Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
2:02 | After having served with Paul Tibbets in Europe and North Africa, Dutch Van Kirk gets contacted by Tibbets for a very special and secretive mission in late 1944.
Dutch Van Kirk recalls his first experience as a B-17 navigator during World War II.
On his sixth mission over Europe, Dutch Van Kirk remembers his B-17 being jumped by a group of German fighters.
Dutch Van Kirk describes the inherent complications in having 100 bombers in the air at the same time over Europe.
Dutch Van Kirk, a B-17 navigator, lists the typical targets that his squadron bombed in Europe.
Dutch Van Kirk remembers one particular mission where his B-17 bombed the wrong target in France during World War II.
While stationed in England, Dutch Van Kirk gives a walk-through of a typical B-17 bombing mission and talks about how tricky flying in formations could be.
Dutch Van Kirk talks about special missions delivering VIPs into North Africa before the invasion in 1942.
Shortly after arriving in North Africa, Dutch Van Kirk describes the memorable sight of an invasion fleet steaming through the Strait of Gibraltar in 1942.
Dutch Van Kirk, a B-17 navigator, describes a few memorable missions he flew over North Africa.
Having been chosen as a navigator to deliver the atomic bomb, Dutch Van Kirk recalls the precautions that were taken to ensure his aircraft would not be harmed by the atomic blast.
Dutch Van Kirk compares the differences between the B-17 aircraft he flew in over Europe and the B-29 he flew in delivering the first atomic bomb to Hiroshima.
In preparation for dropping the atomic bomb, Dutch Van Kirk recalls practicing on Japanese factories with non-atomic payloads.
Dutch Van Kirk describes the differences between the two atomic bombs dropped over Japan, the "Fat Man" and "Little Boy", and how each worked.
Dutch Van Kirk describes the specific orders he was given for dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and gives a brief timeline of events leading up to the mission.
Dutch Van Kirk gives a detailed account of his mission to deliver the atomic bomb to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
Dutch Van Kirk describes why Hiroshima was chosen as an atomic bomb target by the United States.
Dutch Van Kirk talks about why he thinks the atomic bombs were necessary to help end the war with Japan.
Dutch Van Kirk remembers taking part in the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests after the end of World War II.
