The Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare over Hiroshima in 1945 was Enola Gay.
Enola Gay was assigned to the 393rd Bombardment Squadron of the United States Army Air Forces. On August 6, 1945, it carried the uranium gun-type bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” from Tinian in the Mariana Islands to Hiroshima, Japan. The aircraft was commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, who had named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
The bombing was part of the final phase of World War II and remains a major historical subject because of its immediate destruction and long-term human consequences. Enola Gay is sometimes confused with Bockscar, another Boeing B-29. Bockscar dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki three days later, on August 9, 1945. The Great Artiste and Straight Flush were also B-29 aircraft involved in the Hiroshima mission, but Enola Gay released the bomb.