The pilot of the plane that dropped the world’s first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Paul Tibbets, died today aged 92.
Tibbets died at his home in Columbus Ohio after a two month decline stemming from a variety of health problems, said Gerry Newhouse, a long-time friend.
He had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would give his critics with a focus for their protests, Mr Newhouse said.
Tibbets’ historic mission commanding the B-29 Enola Gay, named after his mother, marked the beginning of the end of World War II. It was the first time man had used nuclear weaponry against fellow man.
It was the morning of August 6, 1945, when the plane and its crew of 14 dropped the five-ton “Little Boy” bomb over Hiroshima.
The blast killed 70,000 to 100,000 people and injured countless others.