Enola Gay set to go on display in DC

CNN.com ^ | 18 August 2003 | Reuters (ugh)

[Moose4]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- It carried the most destructive weapon of World War II and now the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, is set to go on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

[Moose4]

I'm glad to hear this. I remember getting a tour of the Smithsonian's Gerber Restoration Facility, in Maryland, in 1994. We saw the Enola Gay's forward fuselage being restored in preparation for the controversial Smithsonian "oh, the poor Japanese, we shouldn't have bombed them" exhibit. The rest of the plane was disassembled and stored, but the forward third of the B-29 was being restored, along with one engine and a fake Little Boy. They simply didn't have the room to show the entire airplane until they got this new Dulles facility built. (Gerber is the ultimate playground for an airplane geek like me...dozens of historic airplanes, some squeaky clean, some dingy, some in pieces, just stored in warehouses. It's the ultimate attic to play in!)

The B-29 that dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Bock's Car, is on display at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH. It is pristine, gorgeous, and best of all, exhibited in a very matter-of-fact way with no political BS on either side. If you are a fan of American military aviation, you MUST go to Wright-Pat and see the USAF Museum (and then on to Pensacola to see the Navy's museum, which I have not seen yet). The USAF Museum is fantastic, for warbird fans it's 10x better than the National Air and Space Museum.

}:-)4

[TheBigB]

We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are

Why is it "terrible" if it does what it's designed to do?

[Riley]

If you are a fan of American military aviation, you MUST go to Wright-Pat and see the USAF Museum...

I couldn't agree more. I spent an entire day there in 2000, which included a trip to the Annex. What a treat!

US Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH

[Lucy Lake]

to see an aircraft without the story behind it is a waste of time

Exactly, no Pearl Harbor, no Hiroshima.

[dts32041]

"I have no objections to the Enola Gay being reassembled but to see an aircraft without the story behind it is a waste of time. We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are," said Herzig, a researcher of Japanese-American history.

And as a counter point this a few pioctures of Korean comfet girsl, some pictures of Nanking, PW camps run by the japs, and of course their mines, pictures of the batanan death march, executions in SEA, you know show the benevolance of the japaness people under tojo and hirohito.

[The Radical Capitalist]

"I have no objections to the Enola Gay being reassembled but to see an aircraft without the story behind it is a waste of time. We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are," said Herzig, a researcher of Japanese-American history.

An excellent idea! Let's start with the Rape of Nanjing and the March to Bataan...

[Common Tator]

The USAF Museum is fantastic, for warbird fans it's 10x better than the National Air and Space Museum.

I live about an hour and a half from USAF Museum and go about once every year. There is always lots of new things to see. If you like war birds, plan to spend a full day at the USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio. It is on Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton Ohio.

They have everything from Wright Flyers to Space Craft and ICBMs on display. There are B52 and a B36 bombers as well as the mentioned B29. All the world war I and world war II fighters and bombers are on display including German and Japanese planes. You can really get up close to them. One of nearly eveything the air force ever flew is on display for your close inpection.

They had Russian planes on display too. The last time I was their they had the stealth figher on display. They can land planes on the Wright Pat AFB runway and taxie them to the museum for display. Several years ago they had a day for private planes to visit. I got to fly my plane in. It was a great experience.

[KellyAdmirer]

"I have no objections to the Enola Gay being reassembled but to see an aircraft without the story behind it is a waste of time. We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are," said Herzig, a researcher of Japanese-American history.

Well, terrible for Japan, perhaps. Though it ultimately saved many more Japanese lives than it cost.

The story of the aircraft is that it finally ended a war that cost 20 million lives. Even then, it took the Japanese a week to accept defeat, showing this was not "overkill." I wholeheartedly agree that that story should be told.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

If you are a fan of American military aviation, you MUST go to Wright-Pat and see the USAF Museum (and then on to Pensacola to see the Navy's museum, which I have not seen yet). The USAF Museum is fantastic, for warbird fans it's 10x better than the National Air and Space Museum.

You are so very right...

[Little Ray]

Another cool place is Duxford in the UK. They have some of the most amazing aircraft there and, unlike the Smith, they restore 'em into flyin' condition. A flying Spitfire and and Hurricane...
And they'll teach you how to pronounce Aluminium...

[KellyAdmirer]

The air force museum in Auckland, New Zealand is another fine aviation site. They even had a complete V-1 rocket, first I ever saw. One of those out-of-the-way treasures you sometimes stumble upon.

[SAMWolf]

Airpower bump.

[SAMWolf]

We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are

No we need to remind ourselves what finally got the Japanese to surrender and end the war they started with us at Pearl Harbor.

[CholeraJoe]

It killed more than 140,000 people and left tens of thousands more disfigured and suffering from lingering radiation illness that later raised the death toll to more than 230,000.

They forgot the part about saving a million casualties among the allied forces and probably nearly 10 million Japanese, had an invasion been necessary to end the war.

[Moose4]

The only real quibble I had about the USAF Museum the last time I was there ('97 or so) is that the historical galleries were so poorly lit. Good picture-taking was almost impossible because the places were lit like a dungeon and the hangar roofs were dark-colored. The big modern gallery had better lighting and a white roof so it was easier to get good shots.

Although, in a weird way, the darkness and dinginess of the place (especially the old Annex) is better than the slickness of the Smith. The displays still have that old aircraft-hangar feel to them. It's hard to describe, but it feels more natural than the super-slick and set-up-just-so displays at the NASM.

I know they're doing some extensive remodeling and expansion up there, I'd love to get back up that way and see what they've done to the place. I presume they're expanding to pull all the aircraft in from the Annex and off the old taxiway in front of the place, and/or put their rocket and missile collection indoors.

Now I've got the jones to go back up there. :)

}:-)4

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Enola Gay set to go on display in DC

I am shocked and outraged that the homosexual lobby has so come to dominate our country's culture that they can now force the Smithsonian to put one of their own on display. Why, the idea of children viewing . . .

What? It's not a gay person? It's the airplane that dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima? Never mind.

[ArrogantBustard]

Just a nit-picking pet peeve, but:

DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IS NOT IN WASHINGTON, DC!!!!

It's in VIRGINIA, on the Fairfax-Loudon County border. But every time you land there, the brainless flight attendant says "Welcome to Washington". BS. And the new Smithsonian aircraft museum is definitely within the borders of IAD, so the headline should read "Enola Gay set to go on display in Virginia".

< /rant>

[tophat9000]

MUST go to Wright-Pat and see the USAF Museum

Yea I've got to get out there some day...(got to see "The Thing" i.e. the XB70)

[snippy_about_it]

Come see what would have been if we hadn't used the bomb!

OPERATION OLYMPIC (An Invasion Not Found in History Books)

[PoorMuttly]

This is that pesky plane that dropped the atomic bomb.

Bad airplane...BAD !

Why did we let it do that ?!!

It must have been the first evil SUV. Bad SUV...BAD !!!