There is a museum on the south west side of Auburn, Indiana, at the same Interstate 69 interchange as the famous Kruse auction park. The museum is a composite of several museums, and has a large collection of World War II military vehicles, among many other things.
There's lots of stuff to see here, and I'm going to write more about the museums themselves later, but this blog entry will focus on one small exhibit they have regarding the 509th B-29 bomb group, which flew out of Tinian to bomb Japan.
Among photos and other memorabilia, the museum had printed out a fact sheet about the atomic bombs and the 509th composite military group. As you'll see, there is a Fort Wayne connection to the B-29 Enola Gay, if only through the artist who stenciled the nose art on the plane.
Initial casualties for Hiroshima and Nagasaki totaled about 150,00 Japanese, according to the exhibit's information. Incendiary raids on Japan in Tokyo in Feb.-March of 1945 killed approx. 100,000 Japanese. This exhibit tries to point out more Japanese, overall, were killed by fire bombing or incendiary raids than anything else. Ok?
So, right before the Enola Gay B-29 was fueled up and sent out on her terrible mission with the atomic bomb, a graphic artist from Fort Wayne, Indiana stenciled "Enola Gay" on her nose, just hours beforehand. The artist, Nelson Miller, was stationed on the island. This was the only plane within the bomb group that had any type of art on it before the surrender, to reduce planes being identified by the enemy. The large plane was named in honor of pilot Colonel Paul Tibbet's mother, Enola Gay Haggard Tibbet.
The museum information states there were only two fully assembled atomic bombs on Tinian. The Hiroshima drop went as planned. Initially, for the second bomb drop, the city of Kokura was to be the target. Cloud cover forced the plane to re-route and bomb Nagasaki instead. Never knew that factoid.
Although at this point no plutonium was left on the island of Tinian, all the other bomb components were there waiting to be assembled. B-29s were dispatched to the United States to bring back more plutonium. The war ended before a third mission was dispatched.
There's lots of stuff to see here, and I'm going to write more about the museums themselves later, but this blog entry will focus on one small exhibit they have regarding the 509th B-29 bomb group, which flew out of Tinian to bomb Japan.
Among photos and other memorabilia, the museum had printed out a fact sheet about the atomic bombs and the 509th composite military group. As you'll see, there is a Fort Wayne connection to the B-29 Enola Gay, if only through the artist who stenciled the nose art on the plane.
Initial casualties for Hiroshima and Nagasaki totaled about 150,00 Japanese, according to the exhibit's information. Incendiary raids on Japan in Tokyo in Feb.-March of 1945 killed approx. 100,000 Japanese. This exhibit tries to point out more Japanese, overall, were killed by fire bombing or incendiary raids than anything else. Ok?
So, right before the Enola Gay B-29 was fueled up and sent out on her terrible mission with the atomic bomb, a graphic artist from Fort Wayne, Indiana stenciled "Enola Gay" on her nose, just hours beforehand. The artist, Nelson Miller, was stationed on the island. This was the only plane within the bomb group that had any type of art on it before the surrender, to reduce planes being identified by the enemy. The large plane was named in honor of pilot Colonel Paul Tibbet's mother, Enola Gay Haggard Tibbet.
The museum information states there were only two fully assembled atomic bombs on Tinian. The Hiroshima drop went as planned. Initially, for the second bomb drop, the city of Kokura was to be the target. Cloud cover forced the plane to re-route and bomb Nagasaki instead. Never knew that factoid.
Although at this point no plutonium was left on the island of Tinian, all the other bomb components were there waiting to be assembled. B-29s were dispatched to the United States to bring back more plutonium. The war ended before a third mission was dispatched.
One thing that was kind of amazing to me, was the first successful atomic test happened on July 16 in New Mexico, and the Little Boy bomb was dropped on Hiroshima only 3 weeks later, August 6. That was fast. Tough times back in 1945.
Up in rural Auburn, at this surprising museum and elsewhere, there is a lot to see - I definitely recommend it, and I'll talk to you later.
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