VAN KIRK, THEODORE JEROME “DUTCH.” (1921-2014). American pilot who was the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. ALS. (“T. J. Van Kirk”). 2pp. 4to. N.p., March 23, 1993. To Dan Kleiner.

“...I assume from Bob’s [Caron’s] letter that you had asked about flying through flak. Unlike Bob I also flew over Europe – in B-17’s – and had a total of 64 missions there, compared to 1 in the Pacific. Incidentally in Europe I flew on the same crew as Paul Tibbets and Tom Ferebee, pilot and bombardier on the Enola Gay. We were on the first missions out of England in August 1942 and I had completed my 64 missions by June of 1943. It was during the days when German opposition was strongest. By comparison, flying over Japan was ‘a piece of cake.’

Flak was not only deadly but frightening, but there was nothing you could do about it but fly through it. We saw it often during flights to and from the targets. But it was worse over the target when you had to fly straight and level to bomb accurately. At other times we would change course and altitude frequently to throw off German radar tracking but it didn’t do much. It was very nasty but we were all 20-25 years old at the time so our nerves were pretty good.

One of the things you and other young people should remember is that we were completely unprepared for WWII. Our group of B-17’s – 97th Bomb Gr[ou]p – was the only group available when we went to England in 1942. Others were in training but not yet ready. And our group wasn’t organized until March 1942. A lot of lives were lost because of unpreparedness. In fact, if the U.S. along with England and France had been better prepared and had a strong will, Hitler could have been stopped before he plunged the world into war. The point is that war is awful and should be avoided at all costs, but there comes a time when the world’s dangerous people must be stopped – hopefully before they get too powerful and that our country should be prepared to stop them. Both with hardware and the national will and pride to employ it for the common good…”

On August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb on an enemy, destroying the Japanese city of Hiroshima and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. Three days later, the Enola Gay served as the weather reconnaissance aircraft for the aircraft Bockscar which dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, prompting Japan’s surrender and effectively ending World War II, the war in Europe having concluded in May with Germany’s surrender.

As noted in our letter Van Kirk had completed numerous missions over Europe with American Air Force pilot Paul Tibbets (1915-2007). In 1943, Tibbets was tapped to help develop the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and served as a technical advisor on the nuclear testing. It was Tibbets who selected the aircraft from the assembly line and gave the Enola Gay aircraft her name, in memory of his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. Placed in command of the 509th Composite Group tasked with the deployment of nuclear weapons, he recruited Van Kirk as the navigator of the Enola Gay, working in conjunction with bombardier Thomas Ferebee (1918-2000) to drop the 9,000-pound bomb, known as “Little Boy,” on its target in Hiroshima. After the 2010 death of Morris Jeppson, Van Kirk became the last surviving member of the 12-person Enola Gay crew.

As the sole crewman in a defensive position aboard the Enola Gay, George R. “Bob” Caron (1919-1995) was the first person to witness from the air the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and it was his photographs alone which captured the event. He later offered his eyewitness account in the book Fire of a Thousand Suns, The George R. “Bob” Caron Story, Tail Gunner of the Enola Gay.

Written on two single sheets of lined paper in black ink. Creased and in very fine condition.