Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel (later Brigadier General) Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused extensive destruction.

The Enola Gay gained additional attention in 1995 when the cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited during the bombing's 50th anniversary at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO, AAF Serial Number 44-86292, Victor number 82) was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed Martin) at its Bellevue, Nebraska, plant, at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base, and was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons, which included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors, special propellors, modified engines and the deletion of protective armor and gun turrets. Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line.

Theodore Van Kirk (born 27 February 1921 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania) is a former United States Army Air Force navigator. He is famous as the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. With the death of fellow crewman Morris Jeppson (who died on March 30, 2010), Van Kirk is the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew.

Van Kirk joined the Army Air Force Aviation Cadet Program October 1941. On 1 April 1942 he received both his commission and navigator wings and transferred to the 97th Bomb Group, the first operational B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England. The crew of the "Red Gremlin" also included pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee. Van Kirk would later fly with these men on the Hiroshima mission.

From August to October 1942 the crew flew 11 missions out of England. They were the lead aircraft, responsible for group navigation and bombing. In October 1942 they flew General Mark Clark to Gibraltar for his secret North African rendezvous with the French prior to Operation Torch. In November they ferried General Eisenhower to Gibraltar to command the North African invasion forces. After German reinforcements began pouring into the port of Bizerte, Tunisia, posing a serious threat to Allied strategy, a new mission emerged. On 16 November 1942 the crew led their group in an attack that took the Germans by surprise at Sidi Ahmed Air Base at Bizerte.