The Enola Gay at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center

One of the most controversial exhibits at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, is the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.

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Enola Gay
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Enola Gay

The pilot of the aircraft, Colonel Paul Tibbets, named it for his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, while it was still on the assembly line.

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Enola Gay

Transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1946, it was parked in the open on air bases until it was dismantled for storage in Suitland, Maryland, in 1961. In 1995, the cockpit and nose section were displayed at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. (These photos were taken at Udvar-Hazy.)

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Enola Gay Cockpit
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Enola Gay Cockpit
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Enola Gay Cockpit

The completely-restored aircraft has been on display in the Udvar-Hazy Center since 2003.

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Enola Gay Propellers

For more pictures of the Enola Gay, visit Enola Gay at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. For our recent post on the SR-71 Blackbird at Udvar-Hazy, visit The SR-71 Blackbird at Udvar-Hazy.