Tibbets, then a 30-year-old colonel, never expressed regret over his role. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible.' We knew it was going to kill people right and left. 'We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. 'I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing,' Tibbets had told The Columbus Dispatch for a story on the 60th anniversary of the bomb. The Japanese surrendered a few days later, ending the war. Three days later, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. The blast killed 70,000 to 100,000 people and injured countless others. It was the morning of August 6, 1945, when the aircraft and its crew of 14 dropped the five-tonne 'Little Boy' bomb over Hiroshima. It was the first time man had used nuclear weaponry against his fellow man. Tibbets's historic mission in the aeroplane Enola Gay marked the beginning of the end of the second world war. 'It's end of an era,' said Newhouse, who served as Tibbets's manager for 10 years. Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said. Paul Tibbets died at his Columbus home in the United States after a two month decline in his physical condition stemming from a variety of health problems, said Gerry Newhouse, a longtime friend.
