At 14:58 on August 6, 1945, the "Enola Gay" (Enola Gay) B-29 "Super Fortress" bomber that turned Hiroshima, Japan into ruins + mass crematorium, flew for 12 After hours and 13 minutes, he returned to the "North Field" (North Field) on Tinian Island.
returns to the "North Field" where "Enola Gay" is about to land.
's "North Field" at that time can be said to be very lively, with dozens of military reporters, photographers and 509th Composite Group Under the gaze of hundreds of people, "Enola Gay" slid into the apron, stopped and shut down the car. The captain, Colonel Paul Tibbets, was the first to step out of the cabin, and General Carl Andrew Spaatz, commander of the US Pacific Regional Air Force (USASTAF), could not wait to step forward A Distinguished Service Cross (Distinguished Service Cross) is worn on Tibbetts chest. This is a medal awarded by the US Army to soldiers who have performed very bravely in combat, second only to the famous Medal of Honor.
Karl Andrew Spatz (left) wears the Distinguished Service Cross for Paul Tibbetts (right)
Indeed, the bomb was dropped at a height of 9,400 meters, and the explosive core (the center of the atomic bomb) was a straight line distance from the planned aiming point, Only about 240 meters away, the entire Hiroshima was erased from the map. The whole process went smoothly and no longer went smoothly. Tibbetts and his crew members can be said to have completed the first nuclear bombing mission perfectly. Curtis LeMay, who flew from Guam to Tinian Island, excitedly said to the crew members at the report meeting: "Children, go have a meal, take a shower, and then take a good night's sleep. Feel!"
"Bokska" crew members, the second row is the first from the right is Major Charlie W. Sweeney
At that time, Major Charles W. Sweeney (Charles W. Sweeney), there were hundreds of them. Welcome a member of the crowd. He is the commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron (393rd Bomb Squadron) of the 509th Mixed Flying Group and will soon be ordered to perform the second bombing mission. When he saw hundreds of people gathered around "Enola Guy" excitedly, and the scene was very lively, he also hoped that he could do the task well like Tibbetts.
The "fat man" atomic bomb
that was ready was backfired. The second nuclear bombing mission on August 9 was very chaotic. At that time, when the "Bockscar" carrying the "Fatty" atomic bomb flew over Kokura City, it was found that 70% of its area was covered by smoke and dust (224 B-29 bombers attacked nearby Yawata City on the previous day). Due to the air raid), the aiming point could not be observed in three attempts, so I chose Nagasaki, the "dead ghost".
is responsible for the "big smell" of photography, shooting the Nagasaki nuclear explosion mushroom cloud
. When "Bokska" arrived in Nagasaki, the cloud cover above it was also very high. Throwing "Fatty" was really helpless. Frederick Ashworth, the weapon commander in charge of "Fatty", agreed with this decision extremely reluctantly. Everyone on the plane knows that the "Fatty" is an atomic bomb assembled on the ground. Once there is a problem with the landing, the probability of it being detonated is very high. If you don't throw it, then you can only throw this big guy worth 250 million dollars into the sea, which has spent countless people's efforts.
Nagasaki was bombed by the atomic bomb before (top) and after (bottom) comparison chart
was thrown in this case, 503 meters above the tennis court at Villa 171 Matsuyama Town, which is at least 2.5 kilometers away from the aiming point (positive Negative error 10 meters) high explosion, the deviation is very serious. Although it is more powerful than the "little boy" cast in Hiroshima, it only destroyed 60% of the area due to the deviation and the mountainous terrain of Nagasaki (other data shows that only 44% of the area was destroyed), anyway It's not as thorough and painful as Hiroshima friedFast and beautiful.
"Bokska" bombed Nagasaki's flight path
took off in the early morning and only dropped bombs at noon. Obviously, "Bokska" with little fuel left could not fly back to Tinian Island, and could not even make an alternate landing on Iwo Jima.
At 14:00 on the 9th, "Bokska" appeared over Yomitan Airport in Okinawa. The exhausted fuel was not enough to support the "Bokska" to make any adjustments. Sweeney drove the plane at 230 kilometers per hour (normal It should be 190 km/h) emergency landing. Due to the parking of the No. 2 engine, the "Bokska" deviated from the runway and almost hit a row of B-24 "Liberator" bombers parked on the left side of the runway. Afterwards, flight engineer Sergeant John D. Kuharek pumped out the remaining fuel, leaving only 26 liters.
Before "Enola Gay" returned, the officers and soldiers gathered together and waited for their triumphant return. There would be no such scene in the "Bokska".
At 17 o'clock, the maintenance and refueling "Boks" "Ka" took off, left Yomitan Airport, and returned to Tinian Island "North Field" at 23:39. After they landed, they found that there were no military reporters and photographers around the tarmac, there were no other personnel from the 509 mixed flight brigade, and no one even prepared a hot meal for the crew members who had not eaten for more than 20 hours. This is in sharp contrast to the lively scene after "Enola Gay" landed a few days ago. A crew member recalled: "At that time, a feeling of being left out spontaneously emerged."
