But the decision to display it as part of a lengthy contemplation of the birth of the Atomic Age, and on the anniversary of the end of the war, proved disastrous. 6, 1945.įor years the Smithsonian Institution had the plane, and was steadily restoring it to vintage condition. The Enola Gay's trip to the northwest corner of the Air and Space Museum has been far more tortuous than the flight it took the morning of Aug. Park Police SWAT team on the lookout for trouble.įifty years ago this summer, the B-29 named after the mother of its pilot dropped the atom bomb that instantly destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima and, with the atomic bombing of Nagasaki three days later, hastened the end of World War II. Michael Heyman at a packed news conference yesterday morning attended by at least 26 TV camera crews and a U.S. It's like a passage from a Tom Clancy novel, converted to three dimensions.Īs for the destruction of Hiroshima: 'I really decided to leave it more to the imagination,' said Smithsonian Secretary I. It's about a big shiny plane and its determined crew. The focus is on hardware, not the nuances of history. The Enola Gay exhibit finally opens today for public viewing at the National Air and Space Museum.
