"The Enola Gay played a decisive role in World War II," it claimed. The Smithsonian rushed to defend the exhibit and the Enola Gay's infamous mission. Three days later, on August 9, the Enola Gay flew alongside another plane that dropped the second bomb, "Fat Man," which destroyed Nagasaki and killed 70,000 people. Over 95 percent of those killed were civilians, and 65 percent were women, children and elderly. It killed 150,000 people instantly and tens of thousands more in the aftermath as a result of radiation poisoning. THE ENOLA Gay dropped the first atomic bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," incinerating the city of Hiroshima. The protesters' petition, signed by 25,000 people, states, "To exalt the Enola Gay-which caused an unprecedented atrocity that violated all norms of morality and international law-as a testimony to 'technological achievement' is completely unacceptable to the atomic bomb victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B 29 45 MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima." If the question of Hiroshima weren't so deadly serious, this account would be laughable. The minimal historical information that does accompany the plane describes it as the "most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II." After further description of its advanced engineering, the text does mention that the bomber found "its niche on the other side of the globe. Our primary focus is that it was the most advanced aircraft in the world at the time." Air and Space Museum Director General John Dailey announced that the exhibit would show the Enola Gay "in all of its glory as a magnificent technological achievement. The Smithsonian display makes a mockery of history and comes close to celebrating the bomb. They held pictures of the mushroom cloud, the destroyed city and the scorched and irradiated bodies of the survivors. He joined five other survivors and 50 demonstrators to protest the display for excluding any mention of the death and destruction that the first atom bomb wrought on Hiroshima and its people. In 1945, Nishino was two miles from the epicenter of the atomic blast, and bears scars all over his body from it.
THAT WAS how Hiroshima survivor Minoru Nishino described his experience of the Smithsonian exhibit of the Enola Gay in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. When I saw the Enola Gay today, I was overcome with anger." The first time was on August 6, 1945, when I saw it flying high in the sky. "This is the second time I have seen the Enola Gay. government to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The story of the Enola Gay that they won't put on exhibitĪSHLEY SMITH explains the controversy over the Smithsonian Institution's attempt to display the Enola Gay, the plane used by the U.S. In the meanwhile, click here to go to the current home page. We're still moving this and other older stories into our new format.