The Enola Gay
 U.S.
Army Air Forces Col. Paul W. Tibbets piloted the B-29 bomber that
dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on August
6, 1945. The bomber was named Enola Gay after Tibbets' mother. Tibbets
chose to use her name because she had supported his decision to become
a pilot. Loaded, the Enola Gay weighed 65 tons and carried 7,000
gallons of fuel and a four-ton bomb. After the bomb was dropped,
Tibbets said: "Would I do it again? Give me conditions and
circumstances similar to those that prevailed in 1945, and I would
not hesitate. I feel that, at that point in time, it was the only
thing to do. I am convinced that the use of the two weapons prevented
an invasion that would have cost more Japanese lives than did the
bombs, not to mention the American lives or the added billions of
dollars that would have been expended."
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