“It was just another mission,” Tibbets says, “if you didn’t let imagination run away with your wits.”2570 As Dimples Eight Two, the Enola Gay’s unlikely designation that day, he reconstructs his dialogue with the Tinian control tower: I forgot the atom bomb and concentrated on the cockpit check. I called the tower. “Dimples Eight Two to North Tinian Tower. Taxi-out and take-off instructions.” “Dimples Eight Two from North Tinian Tower. Take off to the east on Runway A for Able.” At the end of the runway, another call to the tower and a quick response: “Dimples Eight Two cleared for take-off.”
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