The Enola Gay was the B-29 bomber that dropped the Hiroshima atomic bomb during the final week before Japan’s 1945 surrender.
The aircraft was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron of the 509th Composite Group. Colonel Paul Tibbets piloted it on the Hiroshima mission on August 6, 1945. He named the aircraft after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
The Enola Gay took off from North Field on Tinian, an island in the Mariana Islands. Its bomb bay carried Little Boy, which was released over Hiroshima at about 8:15 a.m. local time. The crew then flew away from the blast and later reported the enormous cloud rising over the city.
Bockscar was a different B-29 and carried Fat Man during the Nagasaki mission three days later. The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil also participated in the Hiroshima operation in supporting roles, which is why their names sometimes appear in accounts of the mission.