“Airspeed and altitude” was the flight strategy that positioned the Enola Gay to deliver the first atomic bomb used as a weapon nearly 60 years ago, said the pilot who planned and flew the mission.

Retired Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets spent several days in the nation’s capital attending events leading up to the Dec. 17 celebration of the centennial of flight. He also spoke with about 200 people at the Pentagon as he autographed his book.

To prepare the B-29 Superfortress known as the Enola Gay, Tibbets said he wanted altitude and airspeed, which he got by stripping down the airplane to make it lighter. He needed to fly high enough with the 10,000-pound atomic bomb to evade anti-aircraft fire and escape the blast and fallout of the explosion.

The 88-year-old retiree, who refers to himself as a proud airman, recounted how he got the job of flying the Enola Gay on its famous mission and his approach to accomplishing the mission. He said he was “definitely selected,” but only makes educated assumptions about the reason why because he never questioned his superior officers about the assignment.

“They said, 'this is what you are going to do,' and I saluted and said ‘yes, sir.’ I do know that they spent enough time to narrow it down to three people. I was the junior of the outfit,” Tibbets said.

He was a lieutenant colonel selected over a colonel from Gen. “Hap” Arnold’s staff and Brig. Gen. Frank Armstrong, whom he had worked for in Europe. Tibbets said his willingness to push the envelope in new aircraft landed him the job.

His enthusiasm for wanting to fly an aircraft beyond its known limits allowed him to accumulate about 400 flying hours in the B-29 by the time the decision was made to pursue dropping an atomic bomb.

“I felt that they selected the right guy because I knew damn well that I could do it, and I didn’t know the other guys could. I had the advantage of having had operations with B-17s where I had to do things that were never done before,” Tibbets said. “I had 11 months of testing the B-29 under my belt. I knew that airplane better than anybody … at the time.”

He used this experience to lead about 1,700 men of the 509th Composite Group for 10 months in preparing the B-29 and crew to successfully complete a secret mission.

The aircrew, maintainers, engineers, suppliers and other support people did not know the intent of the mission or the capability they were creating until after the mission. Tibbets said he did not even confirm the mission to the aircrew until they were en route. He went to the back of the aircraft to give the crew a pep talk about the weapon they referred to as the “gimmick.”

“We are on the way to drop a special weapon on target today, which (happens) to be Hiroshima,” Tibbets told the crew. “The blast and the explosion are going to be big as hell. You’ve never conceived anything like what we are going to see.”

Tibbets said the reason he revealed the secret before dropping the bomb was to inform his crew on the gravity of their work that day. Tibbets also confirmed that he offered cyanide to the crewmembers in case something went wrong. Only two from the confident crew accepted.

The leadership that Tibbets demonstrated throughout work with the “Manhattan Project” and Enola Gay mission was his better-known contribution to military aviation. But he said his confidence and capability earned him other memorable assignments before and after his mission over Hiroshima.

For example, Tibbets’ experience of flying under pressure and unknown circumstances included flying Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and his air forces commander, Maj. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, in a B-17 to the front lines for the invasion on North Africa in November 1942.

After World War II, Tibbets said his greatest contribution to flight was expediting the acquisition of Boeing’s B-47 jet bomber as commander of the proving grounds that tested the aircraft during its development. He said the key to working fast was to get the maintainers and trainers involved and limit interference from the engineers who “didn’t want anybody to hurt that airplane,” he said. “I wanted to bang the hell out of it because we were going to be the user.”

Tibbets said he lives with the fact that piloting the Enola Gay will always overshadow other accomplishments. He said he has also learned to accept the mixed reviews he has received on dropping a bomb that killed about 80,000 people.

“I never lost a night (of sleep) over that deal,” he said. “I thought I was doing the right thing, and I still think I did the right thing. I’ve had thousands of enlisted men and officers come by and say ‘You saved my butt.’ That’s what I wanted to do, and I’m damn glad.”