The B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
Enola Gay was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress assigned to the United States Army Air Forces’ 393rd Bombardment Squadron. Colonel Paul Tibbets piloted the aircraft during the Hiroshima mission on August 6, 1945. He named the bomber after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
The aircraft released Little Boy over Hiroshima shortly after 8 a.m. The bomb detonated at an altitude of roughly 600 meters, producing a blast and firestorm that devastated much of the city. Enola Gay then flew away from the target area to reduce the danger from the explosion.
The aircraft is sometimes confused with Bockscar, the B-29 that carried Fat Man during the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9. The Great Artiste also participated in both missions, but it served as an observation and instrumentation aircraft rather than carrying the Hiroshima bomb.