Return of the Enola Gay.

TIBBETS, Paul W.

Item Number: 139589

Columbus, Ohio: Mid Coast Marketing, 1998.

First edition of Tibbets’ account of the bombing of Hiroshima. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Signed by the author below his photographs, “For Marty With Best Wishes Paul Tibbets 11-7-99.” 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).