ENOLA GAY CREW (GEORGE R. CARON) - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/21/1980 - HFSID 254674

ENOLA GAY CREW: GEORGE CARON
ALS explaining that his revenues from souvenir sales were donated to the Confederate Air Force.
Autograph Letter signed: "George R. Caron", 2 pages (front and verso), 6x9. Denver, Colorado, 1980 July 21. To "Dear Jerry", in full: "I am returning your $5 as I know of no 8x10 crew picture in color. Since the money I raise goes to the Confederate Air Force I'm afraid I couldn't afford to give 8x10 color pictures, along with the 8x10 mailing envelope and postage. I'm enclosing a couple of slips describing the items I've been sending. Possibly it's the Enola Gay & crew pictures you are referring to. Some time ago, an autograph magazine wrote of them for $5 donations to the CAF. I honored the requests at considerable cost to me until I found out the Enola Gay picture was in the market for $100. I decided to raise the donation which cut down considerably on sales but my costs also went down & so did my time. Thanks for your inquiry. Sincerely". George R. "Bob" Caron (1919-1995) was the tail gunner on the Enola Gay on its historic mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Seated in the rear of the B-29, he was the first to see the mushroom cloud. Caron had been given a camera at the last moment and snapped a roll of photographs as the mushroom cloud ascended. His photographs of the explosion were printed on millions of leaflets that were dropped over Japan the next day. Caron died in 1995. The Confederate Air Force, which changed its name to the Commemorative Air Force in 2002 to avoid confusion about its mission, buys and restores historic combat aircraft to flying condition. At last tally it owned over 140 aircraft, at least 100 of which are in flying condition. The Texas-based non-profit organization operates in 27 states and 4 foreign countries, and includes in its collection mostly US aircraft but also a Japanese Zero and a Russian MIG-17. Normal mailing folds. Stamp on verso (shows through to front). Otherwise, fine condition.