The restoration, one of the most extensive such projects ever undertaken, is nearly complete. They have decided that 50 years after the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb code-named 'Little Boy' on Japan, the plane will be put on display in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. 'Our objective,' said Bernie Poppert, a one-time aircraft mechanic who has been one of the leaders of the effort, 'is to preserve the history of the technology, so people can look at it 250 years from now and see exactly how it was done.'īut for even longer than technicians have worked to preserve the plane, officials have debated what should be done with it. For nearly a decade now, technicians have been at work restoring the bomber, perhaps the most famed artifact of World War II, to mint condition.
