Unfortunately, pilots were reluctant to volunteer for duty on the new Superfortress. He was a highly experienced bomber pilot when assigned to organize in Grand Island, Nebraska, the school that would train B–29 instructors. On August 17, 1942, Paul Warfield Tibbets commanded the lead B–17 Flying Fortress during the Eighth Air Force’s first bombing mission in Europe. They maintained this altitude until an hour from the target and then climbed to 30,700 feet. The bombers circled Mount Suribachi at 9,300 feet before setting a northerly course for Japan. It also had engines that overheated easily.The sun rose before the Enola Gay arrived over Iwo Jima for a rendezvous with the two escorts. The airplane had a reputation for being difficult to fly. Pilots were reluctant to volunteer for duty on the new Superfortress. The seventh B–29 stood by at Iwo Jima in case Tibbets’ airplane had mechanical difficulties. One was a photo plane and the other carried scientists and an assortment of instrument packages that would be dropped by parachute to take scientific measurements. (The mission required visual conditions.) Two others escorted the Enola Gay. Three were sent ahead to report on weather conditions at the target and two alternates. Six other B–29s were involved in the operation. Coated with dull gunmetal paint and described by Tibbets as an “ugly monster,” the 12-foot-long bomb was adorned with handwritten messages for Emperor Hirohito. Safely airborne, the “weaponeer,” William “Deak” Parsons, descended into the unpressurized forward bomb bay to arm the device code-named Little Boy, a misnomer if there ever was one. The Enola Gay passed over Saipan while cruising at 4,700 feet. local time on August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay pushed the ground away and lifted thunderously into the darkness for a rendezvous with destiny. The Superfortress sniffed the tropical night sky and consumed almost the entire 8,500-foot-long runway, reaching 155 mph. So precious and critical was the sextant on this flight that the navigator, Theodore Van Kirk, held and cushioned it in his lap.Īt 130 mph Tibbets gingerly raised the nose just enough to elongate the nosewheel strut. When the tall rudder began to bite the air at 60 to 65 mph, he gave command of the throttles to his flight engineer, Wyatt Duzenberry, who set maximum power. Lined up with the runway, Tibbets “stood” the throttles, “walking” them differentially to keep the nosewheel on the centerline. There were uncertainties about this flight, explaining why in one pocket Tibbets carried a small box containing 12 cyanide tablets. None of his 11 crewmembers knew the exact nature of this mission, and they would not know until after takeoff. Paul Tibbets steered the Superfortress onto the asphalt and crushed-coral runway.