In the wake of that decision I resigned as the museum's director and left the Smithsonian. Michael Heyman, in office only four months at the time, scrapped the exhibit as requested, and promised to personally oversee a new display devoid of any historic context. The Institution's chief executive, Smithsonian Secretary I. The Smithsonian tnstitution, of which the National Air and Space Museum is a part, is heavily dependent on congressional funding. Fifty years later, the National Air and Space Museum was in the final stages of preparing an exhibition on the Enola Gay's historic mission when eighty-one members of Congress angrily demanded cancellation of the planned display and the resignation or dismissal of the museum's director. World War II was over and a nuclear arms race had begun. No war had ever seen such instant devastation. 2nd Lieutenant Morris Jeppson, Ordnance Expert Morris Jeppson was only 23 years old when he was assigned to accompany the atomic bomb on the Enola. There it exploded, destroying Hiroshima and eighty thousand of her citizens. Stiborik died of a heart attack in 1984 at age 69. Below, Hiroshima was covered in thick smoke, making it difficult to see the impact. For forty three seconds, the world's first atomic bomb plunged through six miles of clear air to its preset detonation altitude. As Enola Gay banked away the crew could see a large mushroom cloud climbing above them, to 45,000ft.
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When it came time to answer audience questions, Van Kirk mostly found himself recalling technical details of the mission - for example, the weight of the Enola Gay at takeoff.īut, when asked what a child should take away from his address, he didn’t mince words.At 8:15 A.M., August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay released her load. It just gave Japan the excuse to get out of the war and save face.” VanKirk, who was widely reported to be the last survivor of the 12-member Enola Gay crew, died July 28 at a retirement community in Stone Mountain, Ga. “The (dropping of the) atomic bombs did not win the war. “The Japanese were a licked people before we ever dropped the atomic bombs,” Van Kirk said.
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He went without regrets, but knowing his controversial place in history, he explicitly asked to be buried without a headstone. Tibbets, who lived in Columbus, died in 2007. Of the Enola Gay’s 12 crewmen, Van Kirk is the last survivor. “People ask, ‘Does that maneuver have a name?’” he said. He also recalled the exceptionally sharp turn Tibbets had made to get their B-29 as far from the blast as possible. “It reminded you of a pot of boiling oil,” he said. Tibbets - Van Kirk recalled being able to see nothing but blackness. Looking down out of the Enola Gay - named for the mother of the plane’s pilot, Paul W. Theodore VanKirk, last survivor of Enola Gay crew, dies J/ 6:06 PM / CBS News/AP ATLANTA - The last surviving member of the crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima has died in.
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That’s the reason they did not react after we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.” “To this day,” he said, “I felt the Japanese thought we only had one bomb. The bomb leveled Hiroshima with an equivalent force of 15,000 tons of TNT. “But, if you’re in a war, you have to have the guts to fight the war to win it.” “You’re going to kill a lot of civilians. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki, prevented that. The greater evil Van Kirk referred to was a possible invasion of Japan that likely would have resulted in mass American casualties. With the annual Vectren Dayton Air Show set for the weekend, Van Kirk’s testimony was a potent and timely reminder of the military’s might.