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CHANTILLY, Va. and a loaded weight of 140,000 pounds (63,500 kilograms) dominates a hangar filled with historic military and civil aircraft, ranging from a Japanese kamikaze plane to the first passenger jet to the supersonic Concorde. Air Force veteran Greg Culpepper, 55, a tourist from North Carolina, said he had no doubt that President Harry Truman did the right thing 60 years ago. "If it hadn't been for Truman dropping that bomb, just think of how many Americans would have been killed if we had had to invade," he said. "We're a peace-loving people and we don't want war, but...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

AT LEAST God told Moses the truth. Before laying on him the requirements of a monotheistic faith that would immediately cause violent conflict with idol-worshipers, God said, ''It is a terrible thing that I will do with you." And so it was. The statement comes in the very verses of Exodus that define the covenant God makes with Moses and his harried people. ''I shall do marvels," God promises. But it is the certainty of ''the terrible thing" that defines this relationship going forward. The terrible thing, first, of permanent war against the Amorites, the Canaanites, and their eternal successors....

Hiroshima and Nagasaki While most may not remember the details, they do know about that famous B-29 bomber which dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan, for all practical purposes ending World War Two. The Smithsonian has completed a cosmetic restoration of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bombs, and is now on display. As expected, a large sized hullabaloo has arisen over the way Harry Truman decided to end the war. Various old saws are paraded about, such as the hackneyed and untrue one that, "The Japanese had already sued for peace," "Atomic weapons shouldn't...

Preparing for take-off Bob Cardin and his crew tow the Glacier Girl out of her home hanger Friday morning. The P-38 plane is due to make a special appearance in Atlanta, Ga., for the 90th birthday of General Paul Tibbets, the pilot who flew the Enola Gay that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Cardin says this is the 'biggest' event that Glacier Girl has done yet and CNN news will be doing an exclusive interview with Roy Shoffner, the plane's owner. The event will also feature a scaled down reenactment of Operation Bolero - the same operation that put her...

Thursday, June 17, 2004 at 08:42 JST SAIPAN — Paul Tibbets, the American pilot who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, on Wednesday returned to the small island from where he launched the attack 59 years ago. Tibbets, a retired Air Force brigadier general, is visiting the Northern Marianas to mark the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Saipan in which American forces liberated this U.S. territory from Japanese occupation forces in World War II. On Wednesday he visited Tinian Island where on Aug 16, 1945, he took off in a B29 bomber named Enola Gay and flew to Hiroshima...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

The Enola Gay co-pilot's log book recording the horror of having just dropped the first atomic bomb in war was the most chilling item on auction in a sale of U.S. historical documents. The winning bid for Capt. Robert Lewis's log chronicling the "Little Boy" mission that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was $350,000. "It is a uniquely important document," dealer Seth Kaller said about the Enola Gay log. "It's one of the greatest moments, but one of the most terrible, of the century. It's a terribly sad record. I think that affects the...

The Smithsonian's display of the Enola Gay bomber sidesteps any controversy over the atomic attacks on Japan. By Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin are co-authors of a forthcoming biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, to be published by Alfred A. Knopf. This week, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum unveiled a fully restored, finely polished artifact of World War II — a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress." This particular airplane — the Enola Gay — is the centerpiece of the museum's sleek new $311-million annex. [snip] Of course there is, and the museum's brief label provides a...

Monday's opening of the National Air and Space Museum's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center was marred by a protester who damaged one of the museum's historic aircraft. The B-29 Enola Gay's fragile aluminum-alloy skin was damaged when a glass bottle filled with red paint was thrown at the aircraft from a walkway above it. The bottle hit the plane's left side, denting an area just below the third row of windows and then shattered on the floor. ``There was a pop, then a splat, then I turned around and saw that there was some damage to the airframe,'' said an...

VIRGINIA – Grief stricken Hiroshima survivors yesterday confronted the newly restored Enola Gay, the American plane that dropped the world's first atomic bomb. Six survivors and about 50 peace activists visited a new museum, where the restored Boeing B-29 Superfortress has just gone on public display, holding pictures of hideously burned victims among tens of thousands killed or injured by the 1945 blast.Two men were arrested after a bottle of red paint, meant to symbolise blood, was thrown, denting a panel on one side of the plane – parked in a new annex to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space...

<p>CHANTILLY, Va. -- There it was, that gleaming silver Boeing B-29 Superfortress: huge, plump, and more evocative now, as a retired bomber on clunky yellow stands, than on the morning of its major mission, before it changed the world.Fully assembled for the first time in 40 years, the Enola Gay is a chilling centerpiece in the National Air and Space Museum's new companion facility, opening tomorrow at Dulles International Airport.</p>

As the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, the Enola Gay has been revered and loathed for ending World War II and launching the nuclear age. For most of the past 58 years, it has been stored in pieces out of public view. Now, as of Monday, the big four-engine B-29 Superfortress will be displayed for the first time fully intact and meticulously restored in a new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum exhibit near Washington Dulles International Airport.

CNSNews.com) - Survivors of the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Japan plan to protest the Smithsonian Institution's new aircraft museum in suburban Virginia, because the exhibit includes the Enola Gay -- the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The Japanese will be joined by Americans who strongly oppose the Bush administration's nuclear policies. The Smithsonian Institution's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - an annex of the Air and Space Museum -- is scheduled to open on Monday in a huge new building near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va. In anticipation of that event,...

SEE THE NEW STEVEN F UDVAR-HAZY CENTER BEFORE THE GENERAL PUBLIC OPENING!!!! When the opportunity arises to get into the hottest new aviation museum in the world a week before the general public, who would say no? So, on December 6, 2003, through the blinding snow, I headed south out of the Philadelphia area and five hours later (a normal three hour drive) I arrived just outside of Washington, DC. The destination? The end of the runway of Dulles International Airport. To be exact, the new Smithsonian Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center. I'm going to be very brief and let the...

There is a museum in Tokyo dedicated to Japan's ample history of warfare. But if you visit the plainly named Military Museum, you will find no reference to the grotesque medical experiments the Japanese army conducted in World War II or the sex slaves it kidnapped. The Rape of Nanking, when rampaging Japanese troops raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese, is airbrushed into the "Nanking Incident'' and the facts are said to be uncertain. Civilian deaths aren't mentioned at all until the Americans begin firebombing Tokyo in 1944. This is par for the course. In Japanese textbooks the...

Saturday, November 8, 2003 at 01:57 JST WASHINGTON The Smithsonian Institution has received a petition from a group of nearly 200 scholars, writers and others criticizing its plans to exhibit the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in World War II, without mentioning Japanese casualties, an institution official said Thursday. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which plans to put the completely reassembled Enola Gay on public display on Dec 15 when its new facility opens near Washington Dulles International Airport, will announce its response to the petition Friday, the official said. The petition urges the...

Smithsonian 'Enola Gay' Exhibit 'Bombs Again' As Anti-War Activists Decry Hiroshima Omission Criticism Meets New Exhibit of Plane That Carried A-BombBy ELIZABETH OLSON WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 — When officials at the Smithsonian Institution unveiled a new home for the World War II bomber the Enola Gay in August, they had hoped to avoid the kind of controversy that had previously plagued efforts to exhibit the airplane that carried the first atomic bomb. Not likely. Now a group of scholars, writers, activists and others have signed a petition criticizing the exhibit for labeling the Enola Gay as "the largest and...

150 sign petition criticizing Enola Gay exhibition plan WASHINGTON — Nearly 150 scholars, writers and others have signed a petition criticizing the Smithsonian Institution's plans to exhibit the newly reassembled Enola Gay without mentioning the damage caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. The petition will be sent to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on Wednesday asking it to change the way of exhibiting B-29 Superfortress bomber, American University Professor Peter Kuznick, the initiator of the petition, said Monday. (Kyodo News)