After graduation from a military high school (a family tradition), Paul went to college intending to become a medical doctor (also a family tradition). That first flight had a lifelong effect on young Paul. The family moved to Miami, Fla., where on Paul’s first flight he dropped Baby Ruth candy bars with small parachutes over Hialeah Racecourse. Paul Tibbets was born in 1915, the son of a World War I Army captain. Tibbets, who had led the first American strategic bombing mission against a European target in 1942, also dropped the bomb that ended World War II. The command pilot of the Boeing B-29 that dropped the bomb, named Enola Gay after the pilot’s mother, was 29-year-old Colonel Paul W. On August 6, 1945, a bomb burst above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, effectively bringing to an end almost 61Ž2 years of global warfare. Tibbets, Mid Coast Marketing, Columbus, Ohio, 1999, $21.95. Return of the Enola Gay: Book Review | HistoryNet Close
