Return Of The Enola Gay

by Paul W. Tibbets

First edition.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, Aviation, Military Fiction, Military History

339 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 1998

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still to this day attempting to fill in gaps in my very poor public school education (not sure if the schools failed me or if I just missed many major opportunities to study and learn but.....) I do try and read as much non-fiction/auto bio books as I can. The Return of the Enola Gay is a great read and really made me think and feel what our country must have been grappling with at the time.

To drop a bomb or not drop a bomb! HUGE decisions for a country and what a massive "order" for a military pilot to carry out.

I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Paul Tibbets at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and he autographed books and gave a lecture as well.

Many decades later, I feel he still struggles morally with what he did. He, like each and every one of us would, rationalizes what he did, what the United States did and how it worked out.

Believe me, I am not judging him, the US etc....I am glad I did not have to make the decision, fly the plane etc. I loved getting his perspective as the pilot of the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima.

GREAT BOOK and very intriguing subject.

[Jon Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased my copy of this book in hardcover at a Friends of the LSU Library used book sale in March 2022. While pawing through a large pile of books, I came across this one, and found that it was signed by the author, Paul Tibbets, the man who piloted the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in the closing days of WW2. It was signed to "Miles and Mary Pollard", whoever they are. I am assuming this book came to the LSU library from an estate sale or something similar. Anyway, I was pretty excited to find this signed copy, especially one in such good condition. When it came time for me to pay for the book, I pointed out to the guy at the cash box that it was signed by Paul Tibbets, the atom bomb pilot. His response was a bored "Huh. That'll be five bucks." So much for his appreciation of history. In terms of my appreciation of history, I'm giving this book 5 stars. It was a very engaging read from start to finish. Tibbets had an interesting life. He was fascinated by airplanes starting as a child, and changed paths from studying to be a physician to joining the US Army Air Corps prior to WW2. He had quite a career in WW2, all of it in heavy bombers, starting with his pioneering daylight bombing missions over Europe in a B-17. The conventional wisdom was that daylight bombing was impractical - too many planes would be shot down. This didn't turn out to be the case. Then he went to north Africa as part of the US and British invasion force, then returned to the US to be a test pilot for the new B-29 bomber. This led to his most famous assignment as leader of the air group tasked with delivering the atomic bomb. I like Tibbets' writing style. He covered the broad strokes of history while also sprinkling in little nuggets of detailed information. An example is how he tackled the problem of not having the plane that dropped an atomic bomb be destroyed in the massive explosion when the bomb detonated. It involved a fast diving turn away after bomb release to get to a minimum of 8 miles away from the point of detonation - that was the best guess the Manhattan Project physicists had as to how far away the plane needed to be to survive. Another: when the Hiroshima bomb detonated, the wave of intense radiative energy that struck the plane interacted with the fillings in Tibbets' teeth, causing him to have the taste of lead on his tongue. Yikes. The book also covered Tibbets' post-WW2 career in the USAF and civilian aviation. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Five out of five stars.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall an alright book, but got pretty repetitive towards the end - repeating whole sections/paragraphs. Could have used a copy editor. Writing for the rest of the book was very good tho. Not sure if he used a ghost writer - if not, Paul Tibbets was an excellent writer in addition to (by all accounts) an excellent pilot.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read hundreds, maybe a thousand or more books on military history and this is one of the best. Paul Tibbits articulately documents his life with focus on the mission for which he is known. He writes in understandable, layman’s language. The last 2 chapters and epilogue should be history books.

[Three · Rating 1 out of 5]

You'd think a celebrated war hero could get a ghost writer to tell his story in a more compelling manner. The writing is repetitive (literally; chapter 44 and chapter 42 are the same chapter--not sure how that got passed the editors) the storytelling meandering, full of impertinent details, and buried the lead. The delivery is flat.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It helps to have some familiarity with WWII history to be able to jump from story to story, location to location, and understand what was going on around the time and events that he tells. Very interesting life.

[Tom Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My interest in this book is beause my father was part of the ground crew on this mission. Reading the book brought back memories my dad shared with us as children. I enjoyed the book, I thought it was well written and comprehensive.

[Tom S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you regret what you did?
No.

[Relstuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The autobiography of Paul Tibbets. The pilot of the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb in Japan.

Prior to this assignment that took him into the atomic aerial efforts he flew some of the first B17s into England. And later flew the lead plane in daylight bombing runs in Europe proving to the English and the Germans daylight bombing raids were effective and worthwhile. His recollections of this time were fascinating as he discusses the difficulties both physical and mental of their missions. Interesting to note one disappointing thing for him of flying so high they had to use oxygen masks was his inability to smoke his pipe on long missions.

Prior to operation Torch he flew General Eisenhower to Gibraltar in a B-17. The plane lacked proper extra seating for passengers so they rigged up a 2 by 4 board for Gen Eisenhower to sit on and watch the flight out the front window. They had a nice chat on the flight.

A personality conflict that came to the fore during a briefing on a planned bombing attack in Africa with a proud higher ranked officer resulted in this officer taking an intense dislike to Tibbets. As a result to protect him he was transferred back to the States and eventually ended up being assigned to command the atomic mission.

As commander he had to figure out a way to drop the bomb that was accurate and allowed the crew to get out of the eight mile blast radius within the 43 seconds it would take for the bomb to explode after release.

Tibbets defends the use of the bomb and explains why with the strategic situation he believes using it was the right thing to do. He believes its use saved many lives. However, he also notes that President Truman stated to him that he should never let anyone blame him for his part in delivering the bomb as the decision to send the bomb was a presidential decision.

Not onely does Tibbets relate his war experience he also details his life in the Air Force after WWII and talks about why he believes he was not promoted beyond one star (Air Force politics and rivalries including the fact he did not attend West Point as many of the higher ranking people had).

Overall an interesting read that follows how the 97th Bomber Wing went to war in WWII and their exploits during Tibbets' time, how the atomic bomb came to be dropped, why it was the right choice, and a brief amount towards the end about the controversy over the Smithsonian institute trying to place the Enola Gay on display with with historically revisionist info that was favorable towards Japan and negative about America.

[Christian Godart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only true account of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Col Tibbetts does not get into the decision to make or drop the bomb but he gives a great insight of the preparations and delivery of the "gadget" (what they called it).

[Guzclues]

This one is autographed by Paul Tibbets on 12-9-01 at the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, LA.