He was the pilot of the Enola Gay (which was named after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets) and thus was the man who carried out the command to drop the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, making him the first person to detonate an atomic bomb in warfare.
Tibbets held a unique distinction in the annals of history.
Tibbets of the Army Air Forces standing next to the Enola Gay
