Paul Tibbets

Born

1915-02-23

Died

2007-11-01

Birthplace

Quincy, Illinois, U.S.

Biography

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. (February 23, 1915 – November 1, 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He is best known as the aircraft captain who flew the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay (named after his mother) when it dropped a Little Boy, the first of two atomic bombs used in warfare, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.