Six survivors and around 50 peace activists visited a new museum where the shiny, restored Boeing B-20 Superfortress has just gone on public display, holding pictures of hideously burned victims among tens of thousands killed or injured by the blast.

Two men were arrested after a bottle of red paint, meant to symbolise blood, was thrown, denting a panel on one side of the plane, parked in a new annex to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

One was charged with destruction of property, the other man faces loitering charges, police said.

"This is the second time I have seen the Enola Gay," said Hiroshima survivor Minoru Nishino, 71, who was two kilometres (miles) from the epicentre of the blast, and still bears scars.

"The first time was on August 6, 1945, when I saw it flying high in the sky.

"When I saw the Enola Gay today, I was overcome by anger."

Another survivor, Tamiko Tomonaga, 74, said she had travelled from Japan in memory of the dead.

But their act of remembrance beside the plane, was too much for some museum visitors, who angrily chanted ""Remember Pearl Harbor" and "What about the Nanjing massacre?" referring to actions of imperial Japanese forces.

"My Dad fought in the war -- go home" shouted another man.

Fifty-eight years after Hiroshima bombing, and a second atom bomb strike on Nagasaki, opinion here on the first nuclear strikes is still sharply divided.

Opponents argue the action, which killed up to 230,000 people if those who died from radiation sickeness are included, was nothing short of a war crime.

Some historians contend however, that despite the horror of the bombings, they shortened the war with Japan, thus saving untold lives.

Both viewpoints vied for prominence at the museum on Monday, just under the flightpath of Dulles international airport outside Washington, which also houses a retired Air France Concorde and a space shuttle prototype.

Survivors are disappointed the plane is being displayed with no reference to casualty figures at Hiroshima.

"We would not mind the plane going on display if they showed the tragedy they caused," said Tomonaga, a Red Cross nurse at the time of the bombing.

The Enola Gay bears a label describing it as the "most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II."

The text mentions the technological prowess of the aircraft and how it "found its niche on the other side of the globe."

"On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan."

"They (Japan) started the war by bombing our servicemen in Pearl Harbor, they should go and stand on the deck of the Arizona," said one man who refused to give his name, referring to a US ship sunk in the raid, now a memorial.

Another visitor to the museum, Joe Lassals, said, "I am thinking of all the American soldiers who were killed -- why don't they remember them?"

The museum's director, retired general John Dailey, has resisted groups who want the death toll from the Hiroshima bombings included.

"We don't do it for other airplanes," he told AFP. "From a consistency standpoint, we focus on the technical aspects."

The museum says its stance is consistent with the mission entrusted to it by US Congress, which is to display and preserve historic and technologically significant air and space craft.

SPACE.WIRE