You’ve never conceived anything like what we are going to see.” “The blast and the explosion are going to be big as hell. “We are on the way to drop a special weapon on target today, which (happens) to be Hiroshima,” Tibbets told the crew. He went to the back of the aircraft to give the crew a pep talk about the weapon they referred to as the “gimmick.” Tibbets said he did not even confirm the mission to the aircrew until they were en route. The aircrew, maintainers, engineers, suppliers and other support people did not know the intent of the mission or the capability they were creating until after the mission. He used this experience to lead about 1,700 men of the 509th Composite Group for 10 months in preparing the B-29 and crew to successfully complete a secret mission. I knew that airplane better than anybody … at the time.” “I had 11 months of testing the B-29 under my belt. I had the advantage of having had operations with B-17s where I had to do things that were never done before,” Tibbets said.
“I felt that they selected the right guy because I knew damn well that I could do it, and I didn’t know the other guys could. His enthusiasm for wanting to fly an aircraft beyond its known limits allowed him to accumulate about 400 flying hours in the B-29 by the time the decision was made to pursue dropping an atomic bomb. Tibbets said his willingness to push the envelope in new aircraft landed him the job. Frank Armstrong, whom he had worked for in Europe. He was a lieutenant colonel selected over a colonel from Gen. I was the junior of the outfit,” Tibbets said. “They said, 'this is what you are going to do,' and I saluted and said ‘yes, sir.’ I do know that they spent enough time to narrow it down to three people. He said he was “definitely selected,” but only makes educated assumptions about the reason why because he never questioned his superior officers about the assignment. The 88-year-old retiree, who refers to himself as a proud airman, recounted how he got the job of flying the Enola Gay on its famous mission and his approach to accomplishing the mission. He needed to fly high enough with the 10,000-pound atomic bomb to evade anti-aircraft fire and escape the blast and fallout of the explosion. To prepare the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay, Tibbets said he wanted altitude and airspeed, which he got by stripping down the airplane to make it lighter. He also spoke with about 200 people at the Pentagon as he autographed his book. 17 celebration of the centennial of flight. Tibbets spent several days in the nation’s capital attending events leading up to the Dec. WASHINGTON - “Airspeed and altitude” was the flight strategy that positioned the Enola Gay to deliver the first atomic bomb used as a weapon nearly 60 years ago, said the pilot who planned and flew the mission.