Paul Tibbets (1915–2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known as the pilot of the Enola Gay, the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb. Tibbets enlisted in the army in 1937 and qualified as a pilot the next year. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic. In July 1942 he became the deputy group commander of the 97th Bombardment Group, the first such group deployed to the United Kingdom as part of the Eighth Air Force. He flew the lead plane in the first American daylight heavy bomber mission against Occupied Europe on August 17, 1942, and again in the first American raid of more than 100 bombers on October 9. After flying 43 combat missions, he joined the staff of the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. He returned to the United States in February 1943 to help with the development of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. In September 1944, he was appointed the commander of the 509th Composite Group, which conducted the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, he was involved in the development of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. He left the Air Force in 1966, working for Executive Jet Aviation until 1987.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tibbets
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1498:
Girolamo Savonarola of Florence was executed for heresy, uttering prophecies, sedition, and other crimes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola
1701:
Scottish privateer William Kidd was executed for piracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kidd
1895:
Representatives of the Astor Library and Lenox Library agreed to merge and form the New York Public Library, now the second-largest public library in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library
1951:
Delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama and the government of the newly established People's Republic of China signed the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, affirming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Point_Agreement_for_the_Peaceful_Liberation_of_Tibet
2010:
Jamaica's military and police force began a manhunt for drug lord Christopher Coke, beginning three days of armed conflict with the Shower Posse cartel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Kingston_unrest
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
thagomizer: (anatomy) An arrangement of spikes found on the tails of various stegosaurs. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thagomizer
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Plants of great vigor will almost always struggle into blossom, despite impediments. But there should be encouragement, and a free genial atmosphere for those of more timid sort, fair play for each in its own kind. --Margaret Fuller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller
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