The auction will take place in New York on June 5. There is nothing else like this out there.’Īlso in the sale are four photos, a Mohawk watch, a bombers patch, 13 badges and uniform pins and an almost unused AAF cloth chart of the East China Sea, Japan and South China Sea previously owned by 2nd Lt Gackenback ‘It shows an iconic moment in history, of which this is the only privately taken photograph. ‘This poignant photograph has never been published. ‘Russ kept hold of the photo until the 1990s when he sold it, along with other memorabilia from the raid, to a private collector in the U.S who has had it ever since. ‘There were official photographs of the explosion but this is the only personal photograph that was taken. At the time they were at about 30,000ft and 12 miles from the blast. ‘As his plane banked away from the blast he took the camera out and snapped this shot. He is best known as the pilot who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Russ was not supposed to have taken his personal camera onboard but he did. (23 February 1915 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. But those who were still alive were singing the school song for as long as.
IS THE ENOLA GAY BOMBER ALIVE FULL
‘The plane was full of scientists and journalists who were there to study and report on the blast. saw a little more than most he got a glimpse of the Enola Gay bomber. Tom Lamb, from auctioneers Bonhams, said: ‘Russ was the navigator onboard Necessary Evil, one of two planes accompanying Enola Gay on the bombing raid.
When the B-29 entered service in 1944, it was one of the largest aircraft in all of World War II. The B-29 Superfortress was a 4-engine, propeller-driven bomber aircraft and was one of the most advanced aircraft in World War II. On August 15 Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan, effectively ending the Second World War. Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber aircraft manufactured in 1945. The story of the Enola Gay actually starts before the outbreak of the War in the Pacific. The History of the Plane That Devastated Japan.
She would soon serve an important purpose that was aimed at finally putting an end to the war. The bombers primary target was the city of Hiroshima, located on the deltas of southwestern Honshu Island facing the Inland Sea. Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress, was placed into service in May of 1945, toward the end of the Second World War.
Destroyed: A fire engine in Hiroshima left twisted and burnt out by the atomic bomb In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan.