Pilot of Hiroshima bomber dies

The pilot of the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, devastating Hiroshima during World War II, died Thursday in his Ohio home, a spokesman said.

Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. flew a B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay which dropped the 9,000 pound bomb dubbed "Little Boy" on August 6, 1945.

"If Dante had been with us on the plane, he would have been terrified," Tibbets once said.

"The city we had seen so clearly in the sunlight a few minutes before was now an ugly smudge. It had completely disappeared under this awful blanket of smoke and fire."

Tibbets was just 30 when he piloted the plane named after his mother. Decades later, he said he never regretted dropping the bomb despite the devastating toll.

"That's what it took to end the war," he told the Columbus Dispatch in 2003. "I went out to stop the killing all over."

He went to his death bed believing a lie, saying "... he never regretted dropping the bomb despite the devastating toll."

It's too bad he didn't die of radiation sickness. Then they could have asked if his suffering was worth what he had done.

Tibbets' role in the bombing brought him fame - and infamy - throughout his life.
In 1976, he was criticized for re-enacting the bombing during an appearance at a Harlingen, Texas, air show. As he flew a B-29 Superfortress over the show, a bomb set off on the runway below created a mushroom cloud.
He said the display "was not intended to insult anybody," but the Japanese were outraged. The U.S. government later issued a formal apology.
Tibbets again defended the bombing in 1995, when an outcry erupted over a planned 50th anniversary exhibit of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution.
The museum had planned to mount an exhibit that would have examined the context of the bombing, including the discussion within the Truman administration of whether to use the bomb, the rejection of a demonstration bombing and the selection of the target.
Veterans groups objected, saying the proposed display paid too much attention to Japan's suffering and too little to Japan's brutality during and before World War II, and that it underestimated the number of Americans who would have perished in an invasion.
They said the bombing of Japan was an unmitigated blessing for the United States and the exhibit should say so.
Tibbets denounced it as "a damn big insult."
The museum changed its plan and agreed to display the fuselage of the Enola Gay without commentary, context or analysis.
He told the Dispatch in 2005 that he wanted his ashes scattered over the English Channel, where he loved to fly during the war.
Newhouse confirmed that Tibbets wanted to be cremated, but he said relatives had not yet determined how he would be laid to rest.
Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, and three sons - Paul, Gene and James - as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grandson named after Tibbets followed his grandfather into the military as a B-2 bomber pilot currently stationed in Belgium.
-- On the Net:
Enola Gay Remembered Inc.: http://www.enolagay.org

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7342020

Defending Tibbets
Whatever happened to "support our troops?"

Upon the death of Enola Gay pilot, Paul Tibbets Jr., at the age of 92, the commercial media have taken some cheap shots at his military service, such as



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Yeah, "decades later." I'll add a little info here and say unreleased video from the 50's reveals intense remorse from Tibbets for dropping the bomb. The clip can be found in the HBO Documentary White Light, Black Rain. Why he would be stupid enough -- or manipulated enough -- to do an air show reenactment I don't know, but the story isn't as simple as the man was a psychopath. But I'm sure the people who gave him his orders -- the true psychopaths in this case -- don't mind.



Does that sound like a man with no regrets?

LINK: fourth paragraph down from the top

I also find the following AP article ironic. The traditional argument in support of dropping the bomb has been that it saved hundreds of thousands of American lives. But when Paul Tibbets supports this traditional argument, the article leans toward faulting Tibbets reasoning. Can you imagine the same article faulting any given President's bomb-drop reasoning?

The article starts with such comments as



and



Yes, he led the crew, but who gave the order? And whatever happened to "support our troops?"



Is AP questioning the conscience of all the U.S. troops involved in WWII? Or is it just Tibbets who they're attacking? Why?

After these attacks have been taken care of, only then does the article get around to reporting the other side of the story:



And



The truth of the American media is they don't support the troops; they write what that they're told to write -- like good soldiers. And they "sleep clearly" as the uninformed masses suffer needlessly, all the way to the grave.

I don't see a moral solid ground anywhere for bashing Tibbets. We fucking ordered him to do it; and there are tens of thousands of "Tibbets" in missile silos all over this goddamn planet right now with their hands on those keys. And what does the media have to say about that? Not a goddamn thing.

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Blaming Tibbets is very short sighted. Truman wanted to use the bombs. Partly because the key scientists behind the bomb put some pressure on him to use it. I'm thinking it was Oppenheimer who had his ear.

My problem is that we dropped both bombs within one week of one another. My opinion is that was probably more brutal than need be.

Sometimes I speculate that if Japan was truly about to surrender, the first bomb should have hastened that procedure.