NASM Announces National Tour
For Enola Gay
Famous Airplane Will Fly Again,
Thanks To Extensive, Secret
Renovation
The National Air and Space Museum made a
surprising announcement Thursday. In honor of the
65th anniversary of the end of WWII, the NASM staff
has been secretly preparing the B-29 Enola Gay to
make her airworthy for a commemorative flight across
the United States. The tour will begin in June and run
through August. After the tour, the plane will be
disassembled into large pieces that will be shipped by
a special train from the final tour stop back to the
Udvar-Hazy Center, which is at Dulle s Airport in
Washington, DC. The announcement is being made to
enable the warbird community as a whole to modify
the airshow schedule so that other WWII aircraft will
be able to participate in the historic event.
This will be a one-way trip that will be long-
remembered by the warbird and historical community.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director
Gen. John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret),made the surprise
joint announcement at a news conference at the
Udvar-Hazy Center Thursday. The media release
indicated Dailey would be talking about the building of
another hangar at the Center to house more
aerospace artifacts, such as the famous Memphis
Belle. That B-17F was recently “recalled” by the USAF
Museum from its previous home on Mud Island in
Memphis, TN. But instead the media were surprised
with the Enola Gay announcement.
The itinerary will take the famous B-29 to some
thirteen airports from one coast to the other. Since the
B-29 will not be carrying bombs (or an A-bomb like
she did in August, 1945), she will be able to make
trips of several hundred miles at a time as she works
her way across the Nation. Some of the stops are at
unlikely places, but because the time of the flight will
correspond with part of the summer airshow season,
towns that are not on the airshow circuit become
logical choices for stops on the tour. The Enola Gay
will spend between two and four days at each stop,
depending upon the size of the crowds expected, and
to give the crew time to rest and maybe do a little fine-
tuning and/or tinkering with the B-29.
The stop at Omaha, NE will be special, because the
Enola Gay, while designed by Boeing, was one of the
531 B-29 Superfortresses manufactured by the Glenn
Martin Aircraft Company in Omaha. Col. Paul Tibbets,
her chief pilot, picked her off the assembly line
himself, and named her “Enola Gay,” in honor of his
mother.
The stop at Salt Lake City, UT will include a special
recognition of the crew of the Enola Gay, and every
other B-29 crew in the 509th Composite Bomb Group.
B-29 pilots trained for their top-secret bombing
mission at Wendover Air Force Base (now closed),
about 60 miles from Salt Lake City.
The anniversary tour was conceived when the Enola
Gay was undergoing a complete restoration that
began in the 1980s. Under the orders of the NASM
administrators, everything on the Enola Gay was
restored to airworthy condition. Wright R-3350 radial
engines were test-run in the Garber facility one at a
time in 2001, and NASM personnel explained to
curious neighbors that the racket the whole
neighborhood had heard a few nights in a row was
caused by blown mufflers on a rented auxiliary
generator that they had to use during a “wiring
problem”. In all, the restoration crew kept the actual
condition of the Enola Gay secret for over ten years.
Exxon Mobil and AeroShell will sponsor the national
tour. Exxon has donated all of the fuel and AeroShell
will donate the oil, and Enola Gay will need lots of
both. "We're proud to be able to give America one
more chance to see this flying piece of history," Dailey
said. "If it wasn't for this airplane, America might not
be the country she is today."
For Enola Gay
Famous Airplane Will Fly Again,
Thanks To Extensive, Secret
Renovation
The National Air and Space Museum made a
surprising announcement Thursday. In honor of the
65th anniversary of the end of WWII, the NASM staff
has been secretly preparing the B-29 Enola Gay to
make her airworthy for a commemorative flight across
the United States. The tour will begin in June and run
through August. After the tour, the plane will be
disassembled into large pieces that will be shipped by
a special train from the final tour stop back to the
Udvar-Hazy Center, which is at Dulle s Airport in
Washington, DC. The announcement is being made to
enable the warbird community as a whole to modify
the airshow schedule so that other WWII aircraft will
be able to participate in the historic event.
This will be a one-way trip that will be long-
remembered by the warbird and historical community.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director
Gen. John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret),made the surprise
joint announcement at a news conference at the
Udvar-Hazy Center Thursday. The media release
indicated Dailey would be talking about the building of
another hangar at the Center to house more
aerospace artifacts, such as the famous Memphis
Belle. That B-17F was recently “recalled” by the USAF
Museum from its previous home on Mud Island in
Memphis, TN. But instead the media were surprised
with the Enola Gay announcement.
The itinerary will take the famous B-29 to some
thirteen airports from one coast to the other. Since the
B-29 will not be carrying bombs (or an A-bomb like
she did in August, 1945), she will be able to make
trips of several hundred miles at a time as she works
her way across the Nation. Some of the stops are at
unlikely places, but because the time of the flight will
correspond with part of the summer airshow season,
towns that are not on the airshow circuit become
logical choices for stops on the tour. The Enola Gay
will spend between two and four days at each stop,
depending upon the size of the crowds expected, and
to give the crew time to rest and maybe do a little fine-
tuning and/or tinkering with the B-29.
The stop at Omaha, NE will be special, because the
Enola Gay, while designed by Boeing, was one of the
531 B-29 Superfortresses manufactured by the Glenn
Martin Aircraft Company in Omaha. Col. Paul Tibbets,
her chief pilot, picked her off the assembly line
himself, and named her “Enola Gay,” in honor of his
mother.
The stop at Salt Lake City, UT will include a special
recognition of the crew of the Enola Gay, and every
other B-29 crew in the 509th Composite Bomb Group.
B-29 pilots trained for their top-secret bombing
mission at Wendover Air Force Base (now closed),
about 60 miles from Salt Lake City.
The anniversary tour was conceived when the Enola
Gay was undergoing a complete restoration that
began in the 1980s. Under the orders of the NASM
administrators, everything on the Enola Gay was
restored to airworthy condition. Wright R-3350 radial
engines were test-run in the Garber facility one at a
time in 2001, and NASM personnel explained to
curious neighbors that the racket the whole
neighborhood had heard a few nights in a row was
caused by blown mufflers on a rented auxiliary
generator that they had to use during a “wiring
problem”. In all, the restoration crew kept the actual
condition of the Enola Gay secret for over ten years.
Exxon Mobil and AeroShell will sponsor the national
tour. Exxon has donated all of the fuel and AeroShell
will donate the oil, and Enola Gay will need lots of
both. "We're proud to be able to give America one
more chance to see this flying piece of history," Dailey
said. "If it wasn't for this airplane, America might not
be the country she is today."
Itinerary: Andrews Air Force Base in DC Philadelphia, PA Richmond, VA Indianapolis, IN Lawrence, KS. Ft. Leavenworth, KS Omaha, NE Odessa, TX Longmont, CO Salt Lake City, UT Davis/Woodland/ Winters, CA Astoria, OR Yakima, WA |
