This article is about the WWII United States Air Force pilot. For his grandson, see Paul W. Tibbets IV. For the American animator, see Paul Tibbitt.
Paul Tibbets
Tibbets c. 1960
Birth name
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr.
Born
(1915-02-23)23 February 1915 Quincy, Illinois, U.S.
Died
1 November 2007(2007-11-01) (aged 92) Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Allegiance
United States
Service/branch
United States Army Air Forces United States Air Force
Years of service
1937–1966
Rank
Brigadier general
Commands held
340th Bombardment Squadron 509th Composite Group 308th Bombardment Wing 6th Air Division
Battles/wars
World War II:
Operation Torch
Combined Bomber Offensive
Air raids on Japan
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Awards
Distinguished Service Cross Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross (2) Purple Heart Air Medal (4)
Alma mater
University of Florida (BA) University of Cincinnati
Other work
Charter Pilot and President of Executive Jet Aviation
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot in 1938. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In February 1942, he became the commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with the Boeing B-17. In July 1942, the 97th became the first heavy bombardment group to be deployed as part of the Eighth Air Force, and Tibbets became deputy group commander. He flew the lead plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against Occupied Europe on 17 August 1942, and the first American raid of more than 100 bombers in Europe on 9 October 1942. Tibbets was chosen to fly Major General Mark W. Clark and Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gibraltar. After flying 43 combat missions, he became the assistant for bomber operations on the staff of the Twelfth Air Force.
Tibbets returned to the United States in February 1943 to help with the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. In September 1944, he was appointed the commander of the 509th Composite Group, which would conduct the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 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. He commanded the 308th Bombardment Wing and 6th Air Division in the late 1950s, and was military attaché in India from 1964 to 1966. After leaving the Air Force in 1966, he worked for Executive Jet Aviation, serving on the founding board and as its president from 1976 until his retirement in 1987.
Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born in Quincy, Illinois, on 23 February 1915, the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets Sr. and his wife, Enola Gay Tibbets. When...
B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel PaulTibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World...
December 1944, at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, commanded by Colonel PaulTibbets. Tibbets was assigned to organize and command a combat group to develop the...
Tibbets, American media executive Eliza Tibbets (1823–1898), introduced seedless navel oranges to California; wife of Luther C. Tibbets Jane Tibbets:...
board of directors included US Air Force generals Curtis E. LeMay and PaulTibbets, Washington lawyer and former military pilot Bruce Sundlun, and entertainers...
Selected to be part of the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel PaulTibbets, he was named commander of the 320th Troop Carrier Squadron on 6 January...
Priestley, Saburo Sakai, Albert Speer, James Stewart, Charles Sweeney, PaulTibbets, Walter Warlimont, Takeo Yoshikawa and historian Stephen Ambrose. In...
recruited by Colonel PaulTibbets to be part of the 509th Composite Group which was formed to drop the atomic bomb. Like Tibbets, Ferebee remained in...
Stockdale Oliver Stone Bruce Sundlun Charles Sweeney Hugh Thompson Jr. PaulTibbets Witold Urbanowicz Regis F. A. Urschler Patrick M. Walsh Joshua L. Wheeler...
with Tibbets and Ferebee in the 509th Composite Group at Wendover Field, Utah, in late 1944. The group flew the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, with Tibbets as...
just as long and was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live. Colonel PaulTibbets and Sweeney therefore elected to have Bockscar continue the mission....
while LeMay was undergoing B-29 familiarization with (then-Colonel) PaulTibbets' 509th Composite Group. Despite his uncompromising attitude regarding...
entertainer (b. 1933) John Woodruff, athlete (b. 1915) November 1 – PaulTibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay (b. 1915) November 2 – The Fabulous Moolah, professional...
tons of incendiary bombs on Japanese cities and killed 80,000 people. PaulTibbets, pilot of the lead plane in the planned atomic bomb run, reported to...
Hiroshima from a special B-29 Superfortress named Enola Gay, flown by Col. PaulTibbets. It was the first use of atomic weapons in combat. 70,000 were killed...
of Slovenia (d. 2017) February 23 Jon Hall, American actor (d. 1979) PaulTibbets, American World War II bomber pilot (Enola Gay) (d. 2007) February 25...
was dangerous as well, as the bomb was live. Group Commander Colonel PaulTibbets and Sweeney therefore elected to have Bockscar continue the mission....
Angels" 1980 Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb Colonel PaulTibbets Television film 1981 The Love Boat Ralph Sutton Episode: "The Expedition"...
September 8 by Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters, NYC 2014 Atomic Musical PaulTibbets and Edward Teller June 26 - August 16 The Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row...
time, the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress piloted by Colonel PaulTibbets, dropped an atomic bomb (code-named Little Boy by the U.S.) on the city...
Roberts Otakar Batlička Owen Garriott Palden Thondup Namgyal Paul Flaherty Paul Horowitz PaulTibbets Percy Jones Pertti Kärkkäinen Phil Karn Qaboos bin Said...