Enola Gay didn't carry the A-bomb according to this vet!
Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:23 pm
This story appeared in todays local paper. I'll refrane from commenting oin the total absurdity of this. But...........feel free.
EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
Vet disputes A-bomb legend
Salem's Bruce Banks does not think the Enola Gay carried the huge weapon
CAPI LYNN
Statesman Journal
August 6, 2005
Bruce Banks knows what the history books say. The Enola Gay took off from Tinian Island 60 years ago today and dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan.
But he disputes the B-29's role in the mission.
Banks, 80, served at Tinian as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He was one of the first to arrive at the U.S. air base and one of the last to leave.
He says he stood beside the bomb the day it was unloaded and swears that there is no way it would fit in a B-29. He also thinks that one of the two larger aircraft that accompanied the Enola Gay that historic day must have transported the bomb, with the Enola Gay simply acting as a guide.
"I have mentioned my views and observations to a number of people," said Banks, who lives on the outskirts of West Salem, "and it upsets them something fierce and they think I'm sort of a nut."
Robert Heisler has doubts about his friend's theory. They have had many discussions during their weekly pinochle games, and Heisler has written several letters, including one to the television program 60 Minutes, in hopes of prompting some sort of investigation.
There have been no replies.
"Bruce refutes what happened," said Heisler, who was in Europe serving with the Army during the war. "He was there. He's got more inside dope than I do.
"I would just like to know what did happen."
Historians do not back Banks' assertion.
"I have never heard such a tale before," said Dr. James C. Bradford, an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University who edited "Atlas of American Military History."
Banks has never wavered from his convictions, and his family has been supportive of his alternate view.
"He saw what he saw, I'm sure," his wife, Helen, said.
Banks was drafted in 1943, and chose the Marine Corps. With his background as a journeyman machinist at a shipyard, the Marines were eager to make him a mechanic for the 17th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.
He landed at Tinian on July 24, 1944. His job gave him access to a jeep and freedom to roam the island.
"I was a curious young punk," Banks said.
He said he just happened to be on the airfield the day the bomb arrived that following summer. He was among a group of about 20 servicemen who had gathered after it was unloaded.
"We didn't know it was an atomic bomb," Banks said. "It was just a great big bomb.
"We all wondered, 'What the hell are they going to do with it?'"
He stood beside the egg-shaped explosive, raising his arm above his head to get an idea just how big it was.
"I can reach 7 feet, and I was a minimum 6 inches too short to reach the height," Banks said. "I estimated it was 10 feet long.
"The bomb was too big to go in any B-29. The aircraft was just not made for anything that big."
According to National Air and Space Museum archives at the Smithsonian Institution, several B-29s were specially designed for the secret mission.
Code-named "Silverplate," the aircraft were modified by deleting all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing electric propellers and configuring the bomb bay to accommodate the device.
The museum's archives list specifications of the Enola Gay, but no measurements of the bomb-bay doors are given.
Banks said soon after the bomb arrived at Tinian, Navy Seabees dug a pit and installed two hydraulic hoists. The bomb later was hauled out and lowered into the pit. Within a week or so, two white aircraft arrived. He hadn't seen anything like them, and assumed they were British.
"They had only one bomb bay and four engines -- much larger than a B-29," Banks said.
"I saw them back the big aircraft over the pit and shove the bomb in it and close the bomb bay doors, then open it and put the bomb back."
He said observed this from about 150 yards away.
Banks wasn't an eyewitness when Col. Paul Tibbets and his crew took off Aug. 6, 1945, on their way to Hiroshima.
"I maintain the only thing the Enola Gay did was show the other aircraft where to go," Banks said. "It's just too big a bomb to fit in a B-29.
"It's not a figment of my imagination. It's what I saw."
Banks got out of the Marines after serving four years, and went on to have a family and work 37 years as a switchman for Southern Pacific Railroad.
It was years after the war when he began to question, in his mind, what unfolded that summer six decades ago.
"I could not understand why we were covering, why we were telling this story," he said. "There had to be more people than just me that were aware of the size of that bomb.
"Some of them could have been sworn to secrecy, but I wasn't in on it. I wasn't even supposed to be there."
Sixty years later, Heisler would love to be able prove his friend right. He has even thought about writing to the British government and Royal Air Force.
"If their plane actually did drop that bomb, why are they letting the U.S. and Enola Gay get all the credit?" Heisler said. "It seems like this went on awfully long if this isn't what happened.
"Wouldn't this drop a bombshell, so to speak, on the whole thing?"
clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710
EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
Vet disputes A-bomb legend
Salem's Bruce Banks does not think the Enola Gay carried the huge weapon
CAPI LYNN
Statesman Journal
August 6, 2005
Bruce Banks knows what the history books say. The Enola Gay took off from Tinian Island 60 years ago today and dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan.
But he disputes the B-29's role in the mission.
Banks, 80, served at Tinian as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He was one of the first to arrive at the U.S. air base and one of the last to leave.
He says he stood beside the bomb the day it was unloaded and swears that there is no way it would fit in a B-29. He also thinks that one of the two larger aircraft that accompanied the Enola Gay that historic day must have transported the bomb, with the Enola Gay simply acting as a guide.
"I have mentioned my views and observations to a number of people," said Banks, who lives on the outskirts of West Salem, "and it upsets them something fierce and they think I'm sort of a nut."
Robert Heisler has doubts about his friend's theory. They have had many discussions during their weekly pinochle games, and Heisler has written several letters, including one to the television program 60 Minutes, in hopes of prompting some sort of investigation.
There have been no replies.
"Bruce refutes what happened," said Heisler, who was in Europe serving with the Army during the war. "He was there. He's got more inside dope than I do.
"I would just like to know what did happen."
Historians do not back Banks' assertion.
"I have never heard such a tale before," said Dr. James C. Bradford, an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University who edited "Atlas of American Military History."
Banks has never wavered from his convictions, and his family has been supportive of his alternate view.
"He saw what he saw, I'm sure," his wife, Helen, said.
Banks was drafted in 1943, and chose the Marine Corps. With his background as a journeyman machinist at a shipyard, the Marines were eager to make him a mechanic for the 17th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.
He landed at Tinian on July 24, 1944. His job gave him access to a jeep and freedom to roam the island.
"I was a curious young punk," Banks said.
He said he just happened to be on the airfield the day the bomb arrived that following summer. He was among a group of about 20 servicemen who had gathered after it was unloaded.
"We didn't know it was an atomic bomb," Banks said. "It was just a great big bomb.
"We all wondered, 'What the hell are they going to do with it?'"
He stood beside the egg-shaped explosive, raising his arm above his head to get an idea just how big it was.
"I can reach 7 feet, and I was a minimum 6 inches too short to reach the height," Banks said. "I estimated it was 10 feet long.
"The bomb was too big to go in any B-29. The aircraft was just not made for anything that big."
According to National Air and Space Museum archives at the Smithsonian Institution, several B-29s were specially designed for the secret mission.
Code-named "Silverplate," the aircraft were modified by deleting all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing electric propellers and configuring the bomb bay to accommodate the device.
The museum's archives list specifications of the Enola Gay, but no measurements of the bomb-bay doors are given.
Banks said soon after the bomb arrived at Tinian, Navy Seabees dug a pit and installed two hydraulic hoists. The bomb later was hauled out and lowered into the pit. Within a week or so, two white aircraft arrived. He hadn't seen anything like them, and assumed they were British.
"They had only one bomb bay and four engines -- much larger than a B-29," Banks said.
"I saw them back the big aircraft over the pit and shove the bomb in it and close the bomb bay doors, then open it and put the bomb back."
He said observed this from about 150 yards away.
Banks wasn't an eyewitness when Col. Paul Tibbets and his crew took off Aug. 6, 1945, on their way to Hiroshima.
"I maintain the only thing the Enola Gay did was show the other aircraft where to go," Banks said. "It's just too big a bomb to fit in a B-29.
"It's not a figment of my imagination. It's what I saw."
Banks got out of the Marines after serving four years, and went on to have a family and work 37 years as a switchman for Southern Pacific Railroad.
It was years after the war when he began to question, in his mind, what unfolded that summer six decades ago.
"I could not understand why we were covering, why we were telling this story," he said. "There had to be more people than just me that were aware of the size of that bomb.
"Some of them could have been sworn to secrecy, but I wasn't in on it. I wasn't even supposed to be there."
Sixty years later, Heisler would love to be able prove his friend right. He has even thought about writing to the British government and Royal Air Force.
"If their plane actually did drop that bomb, why are they letting the U.S. and Enola Gay get all the credit?" Heisler said. "It seems like this went on awfully long if this isn't what happened.
"Wouldn't this drop a bombshell, so to speak, on the whole thing?"
clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710
Sat Aug 06, 2005 4:38 pm
Amazing ! We didn't land on the moon, either!
Nothing was bigger than a B-29 at that time that I know of. B-32 was probably the closest thing and it was smaller in wingspan and length.
The only white aircraft I have ever heard about in the Pacific were the Japanese surrender birds. ( Which no one had the foresight to save ).
Nothing was bigger than a B-29 at that time that I know of. B-32 was probably the closest thing and it was smaller in wingspan and length.
The only white aircraft I have ever heard about in the Pacific were the Japanese surrender birds. ( Which no one had the foresight to save ).
B-29
Sat Aug 06, 2005 6:45 pm
In all actuality the "huge" weapon was just 10 feet long
with a diameter of only 28 inches.
with a diameter of only 28 inches.
Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:52 pm
I guess he had a Silverplate security clearance that allowed him to roam the 509th area too.
???
Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:47 pm
I guess he had a Silverplate security clearance that allowed him to roam the 509th area too
I'm sure they gave those out to all Marine "Punk" corporals and their pals so they could hang out there
and maybe give advice to the 509th boys!
Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:05 pm
another historical hysterical example of ww 2 revisionism to suit the wacky lefties. i'm no archie bunker..... but don't insult my intelligence & waste people's time spewing this kind of b.s. for god's sake...... do you think all the ww 2 film footage of the death camps, a- bomb footage etc is faked?? who ever circulates this stuff shakes my confidence with their mental capacity.
Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:09 pm
Interesting...
Lancasters over Hiroshima!
So white they are, which means Tiger Force Lancaster VIIs...
Which leads to PA474!!!
Lancasters over Hiroshima!
So white they are, which means Tiger Force Lancaster VIIs...
Which leads to PA474!!!
Sat Aug 06, 2005 10:03 pm
Yep this photo showing the Enola Gay being positioned over the loading pit must be a fake 
. Geeze what people will come up with. Note the A-Bomb "Little Boy" in the pit covered by a tarp.
. Geeze what people will come up with. Note the A-Bomb "Little Boy" in the pit covered by a tarp.
????
Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:14 pm
If you read the article carefully this guy describes the bomb has oval or egged shaped which is Fat Man. Fat Man was roughly 5 feet in diameter so touch the top would be fairly easy. Little Boy was much smaller at 28 freaking inches dude!!!! If you're going to create a big bullsh*t story about your service do some bleeping research on the subject first!!!!
Sat Aug 06, 2005 11:18 pm
This is very funny considering the fact that I am sitting in a hotel room and there just happens to be a program on the history channel on the ManhattenProfect and it show the bomb being lifted into the bomb bay. Wow my eyes decieve me. 
Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:07 am
What is sad is there will be someone out there that reads that story and will recite it as the gospel truth to someone equally as gullible and, in a few years time, you get a contingent of people who believe this complete non-sense is a fact. Is it any wonder that there's not a historical figure or happening that isn't eventually clouded by such utter drivel?
Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:49 am
Because the guy is a WWII Marine and vet, I'll refrain from calling him a nut...but
---Are we to belive that the Government was so stupid as to spend many,many millions of dollars designing and building a bomb (remember it's more than just a few scientists at Los Alamos...think of the money it took to build Oak Ridge and Hanford) ...WITHOUT MAKING SURE IT WOULD FIT IN A B-29 BOMBAY?
---If the conjecture about a Lancaster is true it will make some of the U.S. doubters/cynics/haters on the other message board happy!
---Are we to belive that the Government was so stupid as to spend many,many millions of dollars designing and building a bomb (remember it's more than just a few scientists at Los Alamos...think of the money it took to build Oak Ridge and Hanford) ...WITHOUT MAKING SURE IT WOULD FIT IN A B-29 BOMBAY?
---If the conjecture about a Lancaster is true it will make some of the U.S. doubters/cynics/haters on the other message board happy!
?????
Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:54 am
One additional tid-bit.
There was no such unit has the 17th AAA battalion in which this gentleman
claims to have served.
There was no such unit has the 17th AAA battalion in which this gentleman
claims to have served.
Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:02 am
This Genious say's,
"I would just like to know what did happen" This fact is rather obvious.
Read a few history books or even watch T.V. and you will know,however since you still dont know after all of these years,I kinda doubt that you ever will. I'm guessing that after the bomb was delivered it was left just laying around in the open somewhere where someone such as your self could just walk up to it and stretch your arms and measure it.Sounds kinda like a crock of crapola to me. I might be wrong but i'm betting that anybody who tried to come within a few feet of the bomb would have been shot full of holes and unceremoniously dumped into the lagoon.His family then would have received a telegram regretfully informing them that he bravely died in the heat of battle.Want to know what really happened? O.K.What actually happened is as follows>I have spent endless hours of research on this very subject.My theory is that there were no atom bombs.The same Alien space craft that later crashed at Roswell were already in U.S. posession.They were flown Kamikaze style into Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Where did the radioactivity come from?The radioactive fallout was Because they had Nuclear powerplants silly!.These craft were sacrificed because they were from the previous model year and new model year craft were on their way.They were also out of warranty so why not do it?I feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that I have revealed the truth.
"I would just like to know what did happen" This fact is rather obvious.
Read a few history books or even watch T.V. and you will know,however since you still dont know after all of these years,I kinda doubt that you ever will. I'm guessing that after the bomb was delivered it was left just laying around in the open somewhere where someone such as your self could just walk up to it and stretch your arms and measure it.Sounds kinda like a crock of crapola to me. I might be wrong but i'm betting that anybody who tried to come within a few feet of the bomb would have been shot full of holes and unceremoniously dumped into the lagoon.His family then would have received a telegram regretfully informing them that he bravely died in the heat of battle.Want to know what really happened? O.K.What actually happened is as follows>I have spent endless hours of research on this very subject.My theory is that there were no atom bombs.The same Alien space craft that later crashed at Roswell were already in U.S. posession.They were flown Kamikaze style into Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Where did the radioactivity come from?The radioactive fallout was Because they had Nuclear powerplants silly!.These craft were sacrificed because they were from the previous model year and new model year craft were on their way.They were also out of warranty so why not do it?I feel like a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that I have revealed the truth.
Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:30 am
