General History · Question
What is the name of the Boeing B-29 that dropped the 'Little Boy' atomic bomb on Hiroshima?
Answer
Enola Gay
The story behind the answer
Enola Gay is correct because it was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress piloted by Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr. that dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Tibbets named the aircraft after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
For context, two other B-29s accompanied the mission: The Great Artiste carried measuring instruments, and Necessary Evil served as a camera/observation plane. Full House was another aircraft in the 509th Composite Group but not the bomber that released the weapon. A useful memory trick: the plane named after the pilot’s mother “delivered” Little Boy—just as a mother delivers a child—linking the name Enola Gay to the codename of the bomb. This event was pivotal in World War II and the dawn of the nuclear age.