It was not until August 14 that Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender. Even a second atomic attack three days later on the city of Nagasaki failed to bring an immediate end to the hostilities. Yet, this was not enough to persuade the Japanese leadership to surrender. The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay took off from the Mariana Islands on August 6, 1945, bound for Hiroshima, Japan, where, with the dropping of the atomic bomb, it heralded a new and terrible concept of warfare. After the war, Supreme Allied Headquarters estimated that 129,558 were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the blast. Tibbets and his crew looked back to behold an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud boiling into the upper atmosphere. A blast of blinding light engulfed the crew as the plane made a radical turn to escape the explosion. At 8:16 the bomb was released and detonated a few thousand feet above ground. The Enola Gay arrived over the city at 7:25 a.m. The remainder of the trip to their target was unmarred by any Japanese opposition as the bomb was armed and prepared for release. Their objective was a city of approximately 350,000 located on the southwestern portion of Japan's largest island and as yet untouched by the massive bombing raids carried on by US forces. Painstakingly researched, the story behind the decision to send the Enola Gay to bomb Hiroshima is told through firsthand sources. There was talk that Sweeney should be court-martialed for disobeying orders, but nothing came of it. A detailed history of the World War II American B-29 Enola Gay, its crew, and the controversial mission to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
The military did not push the Bockscar story or decorate the men who flew the missionunlike what happened with the Enola Gay’s crew.
Tibbets announced to his specially trained crew that they carried the world's first atomic bomb and that their target was Hiroshima. Unlike the Enola Gay that had bombed Hiroshima, Bockscar was not greeted on its return with fanfare and praise. Approximately four hours into the flight, Col. In the early morning darkness of Augthe B-29 "Enola Gay" piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets lifted off the runway at Tinian Island and flew into history.