Paul tibbets died

United States Air Force general (1915–2007)

This article is about the WWII United States Air Force pilot. For his grandson, see Paul W. Tibbets IV. For the American animator, see Paul Tibbitt.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (23 February 1915 – 1 November 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force.

He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Tibbets enlisted in the United States Army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot in 1938.

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After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In February 1942, he became the commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group, which was equipped with the Boeing B-17.

In July 1942, the 97th became the first heavy bombardment group to be deployed as part of the