The Wendover hangar has undergone restoration work for about a year under a Save America’s Treasures grant from the National Park Service. State prison inmates are working on the project, which includes roof repairs.

“It’s a challenge because it’s an old building and it’s not the straightest building,” said construction supervisor Matt Gates. “But we’ll get it done. It needs to be done.”

The hangar near the Bonneville Salt Flats is part of the Historic Wendover Airfield, which includes a museum, flight tower, barracks and an officer’s club. It was a training site for crews that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.

Wendover Airport Director Jim Petersen said he ultimately would like the hangar and surrounding buildings to be listed as a National Historic Monument.

While the hangar is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Petersen said getting on the monuments list would bring it more attention.

“The people that come really need to know what went on,” he said. “They really need to understand the story and the sacrifice of our World War II veterans.”

Hiroshima, Japan was instantly flattened and an estimated 140,000 people were killed or died within months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload in the waning days of World War II.

Three days after that attack, the American B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped a plutonium bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered a short time later, ending World War II.

The Utah hangar, which also housed Bockscar before the bombing, is a piece of history that finally is being remembered, Petersen said.

“It really deserves a great deal more than where we are, but we’ve made a lot of progress,” he said.