Managerial skill can be taught command presence is genetic. Civilians constantly try to equate this military phrase with some sort of unique managerial skill. For one who has never “pulled a hitch in the regulars,” it is difficult to relate to the phrase “command presence.” It refers to a man with innate qualities who, without seeming effort, compels other men to follow into harm’s way. Not only was he a gifted pilot, but was one of a handful who can do things with an airplane that even its designers never envisioned. There are two phrases for these exceptional aviators: “He was born to fly” and “He’s a real stick and rudder man.” Both applied to Paul Tibbets. There are two kinds of pilots: those who learn to fly by dint of hard work and determination and those few for whom the sky seems to be their natural element. It would prove to be a momentous decision. On the advice of his tactical officer, he chose observation. Unlike all the other men who had a choice of career paths, he did not opt for fighter training. With his mother’s blessing and his father’s condemnation, that is what Paul did. During the Depression era, there was only one avenue open for people of modest means to become pilots-enlist in the Aviation Cadet program. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but he wanted to fly. Certitude with attitude can be a bit much, and Paul Tibbets, by any measure, can be a bit much by half.įrom the day he graduated from Western Military Academy in North Alton, Illinois, to the present, there has never been an assignment at which he did not excel. He has never been able to abide adequacy, much less foolishness. From his earliest days he exuded a self-confidence that could be, and frequently was, insufferable. He is, and for all of his adult life has been, a most remarkable man. But it was the irascible and often abrasive General Tibbets who piloted the plane, and it is he who is credited with, or blamed for, history’s single most notable act of warfare. Within that hairsplitting context, the late Tom Ferebee actually dropped the weapon. Bomber pilots do not drop bombs, bombardiers do. He is the man who is credited with dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
is one of the most famous men of the 20th century. Perhaps even flirted with greatness.Īlthough not one American in 10,000 can place it, a good case can be made that, absent the name, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. He has the countenance and bearing of a man who has spent time on fields of high adventure and great achievement. Only his hearing betrays him: He is as close to stone deaf as one can get and still hear. His walk has slowed, but he remains erect and dignified. He does look like an old man, but not a 90-year-old man. His gaze, even with the heavied lids of age, is intense. Today, in his nineties, Paul Tibbets is still a handsome man.