Earlier in July, the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 was celebrated. Today, however, another notable but deeply saddening event is remembered.
At approximately 8:15am on August 6th 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber “Enola Gay” dropped its 4,000 Kg uranium bomb onto the Japanese city of Hiroshima. After freefalling for 57 seconds, the “Little Boy” detonated at an altitude of 580 metres. The calm and sunny Monday morning was shattered by a white light that burned patterns of clothing onto skin and the shadows of bodies onto walls.
The blast wave that followed destroyed almost every building within a three mile radius and the searing heat set off a raging firestorm. With a power of 13 to 16 kilotons, the bomb killed 66,000 people immediately, and by the end of 1945 the death toll was thought to be 140,000.
To mark 64 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Boston.com takes a poignant look at the event. There are 34 pictures in total – see them at The Big Picture.
6 replies on “Hiroshima, 64 Years Ago”
Great post. I guess you can forgive but never forget!
excellent post
Yea it’s is a biggie, I doubt anyone will forget this for a good long while.
“After freefalling for 57 seconds, the “Little Boy” detonated at an altitude of 580 metres”
while it was a horrific event that should never have happened, it was a good thing that the bomb was detonated at that altitude. an air burst detonation pushes most of the radioactive material into the atmosphere and leaves no local fallout. had it hit the ground, the catastrophe would’ve been so much worse.
i am by no means advocating what happened, just thought some ‘useless’ information would be interesting.
@Prawn, i doubt the Hiroshima bomb was the last time we would see a nuclear device used in anger. so we best not forget.
Unfortunately governments did not learn from this.
Interesting info, I didnt know it detonated before hitting the ground
I didn’t know this but I should have guessed. The U.S. classified a lot of the photos “top secret” and prohitibited them from being shown. Fogonazos has a selection of these photos – but I must warn you, some of them are pretty graphic. See them HERE.