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Enola Gay
The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel (United States), Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in warfare. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed about three-quarters of the city. ''Enola Gay'' participated in the second nuclear attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in Nagasaki, a secondary target, being bombed instead. After the war, the ''Enola Gay'' returned to the United States, where it was operated from Walker Air Force Base, Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. In May 1946, it was flown to Kwajalein for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific, but was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll. Later t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Tibbets
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the '' Enola Gay'' (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot in 1938. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In February 1942, he became the commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with the Boeing B-17. In July 1942, the 97th became the first heavy bombardment group to be deployed as part of the Eighth Air Force, and Tibbets became deputy group commander. He co-piloted the lead plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against German-occupied Europe on 17 August 1942 that was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop an atomic weapon, "Silverplate" eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of the program as well. The original directive for the project had as its subject line "Silver Plated Project," but continued usage of the term shortened it to "Silverplate". Testing began with scale models at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, in August 1943. Modifications began on a prototype Silverplate B-29 known as the "Pullman" in November 1943, and it was used for bomb flight testing at Muroc Army Air Field in California commencing in March 1944. The testing resulted in further modifications to both the bombs and the aircraft. Seventeen production Silverplate aircraft were ord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Offutt Air Force Base
Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Air Combat Command (ACC), the latter serving as the host unit. Aviation use at Offutt began in September 1918 during World War I as an Army Air Service balloon field. Originally named Fort Crook, it was renamed in honor of World War I pilot and Omaha native 1st Lt. Jarvis Offutt in 1924. Offutt AFB's legacy includes the construction of the '' Enola Gay'' and ''Bockscar'', the planes that dropped Little Boy and Fat Man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Offutt served over 40 years as the headquarters for the former Strategic Air Command (SAC) and home for its associated ground and aerial command centers for the United States in the case of nuclear war during the Cold War. The population was 8,901 at the 2000 census. History O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue ( French for "beautiful view"; previously named Belleview) is a suburban city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, and had a population of 64,176 as of the 2020 census, making it the 3rd most populous city in Nebraska, behind Omaha and Lincoln, and the second largest city in the U.S. named "Bellevue," behind Bellevue, Washington. The city is also the largest in the state that is not a county seat. History Established by European Americans in the 1830s, Bellevue was incorporated in 1855 and is the oldest continuously-inhabited town in Nebraska. It has been credited by the Nebraska State Legislature as being the state's second-oldest incorporated settlement after Nebraska City; previously it served as the seat of government in Nebraska. Bellevue was originally founded as a trading post for the Missouri Fur Company by Joshua Pilcher, but there were financial problems, and, eventually, Lucien Fontanel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland, United States. As of January 2022, Lockheed Martin employs approximately 121,000 employees worldwide, including about 60,000 engineers and scientists. Reports from 2024 estimate that Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) holds a market cap of around $139.7 billion. Lockheed Martin is one of the largest companies in the aerospace, military support, security, and technologies industry. It was the world's largest defense contractor by revenue for fiscal year 2014.POC Top 20 Defence Contractors of 2014 . Retrieved: July 2015 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USAAF Unit Identification Aircraft Markings
USAAF unit identification aircraft markings, commonly called "tail markings" after their most frequent location, were numbers, letters, geometric symbols, and colors painted onto the tails (vertical stabilizer fins, rudders and horizontal surfaces), wings, or fuselages of the aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the Second World War. Tail codes and markings provided a visual means of identification in conjunction with the call procedures, and later assembly and combat visual identification of units and aircraft. These should not be confused with squadron codes and letters used in the RAF systems and areas, which serve a different function. The purpose of these markings was to serve as call signs in the Royal Air Force (RAF) radio procedures in the UK. Two-letter squadron codes were used to denote a squadron; some squadron codes later consisted of a letter and a numeral. An additional single letter, known as the Radio Call Letter (RCL), was to identify ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Van Kirk
Theodore Jerome "Dutch" Van Kirk (February 27, 1921 – July 28, 2014) was a navigator in the United States Army Air Forces, best known as the navigator of the ''Enola Gay'' when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Upon the death of fellow crewman Morris Jeppson on March 30, 2010, Van Kirk became the last surviving member of the ''Enola Gay'' crew. Career Van Kirk was born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, to Frederick and Grace (Snyder) Van Kirk. He joined the Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program in October 1941. On 1 April 1942, he received both his commission and navigator wings and transferred to the 97th Bomb Group, the first operational Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England. The crew of the "Red Gremlin" also included pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee. Van Kirk would later fly with these men on the Hiroshima mission. From August to October 1942, the crew flew 11 missions out of England. They were the lead aircraft, responsible for grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the List of areas in the United States National Park System, National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year. Designed by Pierre L'Enfant, the "Grand Avenue" or Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—unlike palace gardens, such as those at Versailles in France, that were paid for by the people but reserved for the use of a privileged few. The core area of the National Mall extends between the United States Capitol grounds to the east and the Wash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suitland, Maryland
Suitland is a suburb of Washington, D.C., approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland, Suitland-Silver Hill census-designated place. History Suitland is named after 19th century landowner and businessman Senator Samuel Taylor Suit, whose estate, "Suitland,” was located near the present-day intersection of Suitland and Silver Hill Roads. 17th and 18th centuries In the 1600s, the Piscataway tribe inhabited the lands in southern Maryland. European settlers first visited Saint Clement's Island on the Potomac River and then established their first Maryland colony downriver at Saint Mary's City in 1634, and by the 1660s through the 1680s, settlers had moved into what is now known as Prince George's County. Faced with this encroachment, the Piscataways left the area in 1697, and moved north to what is now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the Federal government of the United States#branches, three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. The Smithsonian Institution has historical holdings of over 157 million items, 21 museums, 21 libraries, 14 education and research centers, a zoo, and historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in Washington, D.C. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York (state), New York, and Virg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
