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The Enola Gay viewed from an elevated platform at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The Enola Gay viewed from an elevated platform at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Talia Lakritz/Business Insider

  • Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
  • The plane is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's second, larger location in Virginia.
  • The exhibit has been the subject of controversy as interest groups have debated the plane's legacy.

The Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War II, is so large that it couldn't fit into the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's flagship location on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Instead, it's displayed at the museum's second location, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Udvar-Hazy Center features over 200 aircraft on display, but the Enola Gay remains one of the most prominent objects in its collection.

Take a closer look at the historic aircraft.

Enola Gay dropped the first-ever atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
The Enola Gay airplane.
Enola Gay.

Photo 12/Ann Ronan Picture Library/Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A second "Fat Man" atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, by another Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Bockscar, which is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

The emperor of Japan announced the country's surrender on August 15.

The plane was named after pilot Paul Tibbets' mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
The crew of the Enola Gay.
UNITED STATES - APRIL 06: Crew of the Enola Gay, the infamous B-29 plane from which the first atom bomb was dropped. (Left to right) Major Thomas W. Ferebee, Col. Paul W. Tibbetts Jr., Major Theodore J. Van Kirk, Capt. Kermit Beahan, Capt. Robert Lewis, Sergt. Wyatt E. Duzenbury and Sergt. George Caron.

Art Edger/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Tibbets commanded the Air Force's 509th Composite Group in charge of deploying nuclear weapons. The hand-picked squadron trained at an abandoned airfield in Windover, Utah.

The "Little Boy" atomic bomb deployed by the Enola Gay weighed 9,700 pounds.
The
View of the atomic bomb, codenamed 'Little Boy,' as it is hoisted into the bomb bay of the B-29 Superfortress 'Enola Gay' on the North Field of Tinian airbase, North Marianas Islands, early August, 1945. The bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6.

PhotoQuest/Getty Images

To make the B-29 aircraft capable of carrying the atomic bomb, all of its protective and defensive armament, except for the 50-caliber tailguns, were removed to get rid of excess weight. It was also left unpainted, which saved the 850 pounds that the paint would have added.

The bomb exploded 1,900 feet above Hiroshima with devastating effects.
Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.
Hiroshima after the atomic explosion of August 1945.

Universal History Archive/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

At least 70,000 people died in the initial blast from the bombing of Hiroshima, and the death toll over five years may have exceeded 200,000 people due to the aftereffects, according to the US Department of Energy's Office of History and Heritage Resources.

Japan and anti-nuclear weapons scientists released an updated higher estimate in the 1970s that counted 140,000 deaths at Hiroshima.

The Enola Gay was rattled by shockwaves from the explosion, even as it had already flown 11.5 miles away.

After the Enola Gay spent decades in storage, the Smithsonian began restoration work on the bomber in 1984.
The Enola Gay underwent restoration work at a Smithsonian facility.
Restoration of Enola Gay at Paul E Garber facility of Smithsonian, Silver Hill, MD, June 1985.

Ben Martin/Ben Martin/Getty Images

It took museum staff 300,000 hours to reassemble and restore the Enola Gay, with 12 truckloads transporting all of its parts.

The historical narratives around the use of the atomic bomb were fiercely debated when parts of the Enola Gay first went on display in 1995.
The fuselage of the Enola Gay on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in 1995.
The fuselage of the Enola Gay on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in 1995.

Jeffrey Markowitz/Sygma via Getty Images

In 1995, the fuselage and other parts of the Enola Gay were displayed at the National Air and Space Museum's flagship location in Washington, DC, in an exhibit tied to the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

The script of the exhibit was rewritten several times as various interest groups debated how it was presented and how the decision to drop the bomb was framed, according to the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Veterans' groups pushed for the exhibit to emphasize Japanese aggression and present the narrative that dropping the atomic bomb saved lives by ending the war. Anti-war activists opposed having the exhibit justify the use of the bomb and sought to highlight its victims by protesting with alternative exhibits on the sidewalk outside the museum.

The Enola Gay went on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in 2003.
The Enola Gay Superfortress bomber at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center ahead of its opening in 2003.
CHANTILLY, VA - AUGUST 18: The Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, the Enola Gay, sits restored and reasembled in the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, August 18, 2003 in Chantilly, Virginia. The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The Udvar-Hazy Center, which will be open to the public in December, is one of the Smithsonian's facilities for the display and preservation of its collection of historic aviation and space artifacts.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Weighing 137,500 pounds with a wingspan of 141 feet, the fully assembled plane is too large for the National Air and Space Museum's flagship location on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, offers more room with 340,000 square feet of exhibit space.

The Udvar-Hazy Center features an elevated walkway, allowing visitors to view the plane from above as well as on the ground.
The Enola Gay viewed from an elevated platform at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The Enola Gay viewed from an elevated platform at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Talia Lakritz/Business Insider

The Enola Gay is displayed among other aircraft from World War II, including the Northrop P-61C Black Widow, the first US aircraft designed for combat at night.

The Enola Gay stands out as one of the museum's most historically significant aircraft.
The Enola Gay.
The Enola Gay.

Talia Lakritz/Business Insider

Over 80 years after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Enola Gay remains not just a World War II artifact, but a symbol of a turning point that ushered the world into the nuclear age.

After years of debate over how to present the aircraft, the permanent exhibition takes a minimalist approach, leaving visitors to decide how to understand its legacy.

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The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War II. Here's wher…