The plane which dropped the first atomic bomb on a city, Hiroshima (below), on 6 August 1945 was known as the Enola Gay and was under the command of Colonel Paul Tibbets (above). The plane had been named by him after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Interviewed after the mission, Tibbets confessed that he was embarrassed at having attached his mother’s name to such a fateful mission. The bomb that was dropped was nicknamed Little Boy.
