Hiroshima was the primary target of the first atomic bombing mission on August 6, with Kokura and Nagasaki as alternative targets. The 393d Bombardment Squadron B-29 Enola Gay, named after Tibbets’ mother and piloted by Tibbets, took off from North Field, Tinian, about six hours’ flight time from Japan. Enola Gay was accompanied by two other B-29s: The Great Artiste, commanded by Major Charles Sweeney, which carried instrumentation, and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil, commanded by Captain George Marquardt, which served as the photography aircraft.
he population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing, the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack, the population was approximately 340,000–350,000. Residents wondered why Hiroshima had been spared destruction by firebombing. Some speculated that the city was to be saved for U.S. occupation headquarters, others thought perhaps their relatives in Hawaii and California had petitioned the U.S. government to avoid bombing Hiroshima. More realistic city officials had ordered buildings torn down to create long, straight firebreaks. These continued to be expanded and extended up to the morning of August 6, 1945.
#AtomicBomb #PhysicalDamage #BlastEffect #Hiroshima
Publication date: 1946-03-13
Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0
Topics: WWII, World War, 1939-1945, WWII In Color, World War, 1939-1945 — Japan, World War II, United States. Army Air Forces, Hiroshima-shi (Japan), A-bomb, Hiroshima-shi (Japan) — History — Bombardment, 1945, Atomic Bomb
Addeddate: 2014-08-03 23:49:21
Color: color Ia_orig__runtime 21 minutes 57 seconds
Identifier : USAF-1107
Identifier-ark : ark:/13960/t8kd4nn3r
Run time: 21:57
Scanner: Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.5.2
Sound: silent
Year: 1946
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