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Consumption tax
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A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added tax. However, a consumption tax can also be structured as a form of direct, personal taxation, such as the Hall–Rabushka flat tax.
Contents
1 Types
1.1 Value-added tax
1.2 Sales tax
1.3 Excise tax
1.4 Expenditure tax
2 History
2.1 United States
2.2 Japan
3 Savings effect
4 Practical considerations
5 Economic impact
5.1 William Gale
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links
Types[edit]
Value-added tax[edit]
A value-added tax applies to the market value added to a product or material at each stage of its manufacture or distribution. For example, if a retailer buys a shirt for twenty dollars and sells it for thirty dollars, this tax would apply to the ten dollar difference between the two amounts. A simple value-added tax would be proportional to consumption but would also tend to be regressive on income at higher income levels, as consumption tends to fall as a percentage of income as income rises. Savings and investment are tax-deferred until they become consumption. A value-added tax may exclude certain goods to make it less regressive against income. It is imposed in European Union countries.
In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore, it is instead called a "Goods and Services Tax." In Canada it is also called Harmonized Sales Tax when it is combined with a provincial sales tax.
Sales tax[edit]
A sales tax typically applies to the sale of goods, and sometimes also to the sales of services. The tax is applied at the point of sale. Laws may allow sellers to itemize the tax separately from the price of the goods or services, or they may require it to be included in the price. The tax amount is usually ad valorem, that is, it is calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a governing body directly by a consumer, it is usually called a use tax. Often laws provide for the exemption of certain goods or services from sales and use taxes.
Excise tax[edit]
An excise tax is a sales tax that applies to a specific class of goods, typically alcohol, tobacco, gasoline (petrol), or tourism. The tax rate varies according to the type of good and quantity purchased and is typically unaffected by the person who purchases it.
Sin taxes, are a type of excise tax imposed on items which are considered harmful to society, in an effort to decrease their consumption by increasing their prices.
Expenditure tax[edit]
A direct, personal consumption tax may take the form of an expenditure tax, that is, an income tax that deducts savings and investments, such as the Hall–Rabushka flat tax.[1] A direct consumption tax may be called an expenditure tax, a cash-flow tax, or a consumed-income tax and can be flat or progressive. Expenditure taxes have been briefly implemented in the past in India and Sri Lanka.[2]
This form of tax applies to the difference between the income of an individual and the increase/decrease in his savings. Like the other consumption taxes, simple personal consumption taxes tend to be regressive with respect to income. However, because this tax applies on an individual basis, it can be made as progressive as a progressive personal income tax. Just as income tax rates increase with personal income, consumption tax rates increase with personal consumption. Economists from Milton Friedman to Edward Gramlich and Robert H. Frank have supported a progressive consumption tax.[3][4][5]
History[edit]
Consumption taxes, specifically excise taxes, have featured in several notable historic events. In the United States, the stamp tax, the tax on tea, and whiskey taxes produced revolts, the first two against the British government and the latter against the new federal government. In India, an excise tax on salt led to Mohandas Gandhi's famous Salt March, a major event in the Indian Independence Movement.
United States[edit]
In the early United States, taxes were levied principally on consumption. Alexander Hamilton, one of the two chief authors of the anonymous The Federalist Papers, favored consumption taxes in part because they are harder to raise to confiscatory levels than income taxes.[6] In The Federalist Papers (No. 21), Hamilton wrote:
It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption that they contain in their own nature a security against excess. They prescribe their own limit, which cannot be exceeded without defeating the end proposed—that is, an extension of the revenue. When applied to this object, the saying is as just as it is witty that, "in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four." If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. This forms a complete barrier against any material oppression of the citizens by taxes of this class, and is itself a natural limitation of the power of imposing them.[7]
Although personal and corporate income taxes provide the bulk of revenue to the federal government, consumption taxes continue to be a primary source of income for state and local governments. One of the first detailed proposals of a personal consumption tax was developed in 1974 by William Andrews.[8]
Japan[edit]
The Liberal Democratic Party government of Masayoshi Ōhira had attempted to introduce a consumption tax in 1979. Ohira met a lot of opposition within his own party and gave up on his attempt after his party suffered badly in the 1979 election. Ten years later Noboru Takeshita successfully negotiated with politicians, bureaucrats, business and labor unions to introduce a consumption tax,[9] which was introduced at a rate of 3% consumption tax in 1989.
In April 1997[10] under the government of Ryutaro Hashimoto[11] it was increased to 5%.[12] The 5% is made up of a 4% national consumption tax and a 1% local consumption tax.[13] Shortly after the tax was introduced Japan fell into recession,[14] which was blamed by some on the consumption tax increase,[15] and by others on the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he had no intention of raising the tax during his government, but after his massive victory in the 2005 election he lifted a ban on discussing it.[16] Over the following years a number of LDP politicians discussed raising it further, including prime ministers Shinzō Abe,[17] Yasuo Fukuda,[18] and Tarō Asō.[19]
The Democratic Party came to power in the August 2009 elections with a promise not to raise the consumption tax for four years.[20] The first DPJ prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama was opposed, but Naoto Kan replaced him and called for the consumption tax to be raised. The following prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda "staked his political life" on raising the tax.[21] Despite an internal battle that saw former DPJ leader and co-founder Ichirō Ozawa and many other DPJ diet members vote against the bill and then leave the party; on June 26, 2012, the lower house of the Japanese diet passed a bill to double the tax to 10%.[22]
Despite considerable opposition and an attempted no-confidence motion from minor opposition parties the bill was successfully passed through the upper house on August 10, 2012, so the tax was increased to 8% by April 2014 and will be increased to 10% by October 2019 (twice postponed from the original date of October 2015).[23][24]
Savings effect[edit]
Consumption taxes do not tax savings, which allows invested assets to grow more quickly. If, in the absence of taxes, one dollar of savings is put aside for retirement at nine percent compound interest, savings will grow to $7.91 after twenty-four years. Alternatively, by assuming a thirty-three percent tax rate, the same dollar is reduced to about sixty-seven cents after taxes when earned. The effective interest rate, thereafter, is reduced to six percent, since the rest of the yield is paid in taxes.
After twenty-four years, the balance increases only to $2.73. The cumulative taxes in the latter case are $1.02. The other $4.16 is not lost by the economy in any sense, as the $4.16 is what the government would make in interest, if it had invested its tax revenue in the same investment. If the initial invested amount is not taxed when earned, but the earnings are taxed thereafter, the cumulative taxes paid are the same, but are spread more evenly across the period. These results are primarily sensitive to the rate of return; for example, with a three percent return most of the tax receipts come from the tax on the initial dollar.
To the extent that taxing something results in less of it (whether income or consumption), taxing consumption instead of income should encourage both work and capital formation, which will increase economic growth, while discouraging consumption.[3][4] Secondly, the tax base will be larger because all consumption will be taxed.
Some critics argue that consumption taxes can shift the tax burden to the less well-off. The ratio of tax obligation to income tends to shrink as income increases because high-earners tend to consume proportionally less of their income.[25] An individual unable to save will pay taxes on all his income, but an individual who saves or invests a portion of his income will be taxed only on the remaining income.
Practical considerations[edit]
Many proposed consumption taxes share some features with income tax systems. Under these proposals, taxpayers would be given exemptions and/or a standard deduction in order to ensure that the poor do not pay any tax. In a pure consumption tax, these other deductions would not be permitted.[3]
A withholding system may also be put into place in order to estimate the total tax liability. It would be difficult for many taxpayers to pay no tax all year, only to be faced with a large tax bill at the end of the year.
A consumption tax could also eliminate the concept of basis when computing the value of investments. All income that is put in investments (such as property, stocks, savings accounts) would be tax-free. As the asset grows in value, it would not be taxed. Only when the proceeds from the investment are spent is any tax imposed. This is in contrast with an income tax system where if land is bought and sold it with a profit, the gain is taxable. A consumption tax taxes only consumption, so if an investment is sold to buy another investment, no tax is imposed.
Andrews notes the inherent problem with housing. Renters necessarily "consume" housing, so they will be taxed on the expenditure of rent. However, homeowners also consume housing in the same way, but as they pay down a mortgage, the payments are classified as savings, not consumption (because equity is being built in an asset).
The disparity is explained by what is known as the imputed rental value of a home. A homeowner could choose to rent the home to others in exchange for money but instead chooses to live in the home to the exclusion of all possible renters. Therefore, the homeowner is also consuming housing by not permitting renters to pay for and occupy the home. The amount of money that the homeowner could receive in rent is the imputed rental value of the home.
A true consumption tax would tax the imputed rental value of the home (which could be determined in the same way that valuation occurs for property tax purposes) and would not tax the increase in the value of the asset (the home). Andrews proposes to ignore this method of taxing imputed rental values because of its complexity. In the United States, home ownership is subsidized by the federal government by permitting limited deductions for mortgage interest expense and capital gains. Therefore, treating renters and homeowners identically under a consumption tax may not be feasible there.
This issue would not arise under an expenditure tax, since all withdrawals of funds from a pre-tax investment account are treated as taxable consumption, whether these funds are used to pay rent, buy a house, or pay down mortgage principal. A person may buy a house within a pre-tax account, but would not be allowed to live there.
Also, a consumption tax could utilize progressive rates in order to maintain "fairness". More consumption means more tax liability.
Economic impact[edit]
The temporal neutrality of a consumption tax, however, is that consumption itself is taxed, so it is irrelevant what good or service is being consumed in terms of allocation of resources. The only possible effect on neutrality is between consumption and savings. Taxing only consumption should, in theory, cause an increase in savings.[3]
Many economists and tax experts favor consumption taxes over income taxes for economic growth.[26][27][28]
Depending on implementation (such as treatment of depreciation) and circumstances, income taxes either favor or disfavor investment. (On the whole, the American system is thought to disfavor investment.[3]) By not disfavoring investment, a consumption tax would increase the capital stock, productivity, and therefore increase the size of the economy.[3][4] Consumption also more closely tracks long-run average income.[4] The income of an individual or family can often vary dramatically from year to year. The sale of a home, a one-time job bonus, and various other events can lead to temporary high income that will push a lower or middle income person into a higher tax bracket. On the other hand, a wealthier individual may be temporarily unemployed and earn no income.
William Gale[edit]
In the United States context, William Gale, Co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, offers a simplified way to understand a consumption tax: assume that the current U.S. tax system remains the same but remove limitations to contributing to and removing funds from a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Thus, a person would essentially have a bank account where they could place tax-free earnings at any time, but unsaved (or consumed) withdrawals would be subject to taxation. Having an unrestricted IRA under the current system would approximate a consumption tax at the federal level.
See also[edit]
Excise tax
FairTax
Flat tax
Land value tax
Pigovian tax
Sales tax
Sin tax
Turnover tax
Value-added tax
William Petty, early classical economist who proposed a consumption tax
The Philosophy of Poverty, by mutualist theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ The Flat Tax Archived 2010-05-23 at the Wayback Machine., By Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka, Hoover Institution
Jump up ^ "Taxation". Encyclopedia Britannica.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Andrews, Edmund L. (2005-03-04). "Fed's Chief Gives Consumption Tax Cautious Backing". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Auerbach, Alan J (2005-08-25). "A Consumption Tax". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
Jump up ^ Frank, Robert H. (2008). "Progressive Consumption Tax". Democracy Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-18. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
Jump up ^ Bartlett, Bruce (2002-04-05). "The Founders and the consumption tax". Townhall.com. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
Jump up ^ Federalist Paper No. 21
Jump up ^ Andrews, William D. "A Consumption-Type or Cash Flow Personal Income Tax", 87 Harv. L. Rev. 1113 (1974)
Jump up ^ The Daily Yomiuri Website Reflections on Leadership – 2 / Leaders should build network of contacts, keep enemies close Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ The Daily Yomiuri Is the “cash payout plan” the most effective solution for stimulating the economy? Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ News Channel Asia Aso says raising consumption tax will not aid Japan's economy Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ Bloomberg website "Japan’s Kan Tackles Sales Tax ‘Taboo’ That Obama Won’t Touch" Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ JETRO website Section 3. Taxes in Japan – 3.6 Overview of consumption tax Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ East Asia Forum Japan’s aging population and public deficits Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ MSNBC Japan firms want 'safety first' on nuclear restarts: poll Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies Can the Democratic Party Finally Raise Japan’s Consumption Tax? Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ The Japan Times Sales tax hike would need voter OK via Lower House poll Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ The Financial Express Fukuda Vows To Continue Reform In Japan Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ Reuters Japan PM Aso says consumption tax hike unavoidable Retrieved on July 2012
Jump up ^ Asashi Shimbun DPJ’S Governing Fiasco: Party never challenged Finance Ministry Archived 2012-04-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ Forbes magazine For PM Noda: A Week of Political Drama and the Challenge Ahead Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ Asahi Shimbun Update: Lower House passes bills to double consumption tax Archived 2013-06-22 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on July 4, 2012
Jump up ^ Bloomberg website Abe Postpones Japan's Sales-Tax Hike Until Late in 2019 Retrieved on March 25, 2017
Jump up ^ KPMG research Japan - Consumption tax rate increase to be postponed Retrieved on April 23, 2015
Jump up ^ Gilbert E. Metcalf. "The National Sales Tax: Who Bears the Burden?"
Jump up ^ Regnier, Pat (2005-09-07). "Just how fair is the FairTax?". Money Magazine. Retrieved 2006-07-20.
Jump up ^ "Greenspan: Consumption Tax Could Help Economy". Fox News. 2005-03-03. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
Jump up ^ "America the Uncompetitive". Wall Street Journal. 2008-08-15. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
External links[edit]
OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration
The Consumption Tax: Macroeconomic Effects[permanent dead link] – Edward Cremata
Why do consumption taxes encourage saving?
UK Income Tax Calculator
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Enola Gay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the bomber. For the song, see Enola Gay (song).
Enola Gay
Paul Tibbets waving from the Enola Gay's cockpit to get reporters to stand clear of the propellers prior to engine start, before taking off for the bombing of Hiroshima
Type
B-29-45-MO Superfortress
Manufacturer
Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska
Manufactured
18 May 1945
Serial
44-86292
Radio code
Victor 12 (later changed to victor 82)
Owners and operators
United States Army Air Forces
In service
18 May 1945 – 24 July 1946
Preserved at
National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Enola Gay ( /ɪˈnoʊlə ˈɡeɪ/) is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who selected the aircraft while it was still on the assembly line. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused unprecedented destruction. Enola Gay participated in the second atomic attack as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the primary target of Kokura. Clouds and drifting smoke resulted in a secondary target, Nagasaki, being bombed instead.
After the war, the Enola Gay returned to the United States, where it was operated from Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico. In May 1946, it was flown to Kwajalein for the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific, but was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll. Later that year it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, and spent many years parked at air bases exposed to the weather and souvenir hunters, before being disassembled and transported to the Smithsonian's storage facility at Suitland, Maryland, in 1961.
In the 1980s, veterans groups engaged in a call for the Smithsonian to put the aircraft on display, leading to an acrimonious debate about exhibiting the aircraft without a proper historical context. The cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in downtown Washington, D.C., for the bombing's 50th anniversary in 1995, amid controversy. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The last survivor of its crew, Theodore Van Kirk, died on July 28, 2014, at the age of 93.
Contents
[hide]
1 World War II
1.1 Early history
1.2 Hiroshima mission
1.3 Nagasaki mission
2 Crews
2.1 Hiroshima mission
2.2 Nagasaki mission
3 Subsequent history
4 Restoration
4.1 Exhibition controversy
4.2 Complete restoration and display
5 References
5.1 Notes
5.2 Citations
5.3 Bibliography
5.4 Further reading
6 External links
World War II[edit]
Early history[edit]
The Enola Gay (Model number B-29-45-MO,[N 1] Serial number 44-86292, Victor number 82) was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed Martin) at its Bellevue, Nebraska plant, located at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base. The bomber was one of the 15 initial examples of B-29s built to the "Silverplate" specification - 65 of these eventually being completed during and after World War II - giving them the primary ability to function as nuclear "weapon delivery" aircraft. These modifications included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors and British bomb attachment and release systems, reversible pitch propellers that gave more braking power on landing, improved engines with fuel injection and better cooling,[2][3] and the removal of protective armor and gun turrets.[4]
Enola Gay after Hiroshima mission, entering hardstand. It is in its 6th Bombardment Group livery, with victor number 82 visible on fuselage just forward of the tail fin.
Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., the commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line. The aircraft was accepted by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 18 May 1945 and assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, 509th Composite Group. Crew B-9, commanded by Captain Robert A. Lewis, took delivery of the bomber and flew it from Omaha to the 509th's base at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on 14 June 1945.[5]
Thirteen days later, the aircraft left Wendover for Guam, where it received a bomb-bay modification, and flew to North Field, Tinian, on 6 July. It was initially given the Victor (squadron-assigned identification) number 12, but on 1 August, was given the circle R tail markings of the 6th Bombardment Group as a security measure and had its Victor number changed to 82 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th Bombardment Group aircraft.[5] During July, the bomber made eight practice or training flights, and flew two missions, on 24 and 26 July, to drop pumpkin bombs on industrial targets at Kobe and Nagoya. Enola Gay was used on 31 July on a rehearsal flight for the actual mission.[6]
The partially assembled Little Boy gun-type nuclear weapon L-11 was contained inside a 41-inch (100 cm) x 47-inch (120 cm) x 138-inch (350 cm) wooden crate weighing 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) that was secured to the deck of the USS Indianapolis. Unlike the six uranium-235 target discs, which were later flown to Tinian on three separate aircraft arriving 28 and 29 July, the assembled projectile with the nine uranium-235 rings installed was shipped in a single lead-lined steel container weighing 300 pounds (140 kg) that was locked to brackets welded to the deck of Captain Charles B. McVay III's quarters.[N 2] Both the L-11 and projectile were dropped off at Tinian on 26 July 1945.[8]
Hiroshima mission[edit]
Main article: Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Little Boy unit on trailer cradle in pit on Tinian, before being loaded into Enola Gay's bomb bay
On 5 August 1945, during preparation for the first atomic mission, Tibbets assumed command of the aircraft and named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who had herself been named for the heroine of a novel.[N 3] When it came to selecting a name for the plane, Tibbets later recalled that:
my thoughts turned at this point to my courageous red-haired mother, whose quiet confidence had been a source of strength to me since boyhood, and particularly during the soul-searching period when I decided to give up a medical career to become a military pilot. At a time when Dad had thought I had lost my marbles, she had taken my side and said, "I know you will be all right son."[10]
The name was painted on the aircraft on 5 August by Allan L. Karl, an enlisted man in the 509th.[5] Regularly assigned aircraft commander Robert Lewis was unhappy to be displaced by Tibbets for this important mission, and became furious when he arrived at the aircraft on the morning of 6 August to see it painted with the now-famous nose art.[11]
Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on 6 August, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. Enola Gay, piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, in the Mariana Islands, about six hours' flight time from Japan, accompanied by two other B-29s, The Great Artiste, carrying instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, to take photographs. The director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., wanted the event recorded for posterity, so the takeoff was illuminated by floodlights. When he wanted to taxi, Tibbets leaned out the window to direct the bystanders out of the way. On request, he gave a friendly wave for the cameras.[12]
Hiroshima explosion
After leaving Tinian, the aircraft made their way separately to Iwo Jima, where they rendezvoused at 2,440 meters (8,010 ft) and set course for Japan. The aircraft arrived over the target in clear visibility at 9,855 meters (32,333 ft). Captain William S. "Deak" Parsons of Project Alberta, who was in command of the mission, armed the bomb during the flight to minimize the risks during takeoff. His assistant, Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, removed the safety devices 30 minutes before reaching the target area.[13]
The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the Little Boy took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet (9,470 m) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet (600 m) above the city. Enola Gay traveled 11.5 mi (18.5 km) before it felt the shock waves from the blast.[14] Although buffeted by the shock, neither Enola Gay nor The Great Artiste was damaged.[15]
The detonation created a blast equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT (67 TJ).[16] The U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.7% of its fissile material fissioning.[17] The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2).[18] Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles (12 km2) of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6–7% damaged.[19] Some 70,000–80,000 people, 30% of the city's population, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm,[20] and another 70,000 injured.[21] Out of those killed, 20,000 were soldiers.[22]
Enola Gay landing at its base
Enola Gay returned safely to its base on Tinian to great fanfare, touching down at 2:58 pm, after 12 hours 13 minutes. The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil followed at short intervals. Several hundred people, including journalists and photographers, had gathered to watch the planes return. Tibbets was the first to disembark, and was presented with the Distinguished Service Cross on the spot.[15]
Nagasaki mission[edit]
The Hiroshima mission was followed by another atomic strike. Originally scheduled for 11 August, it was brought forward by two days to 9 August owing to a forecast of bad weather. This time, a Fat Man nuclear weapon was carried by B-29 Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney.[23] Enola Gay, flown by Captain George Marquardt's Crew B-10, was the weather reconnaissance aircraft for Kokura, the primary target.[24] Enola Gay reported clear skies over Kokura,[25] but by the time Bockscar arrived, the city was obscured by smoke from fires from the conventional bombing of Yahata by 224 B-29s the day before. After three unsuccessful passes, Bockscar diverted to its secondary target, Nagasaki,[26] where it dropped its bomb. In contrast to the Hiroshima mission, the Nagasaki mission has been described as tactically botched, although the mission did meet its objectives. The crew encountered a number of problems in execution, and had very little fuel by the time they landed at the emergency backup landing site Yontan Airfield on Okinawa.[27][28]
Crews[edit]
The mission runs of August 6 and 9, with Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kokura (the original target for August 9) displayed.
Hiroshima mission[edit]
Bombardier Thomas Ferebee with the Norden Bombsight on Tinian after the dropping of Little Boy
Enola Gay's crew on 6 August 1945, consisted of 12 men.[29][30] The crew was:
Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. – pilot and aircraft commander
Captain Robert A. Lewis – co-pilot; Enola Gay's regularly assigned aircraft commander*
Major Thomas Ferebee – bombardier
Captain Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk – navigator
Captain William S. Parsons, USN – weaponeer and mission commander.
First Lieutenant Jacob Beser – radar countermeasures (also the only man to fly on both of the nuclear bombing aircraft)
Second Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson – assistant weaponeer
Staff Sergeant George R. "Bob" Caron – tail gunner*
Staff Sergeant Wyatt E. Duzenbury – flight engineer*
Sergeant Joe S. Stiborik – radar operator*
Sergeant Robert H. Shumard – assistant flight engineer*
Private First Class Richard H. Nelson – VHF radio operator*
Source: Campbell, 2005, p. 30. Asterisks denote regular crewmen of the Enola Gay.
Of mission commander Parsons, it was said: "There is no one more responsible for getting this bomb out of the laboratory and into some form useful for combat operations than Captain Parsons, by his plain genius in the ordnance business."[31]
Nagasaki mission[edit]
For the Nagasaki mission, Enola Gay was flown by Crew B-10, normally assigned to Up An' Atom:
Captain George W. Marquardt – aircraft commander
Second Lieutenant James M. Anderson – co-pilot
Second Lieutenant Russell Gackenbach – navigator
Captain James W. Strudwick – bombardier
First Lieutenant Jacob Beser – radar countermeasures
Technical Sergeant James R. Corliss – flight engineer
Sergeant Warren L. Coble – radio operator
Sergeant Joseph M. DiJulio – radar operator
Sergeant Melvin H. Bierman – tail gunner
Sergeant Anthony D. Capua, Jr. – assistant engineer/scanner
Source: Campbell, 2005, p. 134, 191–192.
Subsequent history[edit]
Enola Gay in the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, 1987
On 6 November 1945, Lewis flew the Enola Gay back to the United States, arriving at the 509th's new base at Roswell Army Air Field, New Mexico, on 8 November. On 29 April 1946, Enola Gay left Roswell as part of Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in the Pacific. It flew to Kwajalein on 1 May. It was not chosen to make the test drop at Bikini Atoll and left Kwajalein on 1 July, the date of the test, reaching Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Field, California, the next day.[32]
The decision was made to preserve the Enola Gay, and on 24 July 1946, the aircraft was flown to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, in preparation for storage. On 30 August 1946, the title to the aircraft was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and the Enola Gay was removed from the USAAF inventory.[32] From 1946 to 1961, the Enola Gay was put into temporary storage at a number of locations. It was at Davis-Monthan from 1 September 1946 until 3 July 1949, when it was flown to Orchard Place Air Field, Park Ridge, Illinois, by Tibbets for acceptance by the Smithsonian. It was moved to Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, on 12 January 1952, and then to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on 2 December 1953,[33] because the Smithsonian had no storage space for the aircraft.[34]
It was hoped that the Air Force would guard the plane but, lacking hangar space, it was left outdoors on a remote part of the air base, exposed to the elements. Souvenir hunters broke in and removed parts. Insects and birds then gained access to the aircraft. Paul E. Garber of the Smithsonian Institution, became concerned about the Enola Gay's condition,[34] and on 10 August 1960, Smithsonian staff began dismantling the aircraft. The components were transported to the Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland, on 21 July 1961.[33]
Enola Gay remained at Suitland for many years. By the early 1980s, two veterans of the 509th, Don Rehl and his former navigator in the 509th, Frank B. Stewart, began lobbying for the aircraft to be restored and put on display. They enlisted Tibbets and Senator Barry Goldwater in their campaign. In 1983, Walter Boyne, a former B-52 pilot with the Strategic Air Command, became director of the National Air and Space Museum, and he made the Enola Gay's restoration a priority.[34] Looking at the aircraft, Tibbets recalled, was a "sad meeting. [My] fond memories, and I don't mean the dropping of the bomb, were the numerous occasions I flew the airplane.... I pushed it very, very hard and it never failed me.... It was probably the most beautiful piece of machinery that any pilot ever flew."[34]
Restoration of the bomber began on 5 December 1984, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland. The propellers that were used on the bombing mission were later shipped to Texas A&M University. One of these propellers was trimmed to 12.5 feet (3.8 m) for use in the university's Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The lightweight aluminium variable-pitch propeller is powered by a 1,250 kVA electric motor providing a wind speed up to 200 miles per hour (320 km/h).[35] Two engines were rebuilt at Garber and two at San Diego Air & Space Museum. The work was slow and meticulous. Every component was carefully cleaned. Some parts and instruments had been removed and could not be located. Replacements were found or fabricated, and marked so that future curators could distinguish them from the original components.[36]
Restoration[edit]
Exhibition controversy[edit]
Under the cockpit window of the Enola Gay, while in storage 1987.
Enola Gay became the center of a controversy at the Smithsonian Institution when the museum planned to put its fuselage on public display in 1995 as part of an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.[37] The exhibit, The Crossroads: The End of World War II, the Atomic Bomb and the Cold War, was drafted by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum staff, and arranged around the restored Enola Gay.[38]
Critics of the planned exhibit, especially those of the American Legion and the Air Force Association, charged that the exhibit focused too much attention on the Japanese casualties inflicted by the nuclear bomb, rather than on the motivations for the bombing or the discussion of the bomb's role in ending the conflict with Japan.[39][40] The exhibit brought to national attention many long-standing academic and political issues related to retrospective views of the bombings. As a result, after various failed attempts to revise the exhibit in order to meet the satisfaction of competing interest groups, the exhibit was canceled on 30 January 1995. Martin O. Harwit, Director of the National Air and Space Museum, was compelled to resign over the controversy.[41][42]
The forward fuselage did go on display on 28 June 1995. On 2 July 1995, three people were arrested for throwing ash and human blood on the aircraft's fuselage, following an earlier incident in which a protester had thrown red paint over the gallery's carpeting.[43] The exhibition closed on 18 May 1998, and the fuselage was returned to the Garber Facility for final restoration.[44]
Complete restoration and display[edit]
Restoration work began in 1984, and would eventually require 300,000 staff hours. While the fuselage was on display, from 1995 to 1998, work continued on the remaining unrestored components. The aircraft was shipped in pieces to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia from March–June 2003, with the fuselage and wings reunited for the first time since 1960 on 10 April 2003[3] and assembly completed on 8 August 2003. The aircraft is currently at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, since the museum annex opened on 15 December 2003.[44]
The Enola Gay on display at the National Air & Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

References[edit]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ The block number was a one to three digit number followed by a two letter code that represented the aircraft built to the same engineering specification. The two letter code represented the plant at which the aircraft was built, in this case, Martin in Omaha. This was combined with the aircraft model designation (B-29) to form the model number [1]
Jump up ^ The atomic bombs were euphemistically known as the "gadgets", a tag given to them by scientists at the Los Alamos test facility.[7]
Jump up ^ Enola; or Her fatal mistake (1886), by Mary Young Ridenbaugh is the only novel of the period to use "Enola".[9]
Citations[edit]
Jump up ^ Mann 2004, p. 100.
Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, pp. 14–15.
^ Jump up to: a b March, Peter R. "Enola Gay Restored". Aircraft Illustrated, October 2003.
Jump up ^ "Boeing B-29 Enola Gay Superfortress bomber, Aircraft history, facts and pictures". aviationexplorer.com. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Campbell 2005, pp. 191–192.
Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, p. 117.
Jump up ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 2.
Jump up ^ Hoddeson et al. 1993, p. 258.
Jump up ^ Ridenbaugh, Mary Young (1886). Enola; or Her fatal mistake. St Louis, Missouri: Woodward & Tiernan.
Jump up ^ Tibbets 1998, p. 203.
Jump up ^ Thomas & Morgan-Witts 1977, pp. 382–383.
Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, pp. 31–32.
Jump up ^ "Timeline #2- the 509th; The Hiroshima Mission". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
Jump up ^ "The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Aug 6, 1945". United States Department of Energy. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Polmar 2004, p. 33.
Jump up ^ "Section 8.0 The First Nuclear Weapons". Nuclear Weapons Archive. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "The Bomb-"Little Boy"". The Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
Jump up ^ "Radiation Dose Reconstruction U.S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima And Nagasaki, Japan, 1945–1946 (DNA 5512F)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2006. Retrieved 9 June 2006.
Jump up ^ "U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers.". Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 9. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers.". Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. U. S. Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, June 19, 1946. President's Secretary's File, Truman Papers.". p. 37. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing: Facts about the Atomic Bomb". Hiroshima Day Committee. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, pp. 35–38.
Jump up ^ Campbell 2005, p. 32.
Jump up ^ Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997, pp. 210–211.
Jump up ^ Sweeney, Antonucci & Antonucci 1997, pp. 213–215.
Jump up ^ "Boeing B-29 Superfortress". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ Rossenfeld, Carrie (2005). "The Story of Nagasaki: The Missions". hiroshima-remembered.com. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ Cooper, Sgt. Jean. "Photo: P-574 (Enola Gay Crew Members)". Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ "Atom Bomber Crew From Eight States". The Miami News. AP. August 8, 1945. Retrieved July 8, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
Jump up ^ Dvorak, Darrell F. (Winter 2013). "The First Atomic Bomb Mission: Trinity B-29 Operations Three Weeks Before Hiroshima" (PDF). Air Power History. 60 (4): 4–17. ISSN 1044-016X.
^ Jump up to: a b Campbell 2005, p. 193.
^ Jump up to: a b Polmar 2004, p. 66.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Harwit, Martin. "An Exhibit Denied: Lobbying the History of Enola Gay". New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "Enola Gay". Solarnavigator.net. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
Jump up ^ Polmar 2004, p. 60.
Jump up ^ Sanger, David E. (6 August 1995). "Travel Advisory: Correspondent's Report; Enola Gay and Little Boy, Exactly 50 Years Later". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ Gallagher, Edward. "History on Trial: The Enola Gay Controversy". Lehigh University. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ "Enola Gay Archive: The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian". Air Force Association. 1996. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Jump up ^ Doyle, Debbie Ann (December 2003). "Historians protest new Enola Gay exhibit". Perspectives on History. 41 (9). ISSN 0743-7021. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
Jump up ^ "Head of Air, Space Museum Quits Over Enola Gay Exhibit". Los Angeles Times. 3 May 1995. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
Jump up ^ Meyer, Eugene L. (3 May 1995). "Air and Space Museum Chief Resigns: Harwit Cites Furor Over A-Bomb Exhibit". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
Jump up ^ Correll, John T. (August 1995). "Enola Gay Archive: Presenting the Enola Gay". Air Force Association. p. 19. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b "Boeing B-29 'Superfortress': Enola Gay.". National air and Space Museum. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
Bibliography[edit]
Campbell, Richard H. (2005). The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29's Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-7864-2139-8.
Hoddeson, Lillian; Henriksen, Paul W.; Meade, Roger A.; Westfall, Catherine L. (1993). Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44132-2.
Mann, Robert A. (2004). The B-29 Superfortress: A Comprehensive Registry of the Planes and Their Missions. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1787-0.
Polmar, Norman (2004). The Enola Gay: The B-29 that Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-859-5.
Sweeney, Charles; Antonucci, James A.; Antonucci, Marion K. (1997). War's End: an Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission. New York: Avon Books. ISBN 0-380-97349-9.
Thomas, Gordon; Morgan-Witts, Max (1977). Ruin from the Air: The Enola Gay's Atomic Mission to Hiroshima. London: Hamilton. ISBN 0-8128-8509-0.
Tibbets, Paul W. (1998). Return of the Enola Gay. New Hope, Pennsylvania: Enola Gay Remembered Inc. ISBN 0970366604.
Further reading[edit]
Dubin, Steven C. (2001). Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-1890-2.
Haggerty, Forrest (2005). 43 Seconds to Hiroshima: The First Atomic Mission. An Autobiography of Richard H. Nelson, "Enola Gay" Radioman. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4208-4316-8.
Harwit, Martin (1996). An Exhibit Denied: Lobbying the History of Enola Gay. New York: Copernicus. ISBN 0-387-94797-3.
Hogan, Michael J. (1996). Hiroshima in History and Memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56682-7.
Krauss, Robert; Krauss, Amelia (2005). The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves, 509th Anniversary Reunion, Wichita, Kansas, 7–10 October 2004. Wichita, Kansas: 509th Press. ISBN 0-923568-66-2.
O'Reilly, Charles T. and William A. Rooney (2005). Enola Gay and the Smithsonian Institution. New York: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2008-1.
Rhodes, Richard (1986). The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81378-5.
Newman, Robert P. (2004). Enola Gay and the Court of History. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 0-8204-7457-6.
Wheeler, Keith. (1982). Bombers over Japan. Virginia Beach, Virginia: Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-3429-6.
External links[edit]
United States Air Force portal
World War II portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enola Gay.
The Smithsonian's site on Enola Gay includes links to crew lists and other details
Eyewitnesses to Hiroshima, Time magazine, 1 August 2005
"Inside the Enola Gay", Air & Space, 18 May 2010
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Private First Class

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values: The rising mushroom cloud from the Nagaskai "Fat Man" bomb, August 9, 1945

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values: إينولا جاي – Arabic

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https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Azerbaijani
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values: Енола Гей – Bulgarian

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https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Catalan
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https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Czech
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https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Danish
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https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – German
de
de
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https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Estonian
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https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Spanish
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https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Esperanto
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Enola Gay – Basque
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values: انولا گی – Persian

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https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – French
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https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Western Frisian
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values: 에놀라 게이 – Korean

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https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Indonesian
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Enola Gay – Italian
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values: אנולה גיי – Hebrew

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Enola Gay – Javanese
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Enola Gay – Luxembourgish
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https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Dutch
nl
nl
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Enola Gay – Norwegian
no
no
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Enola Gay – Polish
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Enola Gay – Portuguese
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Enola Gay – Romanian
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https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Russian
ru
ru
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values:
https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Slovak
sk
sk
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values: Енола Геј – Serbian

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https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Finnish
fi
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https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Swedish
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https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay
Enola Gay – Turkish
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tr
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values: Енола Ґей – Ukrainian

values: 艾諾拉·蓋號轟炸機 – Chinese

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