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This collection consists of three photographs of his wife and infant daughter carried by Staff Sergeant George Robert "Bob" Caron aboard the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay during the bomber's mission to Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons. On August 6, 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. US Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant George Robert "Bob" Caron (1919-1995) was the tail gunner aboard the Enola Gay during its mission to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. His rear-facing position in the aircraft enabled him to take what became the official USAAF photograph of a mushroom cloud rising from the city following the detonation of the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy.
NASM.2008.0037
1945
Randall M. Holder, gift, 2008, NASM.2008.0037
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder, 3 photographs)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of three photographs carried aboard the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay by Staff Sergeant George Robert "Bob" Caron during the bomber's mission to Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945; Caron carried the photographs tucked inside the clear plastic sleeve of his pressurized oxygen duration chart [Oxygen Placard, Enola Gay, A20200329000]. Two black and white photographs are of Caron's wife, Katherine Marie "Kay" (Younger) Caron (1924-2001). A third hand-colored photograph is of Kay Caron holding their baby daughter, Judy Kay Caron; inscribed on the reverse: "Sept. 5, 1945 / Judy Kay 3 mo. / To Daddy Love Kay & Judy Kay."
No arrangement.
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George Caron Family Photographs, Acc. NASM.2008.0037, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Aeronautics, Military
Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Silverplate "Enola Gay"
World War, 1939-1945
Collection descriptions
Archival materials