![crew of enola gay suicide crew of enola gay suicide](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/enola-gay.jpg)
![crew of enola gay suicide crew of enola gay suicide](http://theflightblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Enola-Gay.png)
Van Kirk completed his military service in August 1946 with the rank of major. His skill and professionalism ensured the Enola Gay arrived at the drop point a mere 15 seconds after the initially planned time, quite an accomplishment given technological and logistical limitations during WWII. 6, the Enola Gay, crewed by Van Kirk, Tibbets and 10 others, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Van Kirk, a captain at the time, was only 24 years old. The 509th Composite Group was the predecessor to the 509th Bomb Wing, which is stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.īefore the mission over Japan, Tibbets told Van Kirk the group had been chosen for a top-secret bombing mission that might end the war. One crewman, a Major Ferebee ihad a nervous breakdown after the. the Japanese piloted suicide bomb powered by an early jet engine. Did the pilots of the Enola Gay the WW2 bomber commit suicide Taking the question simply as it is asked - the answer is, no. his path to joining the crews of both the Enola Gay (Hiroshima) and. Theodore Van Kirk was a vital member of a historic unit, the unit from which the 509th Bomb Wing was born, and his contributions to American military history and to Allied victory in World War II will forever be remembered."Ī veteran of 58 World War II combat missions, Van Kirk was selected to be a member of the 509th Composite Group by the 509th's commander, Col. of the b-29 Superfortress Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on. was a member of the flight crew on both atomic bomb missions against Japan. "Team Whiteman and the nation have lost a great patriot," said Brig. Theodore Van Kirk, the last surviving crew member of the Enola Gay, and the navigator on the famous B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, died Monday in Stone Mountain, Georgia.