They didn't know whether the bomb would actually work and, if it did, whether its shockwaves would rip their plane to shreds. As the 9,000-kilogram bomb nicknamed 'Little Boy' fell toward the sleeping city, he and his crewmates hoped to escape with their lives. He guided the bomber through the night sky, just 15 seconds behind schedule, he said. The mission went perfectly, Van Kirk told The Associated Press in a 2005 interview. He was teamed with pilot Paul Tibbets and bombardier Tom Ferebee for Special Mission No. He was 24 years old when he served as navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. Van Kirk flew nearly 60 bombing missions, but it was a single mission in the Pacific that secured him a place in history. I personally think there shouldn't be any atomic bombs in the world - I'd like to see them all abolished - Theodore Van Kirk, last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew And atomic weapons don't settle anything. The whole World War II experience shows that wars don't settle anything. Theodore Van Kirk died Monday of natural causes at the retirement home where he lived in Georgia, his son Tom Van Kirk said. crew that dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, hastening the end of Second World War and moving the world into the atomic age, has died.
