Pilot of Enola Gay dies

Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. died yesterday at the age of 92. Here is his obituary in the New York Times.

And here are Spencer Warren’s comments for VFR:

By his skill and courage, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. developed the tactics, directed modifications in the new, giant B-29 Super Fortress bombers, chose and trained the crew, and commanded the mission that successfully dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. He was chosen for this mission because he was deemed the best pilot of heavy bombers in the Army Air Force. His role was crucial to the ultimate success of the Manhattan Project which created the atom bom. He and his crew, along with the crew that dropped the Nagasaki bomb, forced Japan’s unconditional surrender and thereby saved hundreds of thousands of American lives, including, quite possibly, my father’s life. To his dying day, when asked how he felt about his historic mission, he said he would do it all over again under the same circumstances. Young people, he said, did not understand war.

Brig. Gen. Tibbets died yesterday, aged 92, at his home in Columbus, Ohio. His autobiography, The Tibbets Story (which has been published under a number of different titles), reveals a strong man of very keen intelligence whose integrity and resolve are imprinted on every page. The reader easily discerns why he was entrusted with this, the ultimate mission in U.S. military history.

Reader Alec H. sends this excerpt from Studs Terkel’s interview of Paul Tibbets in 2002:

ST: One big question. Since September 11, what are your thoughts? People talk about nukes, the hydrogen bomb.

PT: Let’s put it this way. I don’t know any more about these terrorists than you do, I know nothing. When they bombed the Trade Centre I couldn’t believe what was going on. We’ve fought many enemies at different times. But we knew who they were and where they were. These people, we don’t know who they are or where they are. That’s the point that bothers me. Because they’re gonna strike again, I’ll put money on it. And it’s going to be damned dramatic. But they’re gonna do it in their own sweet time. We’ve got to get into a position where we can kill the bastards. None of this business of taking them to court, the hell with that. I wouldn’t waste five seconds on them.

ST: What about the bomb? Einstein said the world has changed since the atom was split.

PT: That’s right. It has changed.

ST: And Oppenheimer knew that.

PT: Oppenheimer is dead. He did something for the world and people don’t understand. And it is a free world.

ST: One last thing, when you hear people say, “Let’s nuke ‘em,” “Let’s nuke these people,” what do you think?

PT: Oh, I wouldn’t hesitate if I had the choice. I’d wipe ‘em out. You’re gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we’ve never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn’t kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the shit: “You’ve killed so many civilians.” That’s their tough luck for being there.

By the way, Studs Terkel, who was born May 16, 1912 (three years before Paul Tibbets), is still alive. About being born one month after the Titanic disaster, he once said: “As the Titanic went down, I came up…”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 02, 2007 08:29 PM | Send