Enola Gay was the U.S. bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress carried the uranium bomb Little Boy from Tinian Island on August 6, 1945. Colonel Paul Tibbets commanded the aircraft and named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
The mission was part of a carefully organized operation involving weather aircraft, scientific personnel, and support planes. Enola Gay released the bomb over Hiroshima shortly after 8 a.m. and escaped the blast using a sharp turn and rapid acceleration.
The aircraft later became an object of historical controversy and public debate, especially over how a museum should present the bombing and its consequences. It is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C. Enola Gay is often confused with Bockscar, which dropped the second atomic bomb.