Recommended For Promotion To General Officer

Air Force Col. Paul W. Tibbets IV has been nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Tibbets is currently serving as deputy director, operations, Headquarters Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale Air Force Base, LA, according to a Defense Department release.

Tibbets is the grandson of Brig. Gen Paul Tibbets Jr., the pilot who famously flew the B-29 Enola Gay which dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan during WWII.

In an Air Force Global Strike Command News Release dated 11/21/13, it was noted that "Col. Paul Tibbets IV, Air Force Global Strike Command deputy director of operations, was certified to fly the B-52H Stratofortress bomber" at Barksdale AFB. That accomplishment made him one of a select number trained to fly all three U.S. Air Force bomber platforms.

He had flown the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers during previous assignments.

"This is not an accomplishment many achieve," said 93rd Bomb Squadron B-52 Formal Training Unit commander Lt. Col. James Morriss. "The bomber pilot community is small and most stay with one bomber platform."

The B-52 in which Col. Tibbets qualified had the same nose art as the elder Tibbets' B-17 during WWII which he flew as part of the first Flying Fortress mission into German-occupied Europe.

"My grandfather had a passion for aviation and most specifically, bombers," Col. Tibbets said in the 2013 release. "It is a privilege to follow in the footsteps of my hero and to fly the nose art that my grandfather flew in 1942. I am honored to play a small part in keeping his legacy alive today!"

(Image from USAF news release. U.S. Air Force Capt. Kerry Baker applies nose art on a 93rd Bomb Squadron B-52H Stratofortress, Nov. 15, 2013, Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The original "Red Gremlin" nose art was on a World War II B-17 bomber piloted by Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, Jr.)

FMI: www.af.mil