Enola Gay Chronology

18 May 45 44-86292 delivered to U.S. Army Air Forces at Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Factory, Omaha, Nebraska.

14 Jun 45 Ferried to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, by pilot-in-command, Capt. Robert A. Lewis.

27 Jun 45 Departs Wendover for South Pacific with 11-man crew

6 Jul 45 Arrives at Guam, where additional modifications to the bomb bay are made, then flies on to Tinian Island in the Marianas.

12 Jul 45 Resumes training.

5 Aug 45 44-86292 formally named "Enola Gay" after Col. Paul Tibbets' mother. Ground crew works feverishly to prepare it for the next day's mission.

6 Aug 5 Departs at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan. The atomic bomb is released over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. local time. The aircraft returns to Tinian at 2:58 p.m., twelve hours and thirteen minutes after takeoff.

9 Aug 45 Flight report and operations order indicate that Enola Gay flies as weather plane on the Nagasaki atomic mission.

6 Nov 45 Departs Tinian for Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico where most of the 509th is based after the Japanese surrender.

29 Apr 46 Flown to Kwajalein Island by Col. Tibbets for "Operation Crossroads" nuclear tests.

24 Jul 46 Bearing "Operation Crossroads" special insignia, flown to Davis- Monthan Army Air Field AZ for storage.

3 Jul 49 Retrieved from storage and flown to Orchard Place Army Air Field (now O'Hare International Airport) near Chicago by Colonel Tibbets. Formally accepted by the Smithsonian Institution for the National Air Museum.

12 Jan 52 Flown to Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, for temporary storage.

2 Dec 53 Flown from Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland and placed in storage.

10 Aug 60 Workers begin disassembling Enola Gay.

21 Jul 61 Moved overland to National Air Museum's storage facility in Suitland MD.

5 Dec 84 National Air and Space Museum crews begin restoration.

22 Nov 94 Forward fuselage moved from Suitland MD to the National Air and Space Museum.