On August 6, 1945, the whole world shook when an American plane named the Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy," the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima, Japan.
This single event killed more than 140,000 people, left tens of thousands disfigured and suffering from lingering radiation sickness, and led to Japan's surrender in World War II.
A public event was held at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on August 18, 2003 to unveil a new exhibit of the fully restored Enola Gay.
The Enola Gay exhibit will be housed in a brand new extension of the museum, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, and is expected to be opened to the publicDec. 15, 2003.
Museum spokesman Frank McNally said the expansion allows the museum to display more of its material at once.
"In the past, only about 10 percent of the museum's artifacts have been on display at any given time. Another 10 percent is usually on loan to other museums, and the remaining 80 percent has been kept in storage due to space constraints. The Udvar-Hazy Center allows us to display all available artifacts."
The Enola Gay and the space shuttle Enterprise will be the highlights of the Udvar-Hazy center when it opens.
A total of 70 aircraft and 25 major space artifacts will immediately be on display at the new facility.
"Over next 3-5 years, it will grow to 200 aircraft and 135 space artifacts," McNally said.
The museum has spent more than 300,000 staff hours restoring the Enola Gay for exhibition.
"The plane needed extensive restoration, primarily because it has been stored outdoors for a number of years," McNally said.
The Enola Gay was donated to the Smithsonian institution in 1949 and was stored at Andrews Air Force Base. In 1960, it was disassembled and transferred to a Smithsonian storage facility in nearby Suitland, Maryland.
Museum curator Dik Daso said the exhibit will not feature any casualty figures or photographs showing the devastation the bomb caused.
"Our role is to provide and restore [the Enola Gay] as best we can and allow people to come to see it and let it speak to them.They can come up with what it means to them. I don't need to tell them," Daso said.
Japanese-American researcher Aiko Herzig said she had hoped human impact of the bomb would be included.
"We need to remind ourselves about how terrible nuclear weapons are," Herzig said.
But the museum contends that its purpose is to preserve technology for future generations, and leave it to observers to make their own interpretation of the previous uses of this technology.
The Enola Gay will be a permanent part of the Udvar-Hazy center. Together with the original building, it will be the largest Air and Space Museum complex in the world.
"Ultimately, there will be more to see, more to do and more to learn," McNally said.The new facility is expected to draw an additional 3 million visitors each year.
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