In 1995, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) created an exhibit to feature the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb in the history of warfare on Hiroshima, Japan.
During this period, he was a leading member of the Committee for the Restoration and Proper Display of the Enola Gay (CRPDEG). After the war, Bennett had a long career in the concrete contractor business in the greater Chicago, Illinois area. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps before Pearl Harbor and was discharged in October, 1945.ĭuring his years of service, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
He was a member of the 40th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) of the XX Bomber Command in the China/Burma/India (CBI) Theater of Operations as well as Tinian in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. He flew combat missions in B-29’s as a radar operator and combat aerial photographer. Burr Bennett had a life-long interest in the Enola Gay Controversy as a result of his military service.
