A-BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA
Hiroshima, Japan (JFK+50) On August 6, 1945, the world officially entered the "Atomic Age"* as the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese industrial city Hiroshima.
The weapon was dropped from the B-29 "Enola Gay"** piloted by Paul Tibbets**. It detonated 2000 feet above the city at 8:15 in the morning.
The A-bomb exploded with the force of 15,000 tons of TNT. Ground temperature reached 7000 degrees F. in one second. People one-half mile from ground zero were vaporized.
Total destruction was seen within a one mile radius of the blast. 75% of the city was destroyed with 80,000 people killed instantly and 170,000 more injured.
The United States hoped by using this "awful weapon" the government of Imperial Japan would quickly surrender. As President Harry S Truman said...
"If (the Japanese) do not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth."
*Atomic Age (1945-1960) a period of history following detonation of the first atomic weapon which actually came on July 16, 1945 with the Trinity test in New Mexico.
**Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber named after the mother of the pilot. It is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
***Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (1915-2007) was born in Illinois & attended University of Florida & University of Cincinnati. PWT was promoted to Brigadier General in the USAF in 1964.
SOURCE
"The Most Fearsome Sight: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima," The National World War II Museum, August 6, 2020, www.nationalww2museum.org/
