Van Kirk, navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 airplane used for the first nuclear mission, said there were real concerns that the bomb might be “a dud” or that the crew might somehow botch the job.
His first thought: “Thank God it worked.” 6, 1945, he didn’t think about the historical significance or weigh the moral aspects of atomic war - questions he would be asked for the next half-century. Dutch Van Kirk watched the mushroom cloud rise 40,000 feet above Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. Van Kirk was open and accessible during his 2000 visit to Oak Ridge, where he toured Y-12 and participate in anniversary events at the American Museum of Science and Energy. And Richard Goldstein did a story in The New York Times. Here’s an obituary story by Steve Chawkins in the Los Angeles Times. Here is the Associated Press report by Kate Brumback, as it appeared in the Air Force Times. His death has brought forth numerous reports on his life and, of course, the unending debate about the use of the bomb to help end World War II. Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew that delivered the atomic bomb and dropped it on Hiroshima, Japan, died earlier this week in Stone Mountain, Ga., at age 93. Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay and the last surviving member of the mission that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, is shown here at the American Museum of Science and Energy during a Jvisit to Oak Ridge.
