Enola Gay: Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk (1921- ) Aviator. Van Kirk is famous as the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. 10” x 8” black and white photograph of the Enola Gay returning from her historic August 6, 1945 mission with an autograph statement signed: “The first atomic bomb was dropped from 30,000 feet. It detonated 43 seconds later…The city of Hiroshima was devastated but millions of lives both Japanese and Allied were saved. The war soon ended and the killing stopped. Dutch Van Kirk Navigator – Enola Gay Hiroshima – 6 Aug. 1945.”