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Pilot of Hiroshima bomber dead

Columbus: Paul Tibbets, 92, the pilot and commander of B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died on Thursday, a spokesman said.

Tibbets died at his Columbus home after a two month decline in his health, stemming from a variety of health problems, said Gerry Newhouse, who was Tibbets’ manager for a decade and a friend.

Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Mr. Newhouse said.

“It’s the end of an era … A lot of those guys are gone now.”

Tibbets’ historic mission on the plane, Enola Gay, named after his mother, marked the beginning of the end of World War II.

On August 6, 1945, the plane and its crew of 14 dropped the five-tonne ‘Little Boy’ bomb over Hiroshima, which killed 70,000 to 10,0000 people and injured countless others.

Three days later, the U.S. dropped another nuclear bomb on Nagasaki. — AP

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Pilot of Hiroshima bomber dead

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