| Director | Melvin Frank, Norman Panama |
|---|---|
| Budget | $1.4 million |
| Box office | $4 million |
Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr. is assigned to a dangerous mission testing a new bomber, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The perilous assignment has caused his wife Lucy to worry for his life and whether their marriage can survive the constant separations.
After a year of scrutiny, Maj. Gen. Vernon C. Brent, who championed Tibbets as a test pilot, selects him to lead a new unit in the Pacific war flying the B-29, armed with a new secret weapon. Scientists of the Manhattan Project explain their secret weapon, the atomic bomb. Along with Maj. Bill Uanna, the only other person who knows what the mission will entail, Tibbets is expected to keep strict discipline over the personnel assigned to a B-29 conversion unit at Wendover Field, Utah. When families of crew members are brought to Wendover, tensions erupt between the Tibbetses over his secrecy concerning the mission.
T the B-29 designated for the Hiroshima bombing is named the Enola Gay and is flown to the Pacific island base of Tinian. After the bomb is dropped, Tibbets realizes the devastation that he has caused as he sees the flash and subsequent atomic blast. Back on Tinian, the crew is mobbed and although a second mission is mounted, it proves unnecessary with the end of the war after the bombing of Nagasaki. Tibbets returns home, flying first to Washington, where he has a joyous reunion with his wife.
at Tinian after the Hiroshima bombing.]]