His father wanted him to become a doctor, but he wanted to fly.
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Certitude with attitude can be a bit much, and Paul Tibbets, by any measure, can be a bit much by half.įrom the day he graduated from Western Military Academy in North Alton, Illinois, to the present, there has never been an assignment at which he did not excel. He has never been able to abide adequacy, much less foolishness. From his earliest days he exuded a self-confidence that could be, and frequently was, insufferable.
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He is, and for all of his adult life has been, a most remarkable man. But it was the irascible and often abrasive General Tibbets who piloted the plane, and it is he who is credited with, or blamed for, history’s single most notable act of warfare. Within that hairsplitting context, the late Tom Ferebee actually dropped the weapon. Bomber pilots do not drop bombs, bombardiers do. He is the man who is credited with dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. is one of the most famous men of the 20th century. Perhaps even flirted with greatness.Īlthough not one American in 10,000 can place it, a good case can be made that, absent the name, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. He has the countenance and bearing of a man who has spent time on fields of high adventure and great achievement. Only his hearing betrays him: He is as close to stone deaf as one can get and still hear. His walk has slowed, but he remains erect and dignified. He does look like an old man, but not a 90-year-old man. His gaze, even with the heavied lids of age, is intense. It does build up to look like a massive shiny display piece in the end.Today, in his nineties, Paul Tibbets is still a handsome man. Since this kit is the only good option for a 72nd B-29, I suppose it's all about knowing what you might be in for. I know some modelers like this challenge which is perfectly fine, but I wasn't all that prepared to experience these build issues and it really took away from the overall experience. This combined with parts that only vaguely fit and ejector pin marks and seams on very prominent parts among others make building kit a bit of a slog in my opinion. The kit goes together in a way that doesn't seem to be thought out very well which results in a lot of fiddling and build problems that in themselves don't ruin the kit but make it feel sloppy. To be frank, building the kit felt like building something that Academy didn't try all that hard with. The kit itself leaves a lot to be desired compared to what we have today, which to me is surprising given how well it scored in reviews. Some of the parts look more sloppily painted or weathered than I'd have liked, and I ran into a lot of problems during the build especially with assembly and fit. Some of the decals also silvered on me, which was something I wasn't expecting from Cartograf of all decal makers. I hadn't attempted an NMF finish on this scale before, and in this case it turned out to look a little more dull than I wanted to as a result of the overcoat of gloss to seal the paint. To be honest, this was by no means an easy or smooth build. Painted with Alclad Airframe Aluminum, Aqua Gloss, Tamiya acrylic and lacquer paints and primers from Gunze.
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The subject is built up in the colors of the infamous "Enola Gay". This is from Academy's Silverplate boxing of their 1/72 B-29 kit. I started this build back in July but only completed it a couple of days ago, as my first finished build for 2021.