ENOLA GAY CREW (PAUL W. TIBBETS) - DOCUMENT SIGNED 11/14/1994 CO-SIGNED BY: ENOLA GAY CREW (THEODORE VAN KIRK), ENOLA GAY CREW (MORRIS JEPPSON) - HFSID 303870

ENOLA GAY CREW: PAUL TIBBETS, THEODORE VAN KIRK and MORRIS JEPPSON
Three crew members from the first atomic bombing sign a certificate explaining the mission.
Document signed: "Paul Tibbets/11-14-94", "Dutch Van Kirk/Navigator - Enola Gay/Hiroshima 6 Aug. 1945", "Morris Jeppson/Weapon Test Officer/Enola Gay mission/6 Aug. 1945", 1 page, 11x8½. Five-paragraph, official-looking document headed "By Order of President Truman," explaining and justifying the mission. On 6 August, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay, a specially modified B-29 named after Tibbets' mother, released the first atomic weapon. "Little Boy," a 9,000 pound uranium-235 core-fissionable atomic bomb exploded 1,890 feet over Hiroshima, Japan's seventh largest city. 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. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. US Army Air Force Colonel PAUL TIBBETS (1915-2007), later an Air Force general, was responsible for the organization, training and command of the world's first nuclear strike force. On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, Colonel Tibbets piloted the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named after his mother, on its mission to drop the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. MORRIS R. JEPPSON (1922-2010), on his first and only combat mission, was the Weapons Test Officer on the Enola Gay responsible for arming the bomb in flight. On the morning of August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets lifted off from Tinian Island on its mission to drop the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb killed 66,000 and injured 69,000 people, not including long-term victims of radiation exposure. However, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 9) hastened the surrender of Japan, ending WWII. THEODORE VAN KIRK (1921-2014) was the navigator of the Enola Gay during the world's first atomic bombing over Hiroshima, Japan. Before this, he flew 58 B-17 bomber missions over occupied France and Germany before returning to the United States as a navigational instructor. He left the Army Air Corps a major and went on hold various positions in DuPont for 35 years. Fine condition.