Paul Tibbets

Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (born February 23, 1915 in Quincy, Illinois) was the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets and Enola Gay Tibbetts (née Hazard).

On February 25, 1937, Paul enlisted as a flying cadet in the Army Air Corps at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. On August 5, 1945 Colonel Paul Tibbets formally named the B-29 Aircraft 44–86292 Enola Gay after his mother (she was named after the heroine, Enola Gay, of a novel her father had liked). On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay departed with Tibbets at the controls at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan. The atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time.

In 1959, Col. Tibbets was promoted to Brigadier General. He retired from the U.S. Air Force on August 31, 1966.

Awards and Decorations

• Distinguished Service Cross
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal
• Purple Heart
• Legion of Merit
• Air Force Commendation Medal
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• American Defense Service Medal
• American Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• Air Force Outstanding Unit Award

Quotes

"We’ve never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn’t kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the shit: 'You’ve killed so many civilians.' That’s their tough luck for being there." – Paul Tibbets to Studs Terkel, 2002 [1]