On Combat

Brigadier General Paul Tibbets died Thursday, 1 November 2007, age 93. He was the pilot of the Enola Gay and dropped the first atomic bomb. Tibbet’s passing gives pause to wonder: how were a few men able to apply such a killing force?

In a 2005 interview with The Columbus Dispatch (on the 60th anniversary of the bomb) Tibbets said “I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing…We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible.”

How did Tibbets cope with the feelings as he led the crew of the Enola Gay towards Hiroshima on Aug 6 1945? An interview with Studs Terkel in 2005 provides some ideas through his recollections:

Crowd out moral considerations by focusing on the technical tasks at hand. Flying in combat is a technically demanding task, and like golf, perfection in execution is sought but rarely achieved. Concentration and focus on a difficult job can dominate one’s thoughts, crowding out time for moral considerations:

The airplane has a bomb sight connected to the autopilot and the bombardier puts figures in there for where he wants to be when he drops the weapon, and that’s transmitted to the airplane. We always took into account what would happen if we had a failure and the bomb bay doors didn’t open: we had a manual release put in each airplane so it was right down by the bombardier and he could pull on that. And the guys in the airplanes that followed us to drop the instruments needed to know when it was going to go.

The importance of the mission was clear, Tibbet’s commander General Ent had told him:
“Paul, be careful how you treat this responsibility, because if you’re successful you’ll probably be called a hero. And if you’re unsuccessful, you might wind up in prison.”

Flying a perfect mission was clearly on Tibbet’s mind: “On the way to the target I was thinking: I can’t think of any mistakes I’ve made.”

Diffusion of agency: All members of the crew of the Enola Gay had do perform their jobs to drop the bomb. Tibbets was part of a team, and each member had to contribute to the task if it were to succeeed. Collective action disuses the agency and responsibility of killing to the group, diminishing each individual’s part and responsibility. Here is a glimpse of the duties of the bombardier (to operate the bomb sight) vs those of the pilot (to look out for enemy defenses while the others focused on the bomb aiming and drop):

10 miles from Hiroshima, his bombardier, Maj. Thomas Ferebee, broke in on the intercom: “OK, I’ve got the bridge.”A T-shaped span over the Ota River was the target.
“As we approached the aiming point,” Tibbets remembered, “I watched for the first signs of anti-aircraft fire or fighter planes.”

Diffusion of responsibility within a wider community and Support of Experts: Tibbetts met regularly with Nuclear scientists, including Oppenheimer, as well as the community of experts and technicians from the Manhattan Project. Interaction with this dedicated group, and his role as the point man in this massive endeavor was sure to impart pressure and reinforce legitimacy of his actions.

I think I went to Los Alamos [the Manhattan project HQ] three times, and each time I got to see Dr Oppenheimer working in his own environment. Later, thinking about it, here’s a young man, a brilliant person…

Support of the highest authority and clear unambiguous guidance: Tibbets was handpicked by General Hap Arnold, Chief of the Air Corps, related below through Tibbet’s recollection of his initial conversation with General Ent, the 2nd AF commander:

“The other day, General Arnold [commander general of the army air corps] offered me three names.” Both of the others were full colonels; I was lieutenant-colonel. He said that when General Arnold asked which of them could do this atomic weapons deal, he replied without hesitation, “Paul Tibbets is the man to do it.” I said, “Well, thank you, sir.”

Afer the war, Tibbets met with President Truman, who reaffirmed Tibbet’s actions:

[Truman] looked at me for 10 seconds and he didn’t say anything. And when he finally did, he said, “What do you think?” I said, “Mr President, I think I did what I was told.” He slapped his hand on the table and said: “You’re damn right you did, and I’m the guy who sent you. If anybody gives you a hard time about it, refer them to me.”

Tibbets stated he never lost sleep over the mission, and stated he would be willing to do it again if needed.

Would I do it?

As a USAF fighter pilot, I had the mission to sit on “nuc alert” many years ago. As I went through the nuclear certification process and prepared for this mission, I thought to myself: “If ordered, how will I do this?” Thousands of uniformed military men and women of the world’s nuclear powers have had to face this question since 1945.

I thought that if the war had reached the point of a nuclear weapons, I wouldn’t have the luxury of pondering questions of why or right/wrong, and I would have to focus on the demanding aspects of piloting a single seat fighter across a heavily defended border, evading defenses, locating my target, and delivering the bomb. I figured it might be a one-way mission and it would take all my skills and concentration to make it back. I wouldn’t have time to think, to moralize and ultimately I would have to become a part of a machine.