Return of the Enola Gay.

TIBBETS, Paul W.; Dutch Van Kirk; Morris Jeppson; Jack Widowsky; C. D. Albury; Russ Gackenbach.

Item Number: 128208

Columbus, Ohio: Mid Coast Marketing, 1998.

First edition of Tibbets’ account of the bombing of Hiroshima. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, signed by Tibbets and five fellow American WWII aviators, “Paul Tibbets”, “Dutch Van Kirk”, “Morris Jeppson, Weapon Test Officer, Enola Gay Mission”, “Jack Widowsky, Navigator – ‘Top Secret'”, “Russ Gackenbach, Nav – Necessary Evil, Hiroshima, 6 Aug. 1945”, and “C. D. Albury, Co-Pilot, ‘The Great Artiste’ Hiroshima 8-6-45, Bockscar, Nagasaki 8-9-45.” Fine in a fine dust jacket.

"On August 6, 1945 as the Enola Gay approached the Japanese city of Hiroshima, I fervently hoped for success in the first use of a nuclear type weapon. To me it mean putting an end to the fighting and the consequent loss of lives. In fact, I viewed my mission as one to save lives rather than take them. The intervening years has brought me many letters and personal contacts with individuals who maintain that they would not be alive if it had not been for what I did. Likewise, I have been asked in letters and to my face if I was not conscious stricken for the loss of life I caused by dropping the first atomic bomb. TO those who ask, I quickly reply, 'Not in the least': (Paul W. Tibbets).