Bomber B-29 Enola Gay

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May 18, 1945		Aircraft 44-86292 delivered to U.S. Army Air Forces at Glenn L. Martin

			Aircraft Factory, Omaha, Nebraska.







June 14, 1945		Aircraft ferried to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, by pilot-in-command 

			Capt. Robert A. Lewis.







June 27, 1945		Aircraft and 11-man crew depart Wendover for South Pacific.







July 6, 1945		Aircraft arrives at Guam, where additional modifications to the bomb bay 

			are made, then flies on to Tinian Island in the Marianas.







July 12, 1945		Aircraft and crew resume training.







Aug. 5, 1945		Aircraft 44-86292 formally named Enola Gay after Col. Paul Tibbets' 

			mother.  Ground crew works feverishly to prepare it for the next day's 

			mission.







Aug. 6, 1945		Enola Gay departs at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan.  The atomic bomb is 

			released over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time.  The aircraft returns to 

			Tinian at 2:58 p.m., twelve hours and thirteen minutes after takeoff.







Aug. 9, 1945		Flight report and operations order indicate that Enola Gay flies as weather 

			plane on the Nagasaki atomic mission.







Sept. 2, 1945		Japan formally surrenders aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo 

			Bay.







Nov. 6, 1945		Enola Gay departs Tinian for Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico where 

			most of the 509th is based after the Japanese surrender.







April 29, 1946		Enola Gay is flown to Kwajalein Island by Col. Tibbets for "Operation 

			Crossroads" nuclear tests.







July 24, 1946		Enola Gay, bearing "Operation Crossroads" special insignia, is flown to 

			Davis-Monthan Army Air Field, Arizona, for storage.







July 3, 1949		Enola Gay is retrieved from storage and flown to Orchard Place Army Air 

			Field (now O'Hare International Airport) near Chicago by Colonel 

			Tibbets.







July 3, 1949		Enola Gay is formally accepted by the Smithsonian Institution for the 

			National Air Museum.







Jan. 12, 1952		Enola Gay is flown to Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, for temporary 



			storage.







Dec. 2, 1953		Enola Gay is flown from Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, to Andrews Air 

			Force Base, Maryland and placed in storage.







Aug. 10, 1960		Workers begin disassembling Enola Gay.







July 21, 1961		Enola Gay is moved overland to National Air Museum's storage facility in 

			Suitland, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.







Dec. 5, 1984		National Air and Space Museum crews begin restoring Enola Gay.





Nov. 22, 1994		Forward fuselage of the Enola Gay is moved from Suitland, Maryland, to 

			the National Air and Space Museum.