American casualties in a conventional invasion would have run into hundreds of thousands, and would still have been dwarfed by Japanese suffering. And I've had Japanese since tell me that we saved their lives, too, because the invasion would have been nothing but bloodshed. His view never wavered:'It is the principle that we wanted to save lives. He was, on the accounts of those who knew him, a humane man who reflected publicly and thoughtfully on the A-bomb decision, the lives it cost and also the lives it saved. There is much to be said about Gen Tibbets's long life and public service, but one characteristic stands out. (The plane he flew, the Enola Gay, was named after his mother.) You can read a jaundiced account of his career on BBC News Online. Paul Tibbets, pilot of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb, died today.