509th Composite Group Signed Print.

TIBBETS, Paul A.; Morris R. Jeppson; Thomas Ferebee; Dutch Van Kirk; George R. Caron; Richard Nelson.

Item Number: 96520

Rare limited “Dawn of the Nuclear Age” print signed by the thirteen surviving crew men of the Enola Gay, including Edward Teller and Norman Ramsey. Number 377 of 500 copies signed by the artist, Bob Robbins, the print depicts a glorification of a futuristic nuclear age with symbols of space exploration, nuclear energy, plant breeding, and nuclear medicine. Signed and inscribed by Enola Gay crew members Pilot Paul Tibbets, Navigator Dutch Van Kirk, Weapons Test Officer Morris Jeppson, and Radio Operator Richard Nelson; Bockstar crew members Commander Charles Sweeney, Weaponeer Frederick Ashworth, Harold Agnew, and Fred J. Oliver; flight engineer John Kuharek; and scientists Edward Teller (“the father of the hydrogen bomb”) and Manhattan Project scientist and Nobel Prize winner Norman Ramsey. In fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 26.5 inches by 22.5 inches. An exceptional collection of signatures.

Named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of pilot and aircraft commander Colonel Paul Tibbets, the Enola Gay became the first aircraft to drop an atomic weapon with the release of "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The bomb resulted in the near complete destruction of the city, causing an estimated 160,000 immediate civilian casualties and thousands of subsequent deaths associated with radiation, starvation, and dehydration.