Enola gay south park
In "Whale Whores", the Japanese are presented with a doctored picture of the Enola Gay, the B Superfortress bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. That 50 years ago, the Japanese were minding their own business, when Enola Gay dropped the Atomic bomb Little Boy. The emperor shows what happened with the video screen, Cartman scoffs at it, causes Akihito to sternly glare at him, but Cartman cowardly defends himself: "Little gas, excuse me".
Claiming the U.S. government has authorized him to show the "original" photo, Stan presents the Emperor, Prime Minister Yukio Hayotama, and other Japanese officials with a new doctored photo showing a cow and chicken in the Enola Gay (created by Kyle, who Stan managed to phone beforehand). Xanatos Speed Chess: Stan wants to save the whales and dolphins, but he can't tell the Japanese the truth without Americans everywhere (including himself) suffering.
He quickly gets the idea to have Kyle Photoshop the Enola Gay photo to "prove" that the perpetrators were really a chicken and a cow. M subscribers in the southpark community. A subreddit dedicated to the ongoing events in the little town of South Park, Colorado. This is the original B bomber plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima — now an exhibit at an aviation museum at Washington Dulles Airport.
More background info: The A-bomb attack on Hiroshima , Japan , carried out by the USA 's "Enola Gay" B bomber, changed the world forever — not only did it more or less wipe out that Japanese city in an unprecedented manner, it was also the beginning of the atomic age, which during the Cold War could have heralded the end of the world. As such this one plane could hardly be of darker significance.
In the USA the dropping of the A-bomb is widely seen as good thing, though, as it allegedly helped in shortening the final stages of WWII in the Pacific , thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives that may otherwise have been lost in a land invasion of the Japanese homeland. In Japan it's seen somewhat differently, as you might expect.
For more on the decision to drop the bomb and the validity of various pro and counter arguments see under Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After WWII, the "Enola Gay" remained in service for a while, and also took part in Operation Crossroads in Bikini although not in the role of dropping another bomb , but soon after that she was decommissioned.
It was, however, decided early on that she should be preserved.
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So in she was handed over to the Smithsonian Institute. For decades she was moved from one storage facility to another — always out of public view — where she also underwent major restoration work in the s. The cause of the controversy was not the display of this infamous piece of war machinery as such, no, it was the fact that the surrounding exhibition allegedly focused "too much" on the devastation the bomb caused.
Presumably, certain interest groups wanted the act portrayed in a more positive, more "patriotic" light. Meanwhile, the fully restored "Enola Gay" can be seen at the Smithsonian. To avoid any controversy, the plane is now simply treated just like any of the other plus objects on display, i. So you have to use your imagination and background knowledge to get a full feel for its sinister aura.
The Udvar-Hazy Center, by the way, is a fairly recent addition to the Smithsonian, opened in It had become necessary since the original museum on the Mall was already chock full and could never have housed complete planes of this size anyway. The somewhat strange name of this museum branch was taken from its main sponsor, a billionaire aviation businessman of Hungarian descent, whose initial 65 million dollar donation made the construction of the museum possible in the first place.
What there is to see: The plane as such wouldn't really stand out if it wasn't for its history. It is quite big, OK, but there are bigger ones in the museum even a Concorde. Its silver, cigar-like fuselage body is arguably also not particularly pretty compared to many a different aircraft type. On the port side just behind the cockpit there's the name in simple black letters no additional decorative painting such as on the "Bockscar".
You can see it from ground level, i. The plane stands slightly elevated on yellow platforms — but is cordoned off, so you can't walk under it. Or you can see it from a gallery walkway that leads past it at just a little higher elevation than the cockpit so that you can peek inside. To understand the dark significance of this unique object you have to know a bit about its history before you get to see it here.
The museum doesn't exactly rub your face in it. OK, there is an explanatory text panel that briefly mentions the "Enola Gay's" special role, but otherwise the effects of the first A-bombing of a city in history is not dwelled on in any detail at all. It is thus not easy to fully grasp the dark aura that this aircraft potentially exudes or should exude.
In fact, this may completely pass by many a casual visitor who's not previously been aware of the "Enola Gay". I've witnessed kids who only at a second glance grasped it — to much jubilation, as this is clearly something really thrilling. I also overheard a museum guide outlining the plane's story and special role to his tour group. The devastation caused by the bomb was dutifully mentioned, but the emphasis was firmly and squarely on the typical American interpretation, namely: that it was an unavoidable sacrifice in order to save probably millions of lives that would otherwise necessarily have been lost — also on the Japanese side!