How atomic bombs were prepared for Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The National Archives and Records Administration of the United States completely removed the top-secret label from the RG-77-BT photo collection, stored at the National Archives office in College Park, Maryland.
Thus, dozens of unique photographs were made available during the preparation for the atomic bombing of Japanese cities that took place in the spring and summer of 1945 on Tinian Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Before that, you could see only the mock-ups of two atomic bombs (they were declassified in 1960), the infamous B-29 (Enola Gay) bomber, who threw a bomb at Hiroshima and selected photos from the now declassified RG-77-BT collection.
The picture is not a museum model, but the same atomic bomb Little Boy (Kid), who sent 80,000 people to the fiery hell, and then killed another 120,000 Hiroshima residents over the next five years. It is placed on the test bench during the verification of the operation of automatic systems.
01. "Babes" visiting project participants A (Alberta) geophysicist Francis Birch (left) and physicist Norman Ramsey.
02. And this is already collected and ready to use atomic bomb Fat Man (Fat Man), which destroyed Nagasaki. Its seams are thoroughly shpaklyuyut hermetic and paint to maintain the stable operation of internal systems of the structure.
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05. Many of the participants in Project A left their autographs on Tolstoyak.
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07. Vice Admiral William Pernell wrote: "The Second Kiss for Hirohito" (Japanese Emperor).
08. "Fat Man" is prepared for transportation to the airfield.
09. The atomic bomb "Fat Man" is being taken to the airfield.
10. Two special pits were made to load bombs into bombers. Now they are covered with glass caps and turned into museum pieces.
11. The process of loading the "fat man" into the pit.
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18. Bomber B-29 (commander Charles Sweeney, 25 years old) is preparing to take on board the atomic bomb "Tolstyak."
19. "Fat Man" carefully lifted into the bomb bay B-29.
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21. And the nuclear bomb "Kid" was loaded into the B-29 Enola Gay (commander Paul Tibbets, 30 years old).
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28. What happened next, you know. On August 6 at 1:45, the B-29 bomber, commanded by the commander of the 509th mixed aviation regiment, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who carried the atomic bomb "Malysh" on board, flew off the island of Tinian, about 6 hours from Hiroshima. The Tibbets airplane flew in a compound that included six other aircraft: a spare aircraft (Top Secret), two controllers and three scouts (Jebit III, Full House and Street Flash). The commanders of reconnaissance aircraft sent to Nagasaki and Kokure reported a considerable cloudiness over these cities. The pilot of the third reconnaissance aircraft, Major Iserli, found out that the sky over Hiroshima was clean, and sent the signal "Bomb the first target." At 08:15 local time, the B-29, at an altitude of over 9 km, discharged an atomic bomb at the center of Hiroshima. The detonator was installed at a height of 600 meters above the surface; An explosion equivalent to 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT occurred 45 seconds after the discharge.
At 2:47 am on August 9, an American B-29 bomber under the command of Major Charles Sweeney, who carried a fatty bomb on board, took off from Tinian Island. Clouds over the city of Kokura prevented the aiming bombing and after three unsuccessful visits to the target, at 10:32 the B-29 headed for Nagasaki. "Fat" dumped almost blindly, in addition, the aircraft had technical problems with the fuel pump and fuel for an additional call was not enough. The explosion occurred at 11:02 local time at an altitude of about 500 meters. The explosion power was about 21 kilotons.
In the photo: "mushrooms" from atomic explosions over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki.
The architect of the Exhibition Center of the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who now knows the whole world under the title "Atomic Dome" was the trade attache of Czechoslovakia Jan Lettzel (pictured). He lived in Japan for several years, where he designed several buildings in an unusual European style for the Japanese. In addition, Letzel assisted Czechoslovak legionnaires returning from Vladivostok, providing them with the opportunity to return to Europe by ship. The building of the Exhibition Center was 160 meters from the epicenter of the atomic bomb explosion and one of the few stood, now becoming one of the main anti-war symbols in the world.
PS This year marks the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japanese cities. The inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the first and, fortunately, the last victims of the use of nuclear weapons on Earth. Since then, much has changed, the world has experienced a monstrous nuclear arms race, was on the verge of a new conflict, but was able to get out of this madness. Unfortunately, now the new "hawks" began to promote the theme of the global war. The world is once again threatened with nuclear weapons not only by crazy Russian "patriots" who have disappeared from the coil of militaristic frenzy, but also the top leadership of Russia. All this causes the most serious fears for the future of Europe and the world.
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