Little Boy

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/Tinian/image3.shtml Power point created by Robert L. MartinezPrimary Content Source: A History of Us, War, Peace, and All that Jazz, Joy Hakim

The men of the 509th Composite Group have been carefully chosen

from a group of ace pilots. All have volunteered for a special mission.

No one tells them what the mission will be.

http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp?galleryID=5395

Whatever the mission is, they know they will be flying B-29s, the big bombers that are known as the

superfortress.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/2674464220/

Right away, there is something strange about the training. Instead of flying planes loaded with huge bombs, they train with a single

moderate sized bomb.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21734563@N04/2103016206/

Meanwhile, in Washington, President Truman has come to a

decision. He has called on two teams of experts: a team of scientists and a team of civilians and soldiers. They

are to help him decide about the new super weapon.

http://www.edu.lahti.fi/~vvaljakk/WW%20II?S=A

Both teams agree: the weapon should be used. They believe it will

bring the war to an end in the Pacific. Without it, the war could continue for 10 or more years.

http://www.pacificislandbooks.com/solomons.htm

Military chiefs, who don’t know about the secret weapon, are

pushing Truman to let them invade Japan. If that happens, America can

expect a million casualties.

http://www.interet-general.info/article.php3?id_article=154 http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetadventure/2465423927/

Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., is commander of the 509th. He has named his plane the Enola Gay,

after his mother.

http://www.danzfamily.com/archives/people

In early August, a single bomb 28 inches in diameter and 10 feet long is loaded onto the Enola Gay. The

bomb weighs four metric tons, and is nicknamed Little Boy.

http://lettres-histoire.ac-rouen.fr/histgeo/bombe_atomique.htm

A similar device was exploded in the New Mexican desert (Trinity test), but no one knows exactly what will happen when one is dropped from

an airplane.

http://rageboy.com/mbimages?N=D

Colonel Tibbets and the others now realize that this is dangerous stuff

they are about to handle. If the Enola Gay crashes on takeoff, as some B-29s have done, the small island of Tinian could disappear.

http://www.lastplace.com/UFOArt?N=D

The plan is to drop Little Boy on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Hiroshima has been selected because of its war-making industries and because it is the headquarters

of the 2nd Japanese Army.

http://www.jlhs.nhusd.k12.ca.us/Classes/social_science/spapas/ssja/Anderson,%20Lumb.web/introtoatomicbomb.html

On August 4, more than 700,000 leaflets are dropped on Hiroshima

warning that the city will be attacked. The warning is not taken

seriously.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamidwyer/981578180/

Captain William S. Parsons, of the U.S. Navy, is a surprise passenger on

the Enola Gay. He has decided he will put the detonating parts of the bomb together after the plane is in

the air. He feels it will be safer.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wparsons.htm

At 1:45 a.m. on August 6, 1945, three B-29s take off for Japan. They

will scout the weather and target area.

http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/history/article.asp?id=737

The Enola Gay will follow an hour later.. The night is perfect, with shining stars and a picture-book

moon.

http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/history/article.asp?id=737

For most people in Hiroshima the workday begins at 8 a.m. by 8:10, factories and shops are beginning to buzz. On August 6, the entire 2nd Japanese Army is on a field doing calisthenics.

http://www.grafixnpix.com/wwii/impja1.htm

It is a bright, sunny morning and some children can be seen outdoors playing. As the clocks near 8:15 a.m., the radio station reports that B-29s have been spotted heading for Hiroshima.

http://www.jetantique.net/cont/soon.htm

At 8:15 a.m. the Enola Gay’s bomb bay opens; Little Boy is on his way.

http://www.444thbg.org/stoltzpage.htm

The size and fury of the explosion are greater than anything ever before created by humans.

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52511

The airmen are still able to see the inferno clearly when they have put 270 miles between themselves and

the target. It is a sight they will never forget.

www.stenbergaa.com/stenberg/item1244c.html

http://www.astrosurf.org/luxorion/quantique-bombes-atomiques-pic.htm

The atomic bomb has created a fireball whose center reaches 4000

degrees Celsius (iron melts at 1,550 degrees Celsius.) The fireball gives birth to a shock wave and then a

high-speed wind.

http://www.astrosurf.org/luxorion/quantique-bombes-atomiques-pic.htm

Buildings are smashed by wave and wind and burned by fire. Dust for destroyed buildings makes the city night-dark within minutes of the bombing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssleung/2973849802/

The wind tosses people about. Thermal rays burn their bodies. As the fireball fades, a vacuum at the

blast’s center pulls up dust, air, and bomb debris, creating an enormous mushroom cloud that rises into the

atmosphere.

http://www.b-29s-over-korea.com/Paul-Tibbets-Tribute/Paul-Tibbets-Tribute2.html

Within minutes, the 2nd Japanese Army no longer exists. Seventy-eight

thousand people are dead. One hundred thousand are injured.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriggy/2850401088/

The atomic age has begun.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soberch/2830106167/

Nagasaki is bombed just days later.

http://www.badeagle.com/journal/archives?D=A