Who piloted Enola Gay during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima?

Paul Tibbets piloted Enola Gay during the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Colonel Paul Tibbets was the commander and pilot of the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay on August 6, 1945. The aircraft carried Little Boy, the uranium atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the final stage of World War II.

Tibbets had extensive experience flying B-17 bombers before joining the Manhattan Project’s operational preparations. He helped train the specially selected 509th Composite Group to deliver atomic weapons and commanded its 393rd Bombardment Squadron.

The pilot is often confused with Major Charles Sweeney, who piloted Bockscar during the Nagasaki mission three days later. Robert Lewis was Enola Gay’s co-pilot, while Claude Eatherly piloted a weather reconnaissance aircraft connected with the Hiroshima operation. Tibbets later remained in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a brigadier general.