Three days after the 1945 Hiroshima bombing, the US dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. The Enola Gay has proved contentious for the museum before, when in 1995 portions of its fuselage, undercarriage and engines went on display as part of an exhibition about the atomic bomb, leading to protests. The museum has spent months restoring the B-29 bomber for display in a giant hangar at its Steven Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles International Airport in Washington DC. "When I saw the Enola Gay today, I was overcome by anger," he said. "The first time was on August 6, 1945, when I saw it flying high and Space Museum was caving in to political pressure when it announced its decision last week to scale back its planned exhibit of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that. "This is the second time I have seen the Enola Gay," said Hiroshima survivor Minoru Nishino, 71, who was two kilometres (miles) from the epicentre of the blast, and still bears scars. The text accompanying the plane talks about its technological prowess and how it "found its niche on the other side of the globe". The 1979 crusade to establish a memorial for Vietnam Veterans, the 1995 exhibition of the Enola Gay, the recently opened Vietnam Veterans Memorial Museum in. "From a consistency standpoint, we focus on the technical aspects." "We don't do it for other airplanes," he told French agency AFP. However the museum's director, retired general John Dailey, has resisted calls for the death toll to be included. The Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, finally went on display at the National Air and Space Museum June 28 in an exhibition. Thomas K Siemer, 73, of Columbus, Ohio, was charged with felony destruction of property and loitering, while Gregory Wright of Hagerstown, Maryland, faced a misdemeanour loitering charge.Ī panel of the Enola Gay was dented in the fracas. Michael Heyman, 21 June 1995 Joel Achenbach, ' Enola Gay Exhibit : Plane and Simple. Survivors of the bombing are angry that the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is not displaying casualty figures from the US-led attack.Ībout 140,000 Japanese died in the bombing itself, and many others later.Īround six survivors and 50 peace activists visited the new annex to the museum, some holding pictures of burned victims of the blast. Two men were arrested after red paint symbolising blood was thrown at the Enola Gay, a World War II B-29 bomber.
Protests have interrupted the opening of a new US museum display which includes the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
Protesters said the exhibit should have included casualty figures