DAYTON, Ohio, April 18 (UPI) -- The Vectren Dayton Air Show in Ohio has dropped plans to stage a re-enactment of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II.
The announcement was made Wednesday, the same day opponents of the event began an online petition, the Dayton Daily News reported. Gabriela Pickett, curator of the Missing Peace Art Space in Dayton and the organizer of the petition, said the staging was "the glamorization of destruction."
Terry Grevious, the executive director of the air show, said the re-enactment was intended to mark an event that saved thousands and possibly millions of lives by convincing Japanese leaders to surrender.
The event would have featured a pyrotechnic show combined with a display by a B-29 bomber like the Enola Gay, the one that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945.
"Many people feel because so many lives were lost it was not appropriate, so we decided not to go forward with it," he said.
The B-29 will still be part of the air show but not linked to the pyrotechnic show. The show, similar to others put on in the past. will not have any suggestion of semblance to World War II bombing.
The air show, now sponsored by the energy company Vectren Corp., has been held since the era of the Wright brothers, who built their first plane in Dayton. The show is scheduled to be held June 22-23 at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia.
