Enola Gay Crew Photograph Annotated in the Hand of Paul Tibbets with an Autograph Note.

TIBBETS, Paul W.

Enola Gay Crew Photograph Annotated in the Hand of Paul Tibbets with an Autograph Note.

$1,500.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-152446

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Hand made by the Harcourt Bindery. ~90 days

+$500

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Unique Enola Gay Crew Photograph Annotated in the Hand of Paul Tibbets; With an Autograph Note Explaining His Autograph Policy

Original photograph of the Enola Gay crew, annotated throughout in the hand of Paul Tibbets. Glossy black-and-white vintage photograph depicting the crew of the U.S. Army Air Forces posed in front of their B-29 aircraft. Annotated in blue ink in the hand of pilot Paul W. Tibbets, who has identified most of the individual crew members directly on their respective images but, in keeping with his well-known policy, declined to sign the photograph itself. Accompanied by a yellow Post-it note handwritten and initialed by Tibbets he states, "My policy is 'one autograph' per individual. PW." In fine condition. The photograph measures 8 inches by 10 inches and the note measures 5 inches by 3 inches. Rare and unique.

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (1915 to 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best remembered as the pilot who flew the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which he named for his mother, on the mission that dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. A highly regarded combat pilot who had already flown bombing missions over Europe and North Africa, Tibbets was chosen in 1944 to organize and command the 509th Composite Group, the secret unit trained to deliver the atomic bomb. He personally selected and trained its crews and piloted the Enola Gay on the Hiroshima mission, one of the most consequential events in modern history and a turning point in the Second World War that marked the beginning of the atomic age. In later life Tibbets consistently defended the bombing as having shortened the war and saved lives, and he remained a prominent if controversial figure until his death. Famously protective of his signature, he restricted himself to a single autograph per person.