| 75 years ago today on 08:15 - Aug 6 with 2577 views | GeoffSentence |
It was almost dropped by RAF Lancasters. The original B29 design had bomb bays that were too small for the atomic bombs and the had to hurriedly redesign it to take them. A not inconsiderable task since it meant reconstructing the airframe. Lancasters had huge bomb bays more than adequate for the task so a squadron was earmarked for the task and undertook training in the pacific ready to do the job if the B29s could not be made ready in time.
The Lancasters did have their own issues, a lack of range meant they had to work on air to air refueling to be able to fly all the way there and back, and lower speed and ceiling meant that it would have been touch and go for the Lancasters to escape the blast.
In the end the political imperative to have an american bomber drop the american bomb (which really it wasn't, it was a collaborative effort) pushed the necessary modifications through in time. |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 08:18 - Aug 6 with 2565 views | gtsb1966 |
| 75 years ago today on 08:15 - Aug 6 by GeoffSentence |
It was almost dropped by RAF Lancasters. The original B29 design had bomb bays that were too small for the atomic bombs and the had to hurriedly redesign it to take them. A not inconsiderable task since it meant reconstructing the airframe. Lancasters had huge bomb bays more than adequate for the task so a squadron was earmarked for the task and undertook training in the pacific ready to do the job if the B29s could not be made ready in time.
The Lancasters did have their own issues, a lack of range meant they had to work on air to air refueling to be able to fly all the way there and back, and lower speed and ceiling meant that it would have been touch and go for the Lancasters to escape the blast.
In the end the political imperative to have an american bomber drop the american bomb (which really it wasn't, it was a collaborative effort) pushed the necessary modifications through in time. |
I didn't know any of that. Thank you. |  | | |
| 75 years ago today on 08:22 - Aug 6 with 2554 views | WeWereZombies |
To stand by that wreck of a building that is the A-bomb dome, next to Hiroshima Peace Park, is one of the most sobering experiences I have had in my life (not helped by two elderly Jehovah's Witnesses proselytising when there is a discreet notice forbidding this). Ever since I read A C Grayling's 'Among The Dead Cities' I have come to accept more and more that dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unnecessary and an awful miscalculation on the part of the United States. |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 09:31 - Aug 6 with 2498 views | factual_blue |
| 75 years ago today on 08:15 - Aug 6 by GeoffSentence |
It was almost dropped by RAF Lancasters. The original B29 design had bomb bays that were too small for the atomic bombs and the had to hurriedly redesign it to take them. A not inconsiderable task since it meant reconstructing the airframe. Lancasters had huge bomb bays more than adequate for the task so a squadron was earmarked for the task and undertook training in the pacific ready to do the job if the B29s could not be made ready in time.
The Lancasters did have their own issues, a lack of range meant they had to work on air to air refueling to be able to fly all the way there and back, and lower speed and ceiling meant that it would have been touch and go for the Lancasters to escape the blast.
In the end the political imperative to have an american bomber drop the american bomb (which really it wasn't, it was a collaborative effort) pushed the necessary modifications through in time. |
Many of the scientists, particularly those from Central Europe, and those who were Jewish, wanted to stop once Germany was defeated. But they were cajoled, encouraged or whatever to continue because the US military wanted the a nuclear bomb. And the major considerations were a quick end to the war (even the US couldn't afford financially to keep going much longer) and the desire to actually try the bomb out.
A great book on understanding how the bomb works is E=mc2: the biography of the most famous equation in the world. It's by David Bodanis. |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 10:02 - Aug 6 with 2465 views | solomon |
| 75 years ago today on 08:22 - Aug 6 by WeWereZombies |
To stand by that wreck of a building that is the A-bomb dome, next to Hiroshima Peace Park, is one of the most sobering experiences I have had in my life (not helped by two elderly Jehovah's Witnesses proselytising when there is a discreet notice forbidding this). Ever since I read A C Grayling's 'Among The Dead Cities' I have come to accept more and more that dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unnecessary and an awful miscalculation on the part of the United States. |
I agree, however I think the fact that it had cost so much to develop and the emergence of colder relationship with the USSR made the decision to use it unavoidable?
Thank god we've never seen it used since. |  | | |
| 75 years ago today on 10:27 - Aug 6 with 2447 views | Plums |
| 75 years ago today on 10:02 - Aug 6 by solomon |
I agree, however I think the fact that it had cost so much to develop and the emergence of colder relationship with the USSR made the decision to use it unavoidable?
Thank god we've never seen it used since. |
There was also the untenable potential for over 500k allied - mostly American lives that would be lost in an attempted invasion of Japan. For a nation that was isolationist before the war, extending the conflict against an enemy that was extremely unlikely to surrender during a ground war was politically impossible when there was another way out. |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 10:31 - Aug 6 with 2440 views | brazil1982 |
| 75 years ago today on 10:02 - Aug 6 by solomon |
I agree, however I think the fact that it had cost so much to develop and the emergence of colder relationship with the USSR made the decision to use it unavoidable?
Thank god we've never seen it used since. |
Although it's shocking how many experiments have taken place in desert areas, and under water. |  | | |
| 75 years ago today on 10:35 - Aug 6 with 2435 views | WeWereZombies |
| 75 years ago today on 10:27 - Aug 6 by Plums |
There was also the untenable potential for over 500k allied - mostly American lives that would be lost in an attempted invasion of Japan. For a nation that was isolationist before the war, extending the conflict against an enemy that was extremely unlikely to surrender during a ground war was politically impossible when there was another way out. |
Japan was about to surrender, it would have happened within a couple of weeks - mainly due to the fear of Russian invasion (although the Japanese has beaten the Russians at the start of the century the conditions for a repeat of that success were not present.) The United States was impatient. | |
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| 75 years ago today on 11:21 - Aug 6 with 2417 views | solomon |
| 75 years ago today on 10:35 - Aug 6 by WeWereZombies |
Japan was about to surrender, it would have happened within a couple of weeks - mainly due to the fear of Russian invasion (although the Japanese has beaten the Russians at the start of the century the conditions for a repeat of that success were not present.) The United States was impatient. |
Also a new president trying to make his mark on the world ? | | | |
| 75 years ago today on 11:53 - Aug 6 with 2380 views | Swansea_Blue |
| 75 years ago today on 08:22 - Aug 6 by WeWereZombies |
To stand by that wreck of a building that is the A-bomb dome, next to Hiroshima Peace Park, is one of the most sobering experiences I have had in my life (not helped by two elderly Jehovah's Witnesses proselytising when there is a discreet notice forbidding this). Ever since I read A C Grayling's 'Among The Dead Cities' I have come to accept more and more that dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unnecessary and an awful miscalculation on the part of the United States. |
Exceedingly sobering. To think that there were (and probably still are) animals in this world who could consider doing that to innocent civilians. Not that there weren't atrocities on each side of course. I was torn between the sense of wonder/awe at the power of the event and the despair at the human cost (much like the Beirut explosion and many natural disasters).
Our visit there was somewhat marred by the gangs of school kids wanting to survey foreigners. But given the locations and the emotions it stirred, it was impossible to be mean and avoid them. We spent about an hour or so just walking around and in the museum and then at least double that answering the same survey over and over again! |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 12:49 - Aug 6 with 2344 views | ElephantintheRoom |
| 75 years ago today on 10:27 - Aug 6 by Plums |
There was also the untenable potential for over 500k allied - mostly American lives that would be lost in an attempted invasion of Japan. For a nation that was isolationist before the war, extending the conflict against an enemy that was extremely unlikely to surrender during a ground war was politically impossible when there was another way out. |
This is just truthspeak. Five Japanese cities were earmarked for nuclear destruction at the start of the war with the chief imperative being to test out the most effective (ie most powerful device). The cities were all chosen because of their mdeium size and nearby hills that would contain the blast for maximum effect. No conventional bombs were dropped on any of those cities to preserve the structures and citizens for nuclear obliteration.
It is an unfortunate consequence of this lack of bombings that a large number of hospitals were situated in those unbombed cities.
So rushed were preparations to drop nuclear bombs on Japan before they had a chance to surrender that only one test was carried out at Los Alamos - leaving one bomb totally untested. The Americans were delving so deep into the unknown that the nuclear bomb was not even armed until after take of, for fear of evaporating the marianas islands.
On this day 75 years ago, Honshu was earmarked for destruction - deemed the perfect target. Alas it was cloudy over Honshu and the Enola Gay had to divert to the secondary target, Hiroshima where bombing conditions were perfect - with the bomb dropped and detonated with impeccable precision. Only three crew members had been briefed on the act of mass murder they were acting out.... which led to the rear gunner coming out with the immortal quote 'Holy cow... did you see that!'
Three days later, Box Car took to the skies so that Honshu could be obliterated as per plan. The Los Alamos scientists had run a popular sweepstake to try and guess how effective the untested second device would be - informed guesses ran from 0 to 100 times more effective than the Hiroshima blast.
Alas it was cloudy once again over Honshu.... and Box Car was diverted to Nagasaki a distant secondary target. Running at the limit of its range, Box Car found Nagasaki also cloud covered - but just when the mission was about to be aborted a small gap in the clouds emerged through which they popped their weapon on mass destruction. This time it was well off centre - hence the greatly reduced number of casualites.
The correct answer to the sweepstake was much the same as the Hiroshima bomb... but as it was only 1% efficient the guy who voted for 100 x more powerful could have been right.
The real motivation for the mass murder on this day 75 years ago (and 3 days later) was to show the pesky Russians it was time to stop their expansion plans - it had nothing to to do with feared losses invading Japan - Japan had been anxious to sue for peace for months... they just had to be kept waiting until both bombs could be tested.
If you add together the citizens killed by both nuclear bomb blasts it still falls well short of the defenceless citizens of Tokyo roasted by napalm in the firebomb raids of March 1945. The true loss of life has been estimated at over 1 million dead in just two nights - and this from a nation anxious to prosecute the Nazis for war crimes just three months later. |  |
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| 75 years ago today on 18:09 - Aug 6 with 2258 views | WeWereZombies |
| 75 years ago today on 12:49 - Aug 6 by ElephantintheRoom |
This is just truthspeak. Five Japanese cities were earmarked for nuclear destruction at the start of the war with the chief imperative being to test out the most effective (ie most powerful device). The cities were all chosen because of their mdeium size and nearby hills that would contain the blast for maximum effect. No conventional bombs were dropped on any of those cities to preserve the structures and citizens for nuclear obliteration.
It is an unfortunate consequence of this lack of bombings that a large number of hospitals were situated in those unbombed cities.
So rushed were preparations to drop nuclear bombs on Japan before they had a chance to surrender that only one test was carried out at Los Alamos - leaving one bomb totally untested. The Americans were delving so deep into the unknown that the nuclear bomb was not even armed until after take of, for fear of evaporating the marianas islands.
On this day 75 years ago, Honshu was earmarked for destruction - deemed the perfect target. Alas it was cloudy over Honshu and the Enola Gay had to divert to the secondary target, Hiroshima where bombing conditions were perfect - with the bomb dropped and detonated with impeccable precision. Only three crew members had been briefed on the act of mass murder they were acting out.... which led to the rear gunner coming out with the immortal quote 'Holy cow... did you see that!'
Three days later, Box Car took to the skies so that Honshu could be obliterated as per plan. The Los Alamos scientists had run a popular sweepstake to try and guess how effective the untested second device would be - informed guesses ran from 0 to 100 times more effective than the Hiroshima blast.
Alas it was cloudy once again over Honshu.... and Box Car was diverted to Nagasaki a distant secondary target. Running at the limit of its range, Box Car found Nagasaki also cloud covered - but just when the mission was about to be aborted a small gap in the clouds emerged through which they popped their weapon on mass destruction. This time it was well off centre - hence the greatly reduced number of casualites.
The correct answer to the sweepstake was much the same as the Hiroshima bomb... but as it was only 1% efficient the guy who voted for 100 x more powerful could have been right.
The real motivation for the mass murder on this day 75 years ago (and 3 days later) was to show the pesky Russians it was time to stop their expansion plans - it had nothing to to do with feared losses invading Japan - Japan had been anxious to sue for peace for months... they just had to be kept waiting until both bombs could be tested.
If you add together the citizens killed by both nuclear bomb blasts it still falls well short of the defenceless citizens of Tokyo roasted by napalm in the firebomb raids of March 1945. The true loss of life has been estimated at over 1 million dead in just two nights - and this from a nation anxious to prosecute the Nazis for war crimes just three months later. |
There are truths in what you have posted but also some speculation. However, I must point out one glaring error - Honshu is the Latin name for Japan's largest island and Hiroshima is situated on that island. The primary target on the day that Nagasaki was bombed was Kokura, which is on Japan's second largest island, Kyushu. Nagasaki is also on Kyushu. | |
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