What You Can Do
- Learn more about Manhattan Project sites across the country and how you can get involved.
- Visit the National Air & Space Museum where the Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay" currently resides.
11 Most Endangered
The Manhattan Project's Enola Gay Hangar
Year Listed: 2009
Location: Wendover , Utah
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Deterioration
Latest News
The preservation of this 11 Most site was supported by Save America's Treasures, a program that is facing elimination in the proposed federal budget. Join our campaign to save this component of preservation funding, which has restored 1,100 structures and collections and created 16,000 jobs coast to coast.
The Manhattan Project's Enola Gay Hangar
The Manhattan Project's Enola Gay Hangar
The Manhattan Project's Enola Gay Hangar
The Manhattan Project's Enola Gay Hangar
Significance
It is a name synonymous with a moment in history that was both devastating and defining. The Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress airplane that dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, still evokes strong emotions more than six decades after its fateful mission. The operation to deploy the "Little Man" bomb began at Wendover Air Force Base, the remote facility 100 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Army Air Force's 509th Composite Group conducted top-secret assembly of prototype atomic weapons and aircraft training as part of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government's classified program to develop a nuclear bomb. In June of 1945, the still-unnamed B-29, commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, left Wendover and flew to California, Hawaii, Kwajalein and then to the Pacific island of Tinian. Here, Tibbets had the name "Enola Gay" painted on the bomber's nose in honor of his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, and, on August 6, executed the history-making mission. Although the Enola Gay has been restored, the Wendover hangar where the plane was stored prior to its deployment is severely deteriorated, as are many other important sites associated with the Manhattan Project.
After the war, Wendover was used for training exercises and as a research facility. Closed by the Air Force in 1969; the airfield is now owned by the City, and the historic buildings are operated in cooperation with the Historic Wendover Airfiled group. The famed Enola Gay is today fully restored and on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the Wendover hangar is in a critical state of disrepair requiring between $5 and $6 million to completely restore the structure and turn it into a public museum.
Updates
April 2009: Five years ago, recognizing the significance of the Manhattan Project to American and world history, Congress directed the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior to study the feasibility of creating a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Because the Manhattan Project took shape in more than a dozen states, a park would encompass many geographically diverse areas, from the mountains and deserts of the West to the island of Manhattan, the project's namesake and site of its first headquarters.
In 2000, eight sites were designated by the Department of Energy as "Signature Facilities of the Manhattan Project." Only one, the "V Site" at Los Alamos, N.M. – where the atomic bombs were designed – has been restored. The future of five others, including the K-25 uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., currently threatened with demolition, may be in jeopardy.
Site videos produced by Polivision Productions.
Share your memories of this endangered place
Submitted by Janice at: February 25, 2010
Interesting points have been made here; however, just as generals have to pick their battles, so goes it with preserving buildings and sites. I must disagree with Johnny5 that the bomber itself is not sufficient. Wherever the Enola Gay is, she will represent her mission and all involved. Perhaps a workable compromise would be to take the enscribed pieces mentioned by Frontier Foodtown and create a more encompassing display at the National Air & Space Museum.
Submitted by Johnny5 at: February 25, 2010
It is not certain that the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki caused the surrender of Japan, nor is it appropriate to post conjecture on the preservation or restoration of the hangar based on the morality of the event it symbolizes. The concentration camp at Auschwitz is not preserved as a monument to the merits of the Holocaust. It is preserved not only so that people can visit and pay tribute to lost souls, but to provide physical evidence of an event. This evidence is extremely important, especially in a case surrounded by controversy, such as the Enola Gay Hangar. Five million may be too much to spend on this building, but that figure includes the costs of turning it into a museum. It could alternatively be preserved as physical evidence of an event. The bomber itself is not sufficient as it does not signify location, being an object that has been moved from its original site.
Submitted by BootsAreWalkin at: December 16, 2009
The hanger doesn't deserve preservation. But it is ludicrous to hear people condemn the bombs. I hear no lamentation today of the Rape of Nanking, Bataan Death March, or other war crimes committed by the Japanese government which dwarfed the A bomb death tolls, nor of the hundreds of thousands Japanese lives saved over the A bomb toll by bringing the war to an abrupt halt instead of having to invade Japan. As abhorrent as they were, they saved lives on the whole, and were the lesser evil.
Submitted by Jim at: November 6, 2009
Linni, the terrible thing in history were the atrocities committed by the Japanese against the Chinese, Americans and allies. The terrible thing was World War II and the holocast. You can write your comments in comfort and peace because WW II was ended the way it did. The terrible thing would have been a half a million Americans and a million Japanese killed if the bomb had not been dropped. You need to study your history, that's why this needs to be saved -- to provide exhibits and documentation about our history so that it need not be repeated.
Submitted by Linni at: October 4, 2009
It was a terrible thing in history, why not build a monument instead and recycle the wasted building? A park, anything.
Submitted by frontier foodtown at: September 7, 2009
My family Owned and operated the now smiths food king known, at that time as frontier foodtown, during the 1990'' When we first moved to wendover we rented the enola gay hangar as a place to store all are fixtures and equipment while building our grocery store.IMO I hope they restore the Enola Gay hangar, while our equipment was being stored i had the chance to explore the hangar I found places where the service men who served there during WW2 had signed their names and dated when they served on ceiling beams that are now exposed to the weather there is alot of history in that building and it would be a shame to see it go to waste
Submitted by htapley at: August 27, 2009
Let's be honest here. Who cares if the hangar falls to pieces? The Enola Gay has been preserved at the Smithsonian, this should suffice. It seems outrageous to spend 5 or 6 million for restoration on a deteriorating hangar in the middle of nowhere. Who would visit the museum?
Submitted by Elizabeth at: April 28, 2009
I, also, have never heard of this site in Wendover until I heard about it on NBC news this evening. All I ever heard about in Wendover was that it was a gambling mecca. Of all the places on the endangered list this is the one that must be saved. Its historical significance cannot be overestimated
Submitted by heidikins at: April 28, 2009
I live in SLC and have never heard of this site in Wendover. Most locals here think of Wendover as the armpit of the state and only go out there to get a legalized gambling fix. Perhaps Wendover City needs to start a publicity campaign to get the population closest to it (Salt Lake area proper) informed that this even exists.
Submitted by Jolieteddie at: April 28, 2009
The hangar is impressive, but focusing on that one building at Wendover blurs the overall historicity of the site. Other structures (the bomb pits, the barracks, control tower), the airfield itself, and the stark environmental setting provide important context for this one structure. It was disappointing to have these other features at Wendover barely mentioned and largely ignored. Nonetheless, I hope that this citation brings the resources needed to at least partially restore and sustain Wendover as a national historic site.