Paul Tibbets dies at 92

YF19pilot

YF19pilot

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKN0143239820071101?rpc=401&
Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the U.S. bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan on August 6, 1945, died on Thursday at age 92, a newspaper reported.

Tibbets, who died at his home in Columbus, Ohio, had suffered strokes and was ill from heart failure, the Columbus Dispatch said in its online edition.

An experienced pilot who had flown some of the first bombing missions over Germany during World War Two, Tibbets was a 30-year-old colonel commanding the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress bomber named for his mother.
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Sad to see a piece of history die...
 
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nannocrob said:
Uhhh... He was 92. Thank God!
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I seriously hope you mean thank goodness he was able to live to the ripe old age of 92.:mad:

He's one of those underappreciated heroes everyone knows the Enola Gay but almost noone recognizez the guy who flew it. RIP Sir.
 
Sad news indeed. I was an aviation major when I went to Ohio State so naturally I heard a lot about this guy. What a lot of people don't know is that he is largely responsible for the proliferation of private jets we see today. One of the greats of aviation is no longer with us. :(
 
If ever there was a place for a beer smiley with a sad place, this would be one of them.
 
There's a good clip going around on the news of an interview with him.

He basically said about the nuke that war sucks, but many, many, many more lives were saved that day than taken and that he slept well at night.
 
Viper007Bond said:
There's a good clip going around on the news of an interview with him.

He basically said about the nuke that war sucks, but many, many, many more lives were saved that day than taken and that he slept well at night.
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Though it must be said, when you consider the lives taken divided by either
:time
:number of weapons dropped
:number of aircraft required

and other such metrics then it quickly becomes very disturbing.
 
Viper007Bond said:
There's a good clip going around on the news of an interview with him.

He basically said about the nuke that war sucks, but many, many, many more lives were saved that day than taken and that he slept well at night.
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even though i hate civilian bombings with a unending passion, i think i'll admit he was probably right.

I hate to see any WWII veteran go, but then its not like the History channel hasn't documented interviews with almost all of them by now :)
 
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