Col. Paul Tibbets IS Resting In Peace

What he did was exercise the policy that the best minds of the era thought would end the war. He did it well and the war ended, that is an irrefutable fact.

The horror of the atomic bombs were what caused the Japanese to finally concede defeat. For that action we should remember that the Col. Did his duty and saved the lives of the allies.
 
It sure says something that he requested no funeral and no headstone.

If anyone wants to read a superb book, look for Duty by Bob Greene.
 
The entire story is full of heroes. Many men gave their lives during transport to ultimately place the weapon in Col. Tibbets' custody. He honored them by carrying out the mission.

May all those men rest in peace.
 
More than 800 men (navy) died when the USS Indianapolis was sunk. They had just taken the atomic bomb to Tinian Island and were heading home.Yes, I too recomend the book DUTY.
 
Bob Bement said:
More than 800 men (navy) died when the USS Indianapolis was sunk. They had just taken the atomic bomb to Tinian Island and were heading home.Yes, I too recomend the book DUTY.
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One of the survivors of the Indy sinking is a friend of mine, his wife served in the Air Force Reserves until the 1980's and I served with her, she even deployed to Desert Storm and was one of the oldest there to serve.

My friend has devoted most of his adult life to preserving the memory of those that served on the Indy.
 
Obi Heed Kenobi said:
It sure says something that he requested no funeral and no headstone.
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Because he didn't want to fuel anti-nuke or anti-war protest by providing an event or location.

I've seen countless retellings of the drop, but what I don't get is how did they know that that particular bomber would make it through or was there an escort that history rarely mentions?
 
Pi1otguy said:
Because he didn't want to fuel anti-nuke or anti-war protest by providing an event or location.

I've seen countless retellings of the drop, but what I don't get is how did they know that that particular bomber would make it through or was there an escort that history rarely mentions?
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The B-29 raids had little resistance. They flew at 23,000 feet. There were two (?) camera planes in the group and they were preceded by a weather plane.

The main problem the B-29 bombers had was bombing accuracy from those altitudes. Gen. Hap Arnold had them fly raids at 4000 feet to get better accuracy. THAT led to big loses.
 
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Here's something I didn't realize. Interesting...
In 1976, he was criticized for re-enacting the bombing during an appearance at a Harlingen, Texas, air show. As he flew a B-29 Superfortress over the show, a bomb set off on the runway below created a mushroom cloud.
He said the display "was not intended to insult anybody," but the Japanese were outraged. The U.S. government later issued a formal apology.
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Pi1otguy said:
Because he didn't want to fuel anti-nuke or anti-war protest by providing an event or location.

I've seen countless retellings of the drop, but what I don't get is how did they know that that particular bomber would make it through or was there an escort that history rarely mentions?
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I meant about our society - not about him. It actually speaks more highly of him, in my opinion, as he decided to forgo a monument in favor of keeping a cemetery a peaceful place.
 
Col. Tibbets, rest in Peace and thank you for your service.
 
I should correct that he retired from the Air Force as a Brig. General.

He was a Lt. Colonel when he was given Operation Silver Plate. He had officers who outranked him that resented his group tromping around when they weren't even clued in to what the Top Secret mission was. A couple who went against Tibbets standing on the book had their heads handed to them by the Pentagon.

Truman walked in and everybody stood on their feet. He said, "Sit down, please," and he had a big smile on his face ...

Then he looked at me for 10 seconds and he didn't say anything. And when he finally did, he said, "What do you think?" I said, "Mr President, I think I did what I was told." He slapped his hand on the table and said: "You're damn right you did, and I'm the guy who sent you. If anybody gives you a hard time about it, refer them to me."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,769634,00.html
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mikea said:
The B-29 raids had little resistance. They flew at 23,000 feet. There were two (?) camera planes in the group and they were preceded by a weather plane.
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I haven't confirmed it yet, but on the radio they explained how he did it. They said that he preped Japan over the previous 30 days by ordering a single bomber to fly over Japan and drop only one bomb. The first few days they scrambled their air denfenses, but after seeing it drop only on bomb they later decided it wasn't worth the resources (Japan was low on fuel) to stop one bomb. By the time the Little Boy was dropped they had gotten so used to the single bomber that they didn't think it was worth the effort to stop that one bomb.

Can any one confirm or deny this?
 
mikea said:
The B-29 raids had little resistance. They flew at 23,000 feet. There were two (?) camera planes in the group and they were preceded by a weather plane.

The main problem the B-29 bombers had was bombing accuracy from those altitudes. Gen. Hap Arnold had them fly raids at 4000 feet to get better accuracy. THAT led to big loses.
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One of the other things they ran into up high was the jet stream over Japan - there would be times they would be barely moving.
 
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