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Hiroshima pilot's grandson to command nuclear-capable bombers
CBS News ^ | June 5, 2015

Posted on 06/09/2015 12:21:47 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A grandson and namesake of the man who piloted the massive B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II is taking over leadership of the United States' aging fleet of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers.

Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets IV takes command of the 509th Bomb Wing during a ceremony Friday at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, replacing Brig. Gen. Glen VanHerck, who has led the wing since February 2014.

Tibbets, 48, was previously deputy director for nuclear operations for the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He also trained on B-2s at Whiteman in the 1990s, commanded a bomb squadron at the base and was a vice commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in southwest Asia in 2010-2011. His awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.

Tibbets' grandfather, Paul W. Tibbets Jr., was assigned to a predecessor of the 509th Bomb Wing when he piloted the Enola Gay in the world's first atomic bomb mission on Aug. 6, 1945. The bomb destroyed much of Hiroshima and killed tens of thousands of its citizens. Paul W. Tibbets Jr. died in 2007....

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: airforce; military; strategicbombers; worldwarii
No doubt saving my father's life.
1 posted on 06/09/2015 12:21:48 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
No doubt saving my father's life. And possibly mine to, though remote; He was on an aircraft carrier in the Philippines in August of 45.
2 posted on 06/09/2015 12:24:59 AM PDT by Michael.SF. (If Hillary was running against Satan, I'd probably abstain.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
the United States' aging fleet of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers.

Now I feel old.

3 posted on 06/09/2015 12:38:55 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Sub-editors: totes unnecessary.)
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To: Michael.SF.

He was part of the massive Marine/Army/Navy force that took Okinawa. Okinawa is now a prefecture of Japan. It would’ve been the staging ground that your father, my father and a million other men would’ve used to invade the Japanese homeland.


4 posted on 06/09/2015 12:40:38 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: Oztrich Boy

Everything is obsolescent or obsolete when it’s time to buy new. That’s why they change car, boat, recreational vehicle models and fashions every year.


5 posted on 06/09/2015 12:42:46 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Saved my father’s, too.


6 posted on 06/09/2015 12:47:19 AM PDT by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE US OF US CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Enola LGBT?


7 posted on 06/09/2015 1:00:48 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (I love it when we're Cruz'in together)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Anyone that thinks the Japanese are NOT nuclear deterrent capable.. NOW... is “dreaming”..
One thing the Japanese ARE NOT....... is STUPID..


8 posted on 06/09/2015 1:23:27 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited (specifically) to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Add me into the “Lucky Dads Club.”

My father was a SeeBee in the South Pacific (on numerous islands) back then.

And lucky for me too. I wasn’t born till ‘48.


9 posted on 06/09/2015 1:44:33 AM PDT by shibumi ("Walk Through the Fire, Fly Through the Smoke")
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To: shibumi

1960 here. My dad got along great with the Seabees. He’d guard their compounds and they’d feed him well.


10 posted on 06/09/2015 1:49:21 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ralph Nader must be apoplectic hearing about this.


11 posted on 06/09/2015 1:52:34 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
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To: Oztrich Boy

First shown publicly in 1988.


12 posted on 06/09/2015 2:16:07 AM PDT by JohnnyP
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

B-52’s are still in service and will be for decades. Aging is not the same as obsolete.


13 posted on 06/09/2015 3:05:01 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (This is known as "bad luck". - Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“...the massive B-29 ...”

I had the thought back in 1982 as I watched a B-29 pull away from the gate and head for the runway at Islip MacArthur that the B-29 was the size point at which planes began to look BIG; even to one such as myself who’s first flight was aboard a 747.


14 posted on 06/09/2015 5:15:11 AM PDT by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’M DROPPING THIS ONE FOR GRANDPA....... BONZAI


15 posted on 06/09/2015 6:17:55 AM PDT by zzwhale
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