ENOLA GAY. Flying helmet signed by Enola Gay commander PAUL TIBBETS (1915-2007) and navigator THEODORE “DUTCH” VAN KIRK (1921-2014). A WWII A11 flying helmet signed on the earpiece at a later date, “Paul Tibbets, Pilot B29 Enola Gay, To Hiroshima, 6 August 1945” and “Dutch van Kirk, Navigator, Enola Gay, 6 Aug. 1945.”

On August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb on an enemy, nearly destroying the Japanese city of Hiroshima and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. Three days later, the Enola Gay served as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the aircraft Bockscar which dropped another atom bomb on the city of Nagasaki, prompting Japan’s surrender and effectively ending World War II, the war in Europe having concluded in May with Germany’s surrender.

Tibbets had been flying anti-submarine missions over the Atlantic since the attack on Pearl Harbor and piloted 43 bombing campaigns over Europe. In 1943, he was tapped to assist with the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and served as a technical advisor on the nuclear testing. It was Tibbets who selected the aircraft from the assembly line and gave the Enola Gay aircraft her name, in memory of his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Placed in command of the 509th Composite Group, he piloted the Enola Gay’s flight over Hiroshima. Tibbets retired as a brigadier general.

Tibbets had flown over Europe with Van Kirk, who completed 58 missions before Tibbets recruited him to join the 509th Composite Group tasked with the deployment of nuclear weapons. Van Kirk was the navigator of the Enola Gay, working in conjunction with bombardier Thomas Ferebee to drop the 9,000-pound bomb on Hiroshima. After the 2010 death of Morris Jeppson, Van Kirk became the last surviving member of the 12-person Enola Gay crew.

With expected wear.