3) of the Twelfth Air Force, a position he held until returning to the U.S. Upon completion of his combat tour, Tibbets was assigned as assistant for bomber operations to Col. Based at RAF Polebrook, he piloted the lead bomber for the first Eighth Air Force bombing mission in Europe on August 17, 1942, and later flew combat missions in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Army Air Forces, flying B-17 Flying Fortresses in March 1942. Tibbets was named commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bomb Group of the U.S. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1938 and received his commission and wings at Kelly Field, Texas. On February 25, 1937, Tibbets enlisted as a flying cadet in the U.S. He attended the University of Cincinnati for a year and a half, before changing his mind, and enlisting in the Army Air Corps. After his undergraduate work, Tibbets had planned on becoming an abdominal surgeon. Tibbets graduated from Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois and later attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and was an initiated member of the Epsilon Zeta Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1934. Thereafter, the family moved to Miami, Florida. The 1930 census indicates that his family had relocated and was living at the time in Des Moines. The family was listed there in the 1920 U.S. He was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his father was a confections wholesaler. Tibbets was born in Quincy, Illinois, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets, Sr., and the former Enola Gay Haggard. The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. (Febru– November 1, 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. Rank US-O7 insignia.svg Brigadier GeneralĬommands held 509th Composite Group 308th Bomb Wingīattles/wars World War II (North African, European, and Pacific Theaters) atomic bombing of Hiroshima AwardsĬharter Pilot and President of Executive Jet Aviation Service/branch United States Army Air Forces Years of service 1937–1966