Nostalgia with a bang

Press, 12 October 1976, Page 1

Nostalgia with a bang

NZPA Harlingen, Texas

Watched • by 40,000 people, who paid up to SUSS each, the pilot who dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima has re-enacted his historic mission from a 829 bomber—complete with imitation mushroom cloud. Mr Paul Tibbets, a retired Air Force general, flew a 829 Superfortress over Harlingen once on Saturday and twice on Sunday to help raise money for a group that preserves World War II aircraft. The real bomb that was dropped from the Enola Gay on August 6. 1945, left nearly 130,000 dead, missing or injured. “There certainly wasn't as much to worry about com-

pared to 1945.” said the 61-year-old Mr Tibbets, after he had piloted the bomber for about 30 minutes on each flight.

Combined crowds estimated at 40,000 watched as the big aircraft appeared over a target area, opened its bomb-bay doors, and delivered an imitation A-bomb.

On the ground, an Army demolition team detonated an atomic bomb simulator, a barrel of explosives, sending a miniature mush-room-shaped cloud billowing skyward.

“I was not emotionally involved in the dropping of the first atomic bomb.” Mr Tibbets said. “To me, it was a military mission, and I was relieved after it was over that it was a- success.

“I’ve never lost a night’s sleep over the fact that I commanded the bombing. The grey hairs I’ve got now came from the pressures of business.”