Paul Tibbets

Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr.

Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (born February 23, 1915 in Quincy, Illinois) was the pilot of the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb.

Tibbets is the son of Paul Warfield Tibbets and Enola Gay Tibbets (née Haggard). On February 25, 1937, Paul enlisted as a flying cadet in the Army Air Corps at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. On August 5, 1945 Colonel Paul Tibbets formally named the B-29 Aircraft 44-86292 Enola Gay after his mother (she was named after the heroine, Enola Gay, of a novel her father had liked). On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay departed with Tibbets at the controls at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan. The atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time.

In 1959, Col. Tibbets was promoted to Brigadier General. He retired from the U.S. Air Force on August 31, 1966.

In the '60s, Tibbets was posted as military attaché in India, but this posting was rescinded after all political parties in India protested his presence. After that, he worked for Executive Jet Aviation, a Columbus, Ohio-based air taxi company, and was president from 1976 until he retired in 1987.

Although Tibbets was born in Illinois, he was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his father was a confections wholesaler. The family was listed there in the 1920 U.S. Federal Population Census. In about 1927, the family moved to Florida.

Tibbets married his wife, Andrea, in about 1953 or 1954.

Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets, IV, as of 2005 is a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, flying a B-2 Spirit for the 509th Bomb Wing, the same unit in which his grandfather served.

Tibbets has been interviewed extensively by Mike Harden of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, and profiles have appeared in the newspaper on anniversaries of the first dropping of an atomic bomb.

Tibbets generally expresses no regret regarding the decision to drop the bomb. His website gives his perspective on the events.

Awards and Decorations

• Distinguished Service Cross
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Air Medal
• Purple Heart
• Legion of Merit
• Air Force Commendation Medal
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
• American Defense Service Medal
• American Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• Air Force Outstanding Unit Award