What B-29 Superfortress bomber was stationed on Tinian Island?
Enola Gay The Enola Gay ( ) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused unprecedented destruction. "Enola Gay" participated in the second atomic attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead.
Schilling Air Force Base Schilling Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Base located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Salina, Kansas, United States. It was also known as Smoky Hill Air Force Base. During World War II, "Smoky Hill Army Air Field" (AAF) was in the first group United States Army Air Forces bases for training on the B-29 Superfortress aircraft in the summer of 1943. Along with Walker Army Airfield near Victoria, Pratt Army Airfield and Great Bend Army Airfield the initial cadre of the 58th Bombardment Wing was formed. The 58th Bomb Wing was the first B-29 combat wing of World War II and engaged in the first long-range strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands beginning in March 1944 from bases in India.