When the tall rudder began to bite the air at 60 to 65 mph, he gave command of the throttles to his flight engineer, Wyatt Duzenberry, who set maximum power. Lined up with the runway, Tibbets “stood” the throttles, “walking” them differentially to keep the nosewheel on the centerline. There were uncertainties about this flight, explaining why in one pocket Tibbets carried a small box containing 12 cyanide tablets.
None of his 11 crewmembers knew the exact nature of this mission, and they would not know until after takeoff. Paul Tibbets steered the Superfortress onto the asphalt and crushed-coral runway.
