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View Full Version : Tibbets passes away...

DeepIron
11-01-07, 10:45 AM
The man who dropped the first atomic bomb has passed away:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7073441.stm

Imagine carrying the "weight" for all these years. No headstone, no funeral... :cry:
SUBMAN1
11-01-07, 10:53 AM
Smart man to not give a platform to those that don't deserve it. I personally don't think he was carrying any weight. He did his job, and that is that. He looks at it for what it really is - saving thousands of American lives. RIP my dear sir! You earned it!

-S
Chock
11-01-07, 10:57 AM
What a shame, not getting a memorial simply because misguided protesters might damage it. And they would be fools to do so; at the time of the atomic weapon's use, most people didn't even know what 'nuclear' was, or what it would do, so he could hardly be blamed for the way things are now. He was clearly not some kind of monster, after all, he named his aircraft after his mother.

RIP.

:D Chock
DeepIron
11-01-07, 11:08 AM
...so he could hardly be blamed for the way things are now.
Absolutely. He and the crew of the Enola Gay did what they ordered to do.

The downside is that through historical revisionism, the original strategy behind the use of The Bomb, to end the war and to ultimately *save* lives, has been twisted and lost.
Jimbuna
11-01-07, 11:10 AM
RIP Sir....You did your duty.
The WosMan
11-01-07, 05:13 PM
I met the man 3 years ago when a gun collectors organization, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, had him as a guest speaker. He was quite a storyteller. He told us he had been present during the field tests of the Sherman tank along with some other Generals and during the field test Patton wanted to give it a drive. Well Patton was driving the tank and in the field had been an old shack. Patton was going to run the shack over so he went for it at full speed and ended up going right into the ground. The shack had a basement and he sunk right into it. They had to clear all the debris off the tank and Patton comes out of the tank embarrassed but too proud to say anything about his screwup. Anyways, I have a copy of his autographed book. http://www.ogca.com/History.htm There is a mention of him being present at this event on the OGCAs website. Tibbits also didn't have a high opinion of the other B29 pilot Sweeney who dropped bomb two. Apparently Sweeney messed up and missed the primary target so he hit Nagasaki instead which was target B.