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show bio Dutch Van Kirk
Dutch Van Kirk was the navigator aboard the “Enola Gay” when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. He is a former U.S. Army Air Corps navigator who flew 58 B-17 Flying Fortress missions with the 97th Bomb Group over Occupied France and Germany during World War II. Van Kirk joined the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program in October 1941. On April 1, 1942 he received both his commission and navigator wings and transferred to the 97th Bomb Group, the first operational B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England.
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
Date: 9/19/2007
Major Dutch Van Kirk, the navigator aboard the “Enola Gay,” tells his personal experience of dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II. Van Kirk expresses his personal story from memory with no written script. He narrates the experience from describing the training and preparation, to fulfilling the mission on August 6, 1945. Van Kirk discusses the reasons for dropping the bomb and the justification of dropping the second bomb on Nagasaki.
