Despite its size, Little Boy was “crude,” wrote physicist Frank Barnaby of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute more than three decades later a modern 8-inch nuclear artillery shell has about the same yield as the first atomic bomb. But compared to the Fat Man implosion assembly design, Little Boy’s output was puny, even though “little” is hardly the adjective that springs to mind for a bomb that was 10 feet long, 28 inches wide, and weighed 9,000 pounds. The Little Boy bomb dropped on Hiroshima continues to garner the most publicity, because it was the first-ever atomic weapon to be used in an attack. New, in-depth particulars of what went wrong, recounted here in a single narrative for what may be the first time, matter a great deal.įat Man versus Little Boy. That the mission succeeded is genuinely miraculous. It is a story of astonishing screw-ups that easily could have plunged the plane, the men, and the bomb into the Pacific Ocean. A couple of accounts differ, suggesting false memories or outright lies, making the whole tale reminiscent of the famous Japanese film Rashomon. Scrubbed versions have been published in military archives. Bits and pieces of the story have appeared in the diaries of the men who flew the mission-although sometimes the diaries appeared years after the event, or were based on hurriedly scribbled, hand-written notes jotted down during the flight. The story of what transpired inside the plane carrying Fat Man to Nagasaki, Japan, has not really been told in detail to this extent, although some excellent overall renditions have been written of the atomic bomb program as a whole.
One of them, bearing the newly minted title “weaponeer,” grabbed the Bomb’s blueprints and raced to figure out what was wrong. Inside, they experienced moments of terror, such as when the bomb began to arm itself-a red light blinking with increasing rapidity-midway to their destination. Outside, monsoon winds, rain, and lightning lashed at them. And it was far more powerful than the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare, which was called “Little Boy” and had been dropped on Hiroshima just three days earlier.įor nearly eight hours, the crew of the plane carrying Fat Man sped toward mainland Japan, each man hunkered in a cramped workspace with no access to external radio communication. It was the second atomic bomb in existence (not counting the test in the New Mexico desert about 3 weeks earlier).
local time on the island of Tinian, a massive B-29 Superfortress aircraft roared down a tropical airport runway, carrying 13 men and what was then the world’s most destructive weapon-an atomic bomb called Fat Man. Seventy years ago, on August 9, at approximately 3:47 a.m. (For captions to the slideshow above, place cursor on picture.)
#ENOLA GAY PLANE PIN UP FULL#
But Ashworth ’ s detailed, in-depth account - recounted here in full for the first time - provides a different view of the Nagasaki mission than much of what was written previously. Other observers may disagree with Ashworth ’ s details and views - especially because so much time has passed since August 9, 1945. Years later, New York Times science reporter Sandra Blakeslee worked closely with Bradbury to craft the article below from Ashworth ’ s recollections, and to locate corroborating accounts, interviews, and other support materials. Ashworth had been the operations officer in charge of the final testing and assembly of the “ Fat Man ” atomic bomb components, and he was in command of the device while aboard the plane that actually dropped the weapon on Nagasaki. Ashworth revealed some little-known information about the dropping of the Nagasaki atomic bomb to his friend and neighbor, Ellen Bradbury, who subsequently wrote it down. Before he died in 2005, retired Navy man Frederick L. Editor ’ s note: Due to popular demand we thought it appropriate to reprint this Bulletin article, which deals with an often-overlooked aspect of the atomic bombings in Japan.įirst, some background.