Warbird Information Exchange

This is a great discussion thread. Is there any chance of getting the rear bomb-bay fuel tanks for the plane?

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Thank you again Taigh for the photos, the profiles of the Enola Gay on various times in her career and answers. Great stuff.

One more ? if I may:

The photo from the bomb bay, the photo right after the one showing the NASM fabricated bomb bracing showing a green wooden box marked "no step" and a green wooden "bench". Were the box and the "bench" Silverplate mods? Perhaps the bench where the bomb was armed?

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I imagine the fat man/Pumpkin (with red for the atomic strikes, black for pumpkins) symbols, and some of the other nose art on the other 509 aircraft were added within a few days/weeks of the Nagaskai mission. I note especially that "Up and Atom" and the mushroom cloud on Bock's Car must have been hastily added nose art after the secret was out.

The green wood box with the NO STEP I believe is the stock location for the SCR-718 radio altimeter. The wood box being important to protect the receiver/transmitter as this is a walkway for armorers loading the bombs or crew traversing the bomb bay.

The wood platform, if I recall correctly, was made by Bernie at NASM. The brackets were there but the platform was missing. Bernie made one to fit and found out later that the original was made of metal and was lower. This was used to load the gun inside of the Little Boy bomb which I believe was done after takeoff and a safe distance from the islands.

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To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

I wish there was. i found that one set that was pretty tough but the owner did not want to part with them. I turned the information to that same NASM curator but I doubt he ever followed up.

There is one other possibility but it may be a long shot because it involves one government agency giving something up to another government agency. It's worth a shot anyway as the tanks are the only big items missing.

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To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

What I like about this series of photos, is that you can see what I believe to be "Bockscar" #77 off in the background. There is no red band painted around the mid fuselage section on this date? Was it added on the 7th or 8th of August??

Also, from a scale modelers perspective, the chromate yellow color of the nose landing gear is evident. I am planning on building a diorama of this scene.

Wonder why the NASM didn't paint the nose strut in the Zinc Chromate color...?

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

A few shots from my visits (and a friend of mine) to Garber and the NASM...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

The temporary display at the downtown museum...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Thanks for posting those.

I assume this is the Little Boy bomb rack that the NASM manufactured? Great reference photo, I'll end up making one of these

Great Pics, and info..keep them coming!

Yes, they made it in the restoration shop. The original bomb rack was removed from the plane by the military when the aircraft was sent to storage. It might have been removed even earlier as the plane was configured for the Plutonium bomb (different rack?) during the follow-on A-Bomb test...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Because I'm a rivet counter at heart, I was looking at how the painted letters of "Enola Gay" appear to have changed over the years. There's the original application, then it looks as if someone painted over them to make them look better, making the letters in "Gay" look thicker to me. As she appears today, I assume NASM gently sanded off the top layers to reveal the original brush strokes because the paint looks thinner and the letters are not as thick in width.

This is a great thread - any others it should be merged with to create a "sticky"? Great stuff!

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Because I'm a rivet counter at heart, I was looking at how the painted letters of "Enola Gay" appear to have changed over the years. There's the original application, then it looks as if someone painted over them to make them look better, making the letters in "Gay" look thicker to me. As she appears today, I assume NASM gently sanded off the top layers to reveal the original brush strokes because the paint looks thinner and the letters are not as thick in width.

This is a great thread - any others it should be merged with to create a "sticky"? Great stuff!

Ken

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

If I remember correctly (from what I read), the NASM gently removed the top coats to reveal the original lettering. I always thought they should have touched up the spots that went all the way to bare metal since (I'm guessing) this was caused by the removal process.
I also read that they (the NASM) left the original Stars and Bars on the wings and fuselage, coated them with a sealer, and painted over them with new paint...

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Would anyone know why Lt Jacob Beser's (RADAR/ECM Operator) name is not included here? I'm currently reading a book about the two Atomic missions, he is the only crewman to have flown on both aircraft that dropped the bombs.