By 1995 they had collected 25,000 signatures. They managed to collect over 5,000 signatures during the 1980’s and raised $22,000 in donations to assist in the restoration. These "5 old men" were very proactive and vocal in their push for the restoration and display of the plane bringing the plight of the Enola Gay to the attention of the AFA and other veterans groups. A group of “5 old men” veterans of WWII and B29 bombers during the war began a campaign to have the Enola Gay fully restored and displayed.
Many wanted it displayed at the NASM in Washington but the plane was too big and heavy to be accommodated in the museum. Restoration began in 1985, and with the restoration came the push for the plane to be put on display. In 1980 a group of veterans went to see their plane which was in pieces and not as well preserved as they may have expected, this visit provided the impetus for the restoration of the Enola Gay. At that point it was decided that she should be dismantled and taken to the Smithsonian’s storage facility in Suitland Maryland, where she was moved in 1960 – 1961 to prevent any further deterioration. After seven years left exposed to the elements the Enola Gay was in poor condition. Also birds, animals and insects began to make her their home. During the years she was located at the base, souvenir hunters broke in and stole parts. While at Andrews the Enola Gay was left outside and unlocked under the care of the Air Force, who did not have the hangar space to keep the plane covered. The Smithsonian took possession of the Enola Gay in 1949 in working order, but with the outbreak of the Korean War the Enola Gay had to be moved from its home at Park Ridge, where it was now in the way, and was transferred temporarily to Pyote Air Force base in Texas before finally being moved to Andrews Air Force base in 1953. The importance of the museum, particularly to the Air Force and the veterans who served in it, were inevitably going to have an interest in the preservation and display of this most famous of aircraft. The NASM’s decision to display the Enola Gay in this most historic of years, as the most popular museum in the world, dedicated to preserving and showcasing the most advanced air technology meant that its treatment of this aircraft was always going to be perceived as that of the American Government, as official history. Fifty years later with the commemoration of the end of World War II, this highly emotive event would be brought to the forefront and with it would come a fight between different groups with different agendas and perceptions of that event. The Enola Gay controversy that erupted in 1994 – 1995 with the planned exhibition by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum of the airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, had its beginnings on 6th August 1945.