Wendover Training

Recently I read an article entitled “Training Camp for the Atomic Age; Wendover Field” from the Aerospace Historian. Unfortunately, I obtained this article through interlibrary loan, so neither the author, nor the sources were provided. However, this article does provide the exact information we have been looking for: it explains the training of the Enola Gay crew at Wendover. First, it discusses some details that are consistent with other research. Colonel Tibbits was the only member of the crew that knew they were training to drop an atomic bomb. The rest of the crew knew their mission was different than normal bombings, but did not know the extent. Colonel Tibbits also made many of the decisions as he chose Wendover as the training location, he handpicked the crew, as well as their B-29. The crew was initially trained to drop the pumpkins, as the test bombs were called. In each test they only dropped one 10,000 pound bomb on a 5,000 foot circle target, rather than the standard training to drop numerous bombs. Then, the pilots learned flying maneuvers unique to dropping an atomic bomb. This entailed at 158 degree turn and then a nose dive to gain speed so that the aircraft could obtain as much distance as possible from the bomb. Essentially, the differences in training styles were completely logical for the difference in type of bomb. Additionally, the article states that fifteen B-29 bomber crews left Wendover for the island, the Enola Gay was just the first, reinforcing the idea we already had that the United States was prepared to drop numerous atomic bombs on Japan if they did not surrender.