A photograph depicting "Enola Gay" pilot Paul W. Tibbets (1915-2007) waving from the cockpit of the aircraft, inscribed and signed by him in blue ink as "Paul Tibbets, Pilot / To Hiroshima / 6 Aug. 1945" near center left. The black and white photograph was printed on glossy Kodak photo paper. Expected gentle surface wear including corner wrinkles, else near fine. 8" x 10."

On August 6, 1945, the crew of the B-29 Superfortress Bomber "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over the southwestern Japanese metropolis of Hiroshima. Colonel Paul W. Tibbets piloted the 12-man crew. The nuclear bomb wiped out 70 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.

U.S. War Department estimates from July 1945 predicted that approximately 400 - 800,000 U.S. soldiers, and between 5 to 10 million Japanese, would have been killed in the alternative scenario--the full-scale invasion of Japan. Historian Tom Lewis goes further, arguing that forcing Japan to surrender earlier ultimately saved the lives of about 30 million people, by preventing death through starvation and other catastrophic war-end conditions.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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