In 1949, the Smithsonian Institution assumed control of the plane, and it is now part of the Air and Space Museum. on August 6, 1945, a modified American B-29 Superfortress bomber named the Enola Gay left the island of Tinian for Hiroshima. On August 30, 1946, the Enola Gay was placed in storage and never flew another combat mission. Martin Company delivered the plane to the military on May 18, 1945. The United States military kept the Enola Gay in use for only a short period of time. Tibbets named the plane after his mother. Captain Paul Tibbets, the Enola Gay's pilot, personally selected this plane to drop the atomic bomb.
The plane had a 2,200-horsepower engine, with a maximum speed of 360 miles per hour and a range of 3,250 miles. Martin Company assembled it in Omaha, Nebraska, in early 1945.
Boeing Aircraft Company manufactured the plane, and the Glenn L. This atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, along with a second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, prompted the Japanese government to surrender, bringing World War II to an end. On August 6, 1945, the crew of the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
