August 6th, marks 64 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the
United States at the end of World War II. Targeted for military reasons and for
its terrain (flat for easier assessment of the aftermath), Hiroshima was home
to approximately 250,000 people at the time of the bombing. The U.S. B-29
Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian Island very early on the
morning of August 6th, carrying a single 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) uranium bomb
codenamed "Little Boy". At 8:15 am, Little Boy was dropped from 9,400 m (31,000
ft) above the city, freefalling for 57 seconds while a complicated series of
fuse triggers looked for a target height of 600 m (2,000 ft) above the ground.
At the moment of detonation, a small explosive initiated a super-critical mass
in 64 kg (141 lbs) of uranium. Of that 64 kg, only .7 kg (1.5 lbs) underwent
fission, and of that mass, only 600 milligrams was converted into energy - an
explosive energy that seared
everything within a few miles, flattened the city below with a massive
shockwave, set off a raging firestorm and bathed every living thing in deadly
radiation. Nearly 70,000 people are believed to have been killed immediately,
with possibly another 70,000 survivors dying of injuries and radiation exposure
by 1950. Today, Hiroshima houses a Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum near ground
zero, promoting a hope to end the existence of all nuclear weapons.
2
An aerial view of Hiroshima, viewed some time shortly before the bomb was
dropped on it in August of 1945. The scene shows a very densely built-up area
of the city on the Motoyasu River looking upstream. (Hiroshima: The United
States Strategic Bombing Survey Archive, International Center of Photography,
Purchase, with funds provided by the ICP Acquisitions Committee, 2006) #
3
An early photograph of Hiroshima, before August 1945, looking upstream on the
Motoyasu River toward what would become the most famous of all Hiroshima
landmarks - the domed Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall,
immediately adjacent to ground zero. The building was originally designed by
Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in April 1915. (Hiroshima: The United
States Strategic Bombing Survey Archive, International Center of Photography,
Purchase, with funds provided by the ICP Acquisitions Committee, 2006) #
4
Detail from a U.S. Air Force map of Hiroshima, pre-bombing, circles drawn at
1,000 foot intervals radiating out from ground zero, the site directly under
the explosion. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) #
5
Commander A.F. Birch (left), shown numbering the bomb codenamed "Little Boy"
unit L-11, before loading it on trailer in Assembly Bldg. #1, prior to it being
loaded aboard the B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay", on the base of the
509th Composite Group at Tinian Island in the Marianas Islands in 1945.
Physicist Dr. Norman Ramsey stands at right - he would later go on to win the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989. (U.S. National Archives) #
6
"Little Boy" unit rests on a trailer cradle in a pit below the open bomb bay
doors of the B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay" on the 509th Composite Group
base at Tinian Island in the Marianas Islands in 1945. Little Boy was 3 m (10
ft) long, and weighed 4,000 kg (8,900 lb), but only carried contained 64 kg
(141 lbs) of uranium which would be used to create a nuclear chain reaction,
and resulting explosion. (U.S. National Archives) #
7
Shortly after 8:15 am, August 5, 1945, looking down on the rising smoke from
the atomic explosion above the city of Hiroshima from one of two U.S. Air Force
bombers from the 509th Composite Group. By the time this photo was taken, the
flash of light and intense heat from a fireball 370 m (1,200 ft) diameter had
already taken place, and an intense shockwave radiating out faster than the
speed of sound was dissipating, having done most of its damage to ground
structures and people in a circle 3.2 km (2 mi) in diameter. (U.S. National
Archives) #
8
Shortly after 8:15 am, August 5, 1945, looking back at the growing "mushroom"
cloud above Hiroshima. When a portion of the uranium in the bomb underwent
fission, and was transformed instantly into an energy of about 15 kilotons of
TNT (about 6.3 × 1013 joules), heating a massive fireball to a temperature of
3,980 C (7,200 F). The superheated air and smoke rapidly rose through the
atmosphere like a giant bubble, dragging a column of smoke up with it. By the
time this photo was made, smoke had billowed 20,000 feet above Hiroshima while
smoke from the burst of the first atomic bomb had spread over 10,000 feet on
the target at the base of the column. (U.S. National Archives) #
9
A view of destruction in Hiroshima, in the autumn of 1945, across one of the
branches of the river that cut across the delta the city is centered on.
(Hiroshima: The United States Strategic Bombing Survey Archive, International
Center of Photography, Purchase, with funds provided by the ICP Acquisitions
Committee, 2006) #
10
A View Of ground zero in Hiroshima in the autumn of 1945, showing total
destruction resulting from dropping of the first atomic bomb. The hypocenter
(point directly below the bomb explosion) is visible in this photograph,
approximately above the Y-shaped intersection at center-left. (U.S. National
Archives) #
Map loading...
11
Click, drag and zoom above to better view this panoramic view of a destroyed
Hiroshima, made up of five photographs taken from the roof of the Chamber Of
Commerce And Industry Building on October 6th, 1945, only 2 months after the
bombing. At far left are the ruins of the Geibi Bank Building and Shima
Hospital. At center is the ruined structure of the Prefectural Industrial
Promotion Hall, beyond it a bridge across the Matoyasu River, just about at the
hypocenter of the explosion. At lower right is the still-standing structure of
the Red Cross building, its roof depressed from the shockwave. At far right is
the T Bridge at the meeting of the Matayashu River and the Ota River. To view
the full panorama image (10,000 pixels wide), click here. To see the original
five component photos at 2,500px, click 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (U.S. National Archives)
#
12
Bridge across the Ota river, 880 meters from the hypocenter of the bomb burst
above Hiroshima. Note where roadway is burned and the ghostly shadow imprints
left where the surface was shielded by cement pillars. (U.S. National Archives)
#
13
Color photograph showing damage in Hiroshima in March of 1946. (U.S. National
Archives) #
14
Bomb damage to Okita Iron Works, Hiroshima, Japan. November 7th, 1945. (U.S.
National Archives) #
15
A street scene showing atomic bomb damage in Hiroshima. Note how the sidewalk
has been pushed up, and a drain pipe has punched through through the bridge.
Scientists say this phenomenon is due to a vacuum created by pressure of the
atomic blast. (U.S. National Archives) #
16
This patient (photographed by Japanese forces on October 2nd, 1945) was about
6,500 feet from ground zero when the rays struck him from the left. His cap was
sufficient to protect the top of his head against flash burns. (U.S. National
Archives) #
17
A view of the densely packed houses of Hiroshima weeks after the bombing, at
the edge of the severely damaged area (note the flattened buildings at bottom).
(U.S. National Archives) #
18
Twisted iron girders are all that remain of this theatre building located about
800 meters from ground zero. (U.S. National Archives) #
19
The Hiroshima Fire Department lost its only ladder truck when its West Side
main fire station was destroyed by the blast and fire of the atomic bomb, 1,200
m (4,000 ft) from ground zero. (U.S. National Archives) #
20
An aerial overview of Hiroshima in autumn of 1945. The hypocenter and Atom Bomb
Dome are visible at top center. (U.S. National Archives) #
21
Color photograph of the ruins of central Hiroshima in autumn of 1945. (U.S.
National Archives) #
22
A "shadow" of a hand valve wheel on the painted wall of a gas storage tank
after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Radiant heat instantly burned paint
where the heat rays were not obstructed, 1,920 m (6,300 ft) from ground zero.
(U.S. National Archives) #
23
A victim of the bombing in Hiroshima lies in a makeshift hospital located in
one of the remaining in bank buildings in September of 1945. (U.S. Department
of Navy) #
24
>From the caption provided with this photo of a victim from Hiroshima: "The
>patient's skin is burned in a pattern corresponding to the dark portions of a
>kimono worn at the time of the explosion". (U.S. National Archives) #
25
Blast victims shown in a fly-infested makeshift hospital in a bank building in
Hiroshima on September 15th, 1945. (U.S. Department of Navy) #
26
Formation of keloidal scars on the back and shoulder of a victim of the
Hiroshima blast. The scars have formed where the victim's skin was directly
exposed to the heat of the explosion's initial flash. (U.S. National Archives) #
27
An aerial view of ground zero and the now-famous Atom Bomb Dome in Hiroshima,
weeks after the bombing of August 6, 1945. (U.S. National Archives) #
28
A man looks over the expanse of ruins left by the explosion of the atomic bomb
on in Hiroshima, Japan. (AP Photo) #
29
An aerial view of the destruction in an industrial section of Hiroshima, seen
in the autumn of 1945. (U.S. National Archives) #
30
A view of Hiroshima and outlying hills, seen in the autumn of 1945, from from
the ruins of the Red Cross building, less than one mile from the hypocenter.
(U.S. National Archives) #
31
Members of the U.S. Army examine the area around ground zero in Hiroshima,
Japan in the autumn of 1945. (U.S. National Archives) #
32
Visitors view a panorama showing the aftermath of the atomic bomb attack, at a
museum at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on July 27, 2005 in Hiroshima.
Japan. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images) #
33
The Peace Flame has burned for the atomic bomb victims at the Memorial Cenotaph
at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Tuesday, Aug. 4,
2009. The flame has burned continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964. It
symbolizes the anti-nuclear resolve to burn the flame "until the day when all
such weapons shall have disappeared from the earth." (AP Photo/Shizuo
Kambayashi) #
34
Hiroshima today - detail from a panoramic view of Hiroshima Peace Memorial seen
on April 14, 2008
A Japanese soldier walks through a leveled area in Hiroshima, Japan in
September of 1945, one month after the detonation of a nuclear bomb above the
city. From a series of U.S. Navy photographs depicting the suffering and ruins
that resulted from the blast. (U.S. Department of Navy)
