The plane that ended WWII. Beautiful restoration of one of the most historic aircraft of all time. The Enola Gay has led a somewhat checkered life. It was dismantled in 1960 and finally put under cover and security at the Smithsonian's Paul Garber facility. Until that time it sat at various storage sites savaged by souvenir hunters, animals, and the weather. About 300,000 man-hours have gone into remedying that neglectful situation, plus researching and undoing a bunch of modifications made to this B-29 after Tinian.Now completely reassembled and proudly displayed at the new Udvar-Hazy Museum at Dulles International Airport, Enola is externally complete. Compared to today's jumbo aircraft it seems kinda small. A variety of avionics and some panel restoration will continue over the next few years... even though the public will not be allowed inside this aircraft.But happily the National Air & Space Museum is planning an interactive virtual tour of the interior to be from the web. Take a look... (4 Pics)
What marvelous pictures these are Dave, if you just sit back and stare at them then look at it knowing exactly what it did can put shivers up your back. I will of course be interested when the web tour is available on line.. :thumb:
That's remarkable, truly remarkable:thumb:. And, like you say Jim, chilling to the core:sad:. But a thought occured to me. How much of the Original plane was savaged and stolen? And how much would need to be left for it to remain 'The Enola Gay', and not almost?:ehm:
Good question Kelly. I can only say I'm sure the restorers considered the same thing, would hope so anyway. Glad you like the pics and I agree it's a lot to take in, the horror unleashed by this little silver bird...
None the less a worthy exhibit. Not only because it dropped the first A-Bomb but because the B-29 itself represents a quantum leap in Aircraft technology over earlier designs. Would love to go across the pond to see it.
Wonder why after all these years the thought of making this sort of a museum? I would have thought that this plane would have been taken out of service just after the war to be preserved for what it is today. Nice story.
Just to add, it looks rather clean, too much like new when it should look like a 60+ year old plane. :botman: (Jim, can we have edit on please?)
I agree, thanks for posting the excellent pictures. It is kind of a strange feeling, considering its mission. It would be very weird to be standing beside someone of Japanese heritage while looking at that plane, wouldn't it? It would probably be equally weird to be standing beside the same person at Pearl Harbor.
