[13] and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. "[25], Tibbets had flown 25 combat missions against targets in France[13] when the 97th Bomb Group was transferred to North Africa as part of Major General Jimmy Doolittle's Twelfth Air Force. Wife: Lucy. Two other famous Word War II personalities had a sea grave, the U boat ace Otto  Kretschmer and Hitler’s adjutant Otto Günsche. [1], In the late 1920s, business issues forced Tibbet's family to return to Alton, Illinois, where he graduated from Western Military Academy in 1933. He retired from the company in 1968, and returned to Miami, Florida, where he had spent part of his childhood. [13][12], In the lead up to Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, the commander of the Eighth Air Force, Major General Carl Spaatz was ordered to provide his best two pilots for a secret mission. [1], Having attended a military school, had some college education, and gained a bit of flight experience, Tibbets qualified for the Aviation Cadet Training Program. Tibbets’ marriage, to the former Lucy Wingate ended in divorce in 1955; his second wife was a French woman named Andrea Quatrehomme .

"You were an inspiration Lulu, you made us smile when you yourself found it so hard to... not just a daughter, a true friend. After the war, he participated in the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946, and was involved in the development of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet in the early 1950s. [9] It had been hastily assembled to meet demands for an early deployment, and arrived without training in the basics of high altitude daylight bombing. Front seat passenger Nathan Cartwright, 18, and Isobel Ramsell, 16, are currently in a critical condition in hospital. [31] The regularly assigned aircraft commander, Robert A. Lewis, was unhappy to be displaced by Tibbets for this important mission, and became furious when he arrived at the aircraft on the morning of 6 August to see it painted with the now-famous nose art. Lucy Tibbetts, 16, was killed along with two others when their car hit a tree in Kingswinford, near Dudley, on Tuesday night. His mother, the former … [9] Due to fears that German U-Boats might enter Tampa Bay and bombard MacDill Field, the 29th Bombardment Group moved to Savannah. [26], When the operation was still in the development stage the leading candidates to command the group designated to drop the atomic bomb had been Armstrong and Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson, the Army Air Force project officer providing liaison support to the Manhattan Project.

Its role was to transition pilots to the B-29. Tibbets was named commanding officer of the 340th Bombing Squadron , 97th Heavy Bomb Group  of the U.S. Army Air Forces, flying B-17 Flying Fortress in March 1942. [19] On 9 October 1942, Tibbets led the first American raid of more than 100 bombers in Europe, attacking industrial targets in the French city of Lille. This article was amended on Monday November 5 2007. On 7 December 1941, Tibbets heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while listening to the radio during a routine flight. [62] He subsequently served as B-47 project officer at Boeing in Wichita from July 1950 until February 1952. Was a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force, best known for being the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. He found that without defensive armament and armor plating, the aircraft was 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) lighter, and its performance was much improved.

[41] He was also interviewed in the 1970s British documentary series The World at War,[42] as well as the "Men Who Brought the Dawn" episode of the Smithsonian Networks War Stories (1995),[43] and Hiroshima (2005). [79] Tibbets figured largely in the 2000 book Duty: A Father, His Son and the Man Who Won the War by Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune. He was married to Andrea P. Quattrehomme and Lucy Frances Wingate.

[41], With the addition of the 1st Ordnance Squadron to its roster in March 1945, the 509th Composite Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom deployed to Tinian, an island in the northern Marianas within striking distance of Japan, in May and June 1945. One of those who confirmed this reputation was then General Dwight D Eisenhower for whom Tibbets served as a personal pilot at times during the war. A 1980 made-for-television movie, somewhat fictionalized, told the story of Tibbets and crew. Patrick Duffy played the part of Tibbets and Kim Darby played Lucy. [55], Tibbets was interviewed extensively by Mike Harden of the Columbus Dispatch, and profiles appeared in the newspaper on anniversaries of the first dropping of an atomic bomb. Norstad backed down, and the mission was successfully flown at 20,000 feet (6,100 m). Place of Burial: He was president of Executive Jet Aviation from 1976 until his retirement in 1987. [7] Tibbets was also the model for screenwriter Sy Bartlett's fictional character "Major Joe Cobb" in the film Twelve O'Clock High, and for a brief period in February 1949 was slated to be its technical advisor until his replacement at the last minute by Colonel John H. [10] While there he was promoted to captain. I sleep clearly every night. [17], Tibbets flew the lead bomber Butcher Shop[18] for the first American daylight heavy bomber mission on 17 August 1942, a shallow-penetration raid against a marshalling yard in Rouen in Occupied France, with Armstrong as his co-pilot. [29] Tibbets returned to the United States in February 1943.

The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. [60] Tibbets was a technical advisor to the 1946 Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, but he and his Enola Gay crew were not chosen to drop another atomic bomb. [25] Tibbets selected Wendover for its remoteness.

He retired from the company in 1970 and returned to Miami, Florida.

Patrick Duffy played the part of Tibbets and Kim Darby played Lucy. In September 1944, he was selected to command the project at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, that became the 509th Composite Group   , in connection with the Manhattan Project.

He chose Tibbets and Major Wayne Connors.

At one point Tibbets found that Lucy had co-opted a scientist to unplug a drain. [53], He returned to the United States in February 1956 to command the 308th Bombardment Wing at Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia. In July 1962, he was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff as deputy director for operations, and then, in June 1963, as deputy director for the National Military Command System.

He then attended the University of Florida in Gainesville,[1] and became an initiated member of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1934. During his training, his performance showed he was an above-average pilot. On 25-02-1937, Tibbets enlisted as a flying cadet in the U.S. Army Air Camps at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and received his pilot rating in 1938 at Kelly Field in San Antonio. However, he attended for only a year and a half as he changed his mind about wanting to become a doctor. [56][81] In 1989, he published his memoir "Flight of the Enola Gay" which chronicles his life to that date. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Other Works [6] The younger son, Gene Wingate Tibbets, was born in 1944, and was at the time of his death in 2012 residing in Georgiana in Butler County in southern Alabama.

Tibbets was considerably younger than both and had experience in both staff and command duties in heavy bomber combat operations, and was already an experienced B-29 pilot, thus making him an ideal candidate.

Its role was to transition pilots to the B-29. [23] A few weeks later Tibbets flew the Supreme Allied Commander, Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower, there. [4] On 25 February 1937, he enlisted in the army at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and was sent to Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas, for primary and basic flight instruction. [49][51], At 02:45 the next day—in accordance with the terms of Operations Order No. [43], The ground support echelon of the 509th Composite Group received movement orders and moved by rail on 26 April 1945, to its port of embarkation at Seattle, Washington.

I sleep clearly every night. Wife: Andrea. That was the thing that I was going to do the best of my ability. [1], In June 1941, Tibbets transferred to the 9th Bombardment Squadron of the 3d Bombardment Group at Hunter Field, Savannah, Georgia, as the engineering officer, and flew the A-20 Havoc. [36], When the operation was still in its development stages, Armstrong and Colonel Roscoe C. Wilson were the leading candidates to command the group who was designated to drop the atomic bomb. Tinian was approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away from Japan, so it took six hours to reach Hiroshima.