ENOLA GAY CREW (GEORGE R. CARON) - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 202433

ENOLA GAY CREW: GEORGE R. CARON
12x8 color photo of the Enola Gay, the plane to drop the first atomic bomb used in wartime on Hiroshima, signed by tail gunner Caron, the first man to see the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima
Photograph signed: "George R. Caron/tail gunner". Color, 12x8. George R. Caron (1919-1995) was the tail-gunner, of the specially modified B-29 bomber Enola Gay. On the morning of August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay lifted off from Tinian Island; its special payload: "Little Boy," a 9,000 pound uranium-235 core-fissionable atomic bomb. At 8:16 a.m., the bomb (which descended from the plane by parachute) exploded 1,890 feet over Hiroshima, Japan's seventh largest city. Seated in the rear of the plane, Caron was the first to see the mushroom cloud. He 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. Over 78,000 people were killed by the searing heat and gamma rays, and the city, which had been home to a garrison of 150,000 Japanese troops, was virtually destroyed. This action, and the dropping of another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki three days later, was credited with hastening the end of World War II. The Enola Gay is pictured on Tinian Island in September 1945, a month after dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The "Black Arrow" insignia was put back on the rudder (visible at top right). All the Enola Gay's missions had been flown with a "Circle R" insignia borrowed from another group. Fine condition.