The General Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1947)

http://thefilmarchive.org/

Hiroshima was the primary target of the first nuclear bombing mission on August 6, with Kokura and Nagasaki being alternative targets. August 6 was chosen because clouds had previously obscured the target. The 393d Bombardment Squadron B-29 Enola Gay, piloted and commanded by 509th Composite Group commander Colonel Paul Tibbets, was launched from North Field airbase on Tinian in the West Pacific, about six hours flight time from Japan. The Enola Gay (named after Colonel Tibbets' mother) was accompanied by two other B-29s. The Great Artiste, commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney, carried instrumentation; and a then-nameless aircraft later called Necessary Evil (the photography aircraft) was commanded by Captain George Marquardt.

The release at 08:15 (Hiroshima time) went as planned, and the gravity bomb known as "Little Boy", a gun-type fission weapon with 60 kilograms (130 lb) of uranium-235, took 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft flying at 31,060 feet (9,470 m) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,900 feet (580 m) above the city. The Enola Gay had traveled 11.5 miles (18.5 km) away before it felt the shock waves from the blast.

Due to crosswind, it missed the aiming point, the Aioi Bridge, by almost 800 feet (240 m) and detonated directly over Shima Surgical Clinic. It created a blast equivalent to about 13 kilotons of TNT (54 TJ). (The U-235 weapon was considered very inefficient, with only 1.38% of its material fissioning.) The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2). Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles (12 km2) of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima's buildings were destroyed and another 6--7% damaged.

70,000--80,000 people, or some 30% of the population of Hiroshima were killed immediately, and another 70,000 injured. Over 90% of the doctors and 93% of the nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured—most had been in the downtown area which received the greatest damage.

Although the U.S. had previously dropped leaflets warning civilians of air raids on 35 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the residents of Hiroshima were given no notice of the atomic bomb.

On the morning of August 9, 1945, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, flown by the crew of 393rd Squadron commander Major Charles W. Sweeney, carried the nuclear bomb code-named "Fat Man", with Kokura as the primary target and Nagasaki the secondary target. The mission plan for the second attack was nearly identical to that of the Hiroshima mission, with two B-29s flying an hour ahead as weather scouts and two additional B-29s in Sweeney's flight for instrumentation and photographic support of the mission. Sweeney took off with his weapon already armed but with the electrical safety plugs still engaged.

At 11:01, a last minute break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed Bockscar's bombardier, Captain Kermit Beahan, to visually sight the target as ordered. The "Fat Man" weapon, containing a core of ~6.4 kg (14.1 lbs.) of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city's industrial valley. It exploded 43 seconds later at 469 meters (1,540 ft) above the ground exactly halfway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works) in the north. This was nearly 3 kilometers (2 mi) northwest of the planned hypocenter; the blast was confined to the Urakami Valley and a major portion of the city was protected by the intervening hills. The resulting explosion had a blast yield equivalent to 21 kilotons of TNT (88 TJ). The explosion generated heat estimated at 3,900 degrees Celsius (4,200 K, 7,000 °F) and winds that were estimated at 1005 km/h (624 mph).

Casualty estimates for immediate deaths range from 40,000 to 75,000. Total deaths by the end of 1945 may have reached 80,000. At least eight known POWs died from the bombing and as many as 13 POWs may have died: One British Commonwealth citizen died in the bombing. Seven Dutch POWs (two names known) died in the bombing. At least two POWs reportedly died postwar from cancer thought to have been caused by the atomic bomb.

The radius of total destruction was about a mile (1--2 km), followed by fires across the northern portion of the city to two miles (3 km) south of the bomb.

One American POW, Joe Kieyoomia, was in Nagasaki at the time of the bombing but survived, reportedly having been shielded from the effects of the bomb by the concrete walls of his cell.

An unknown number of survivors from the Hiroshima bombing had made their way to Nagasaki, where they were bombed again.

The Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, the factory that manufactured the type 91 torpedoes released in Pearl Harbor, was destroyed in the blast.

There is also a peace monument and Bell of Nagasaki in the Kokura.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

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[sonyjuggalette1234]

I wish this would have never happened .

I also wish Pearl Harbor wasn't attacked .

WAR SUCKS !

[wakeus777]

I believe america is in the spot it is today bcuz of its past sins. Granted we needed to defeat the nazis and the evil of the world. but in turn we have become the very evil e sought to destroy. Somehow "thou shalt not kill" seems to be above all the excuses and reasons for war, yet we throw it out w the garbage bcuz of the whole patriotic imperative we use in exchange for the betrayal of our own personal principles...

[cjcj0001]

serves the japs right!

[Italianarutofansub]

rectified: THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE OF THE DICK

[1234rtka]

heh i think americans deserv to die

[MegaTrolleater]

@dalecampbl6  tthats true John Rabe tried to protect the people a nanjing

[shubhamgrg]

i wish this will never never happened in our life and our life will become peaceful for ever and ever

[Wassouf10]

USA+ISRAEL=Alliance of satan, terror countries

[STRAINHUNTER420]

@sonyjuggalette1234 true..but simple as this thanks for pearl harbor(not).your welcome for hiroshima(not)

[KEEPINGit200]

Man fuck u..America did not wanted this war.. since the japs wanted to be smart, America had to be smarter..and We won..

[FreedomLover1973]

@uriel25sc Fuck you! They started it, and WE FINISHED IT! They should have surrendered after the first one, but they didn't. So they got plan B! Bitch, isn't it?