A Blast Over Nagasaki

The B-29 superfortress took off at 3: 47 A.M. from the island of Tinian, an American airbase in the Pacific Ocean. It was August 9,1945, a Thursday. The giant airplane was named Bockscar. Piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, it carried in its payload a big and heavy weapon, an egg-shaped atomic bomb with plutonium core. Codenamed "Fat Man", it weighed 4,700 kg. Painted mustard yellow, the bomb was 3.3 meters long and 1.5 meter in diameter. Bockscar's mission was to drop the implosion atomic bomb on the Japanese city Kokura. To get there the crew faced a long flight of more than 7 hours as mainland Japan lies at a distance of 2,400 kilometers from Tinian. While the B-29 was approaching its target a twist of fate interfered with the original plan. The view of Kokura City was obscured by clouds, as well as smoke arising from the nearby city of Yamata, which, ironically enough, was caused by American firebombing raids. Consequently, the mission of the B-29 was altered, the plan changed and the target of Bockscar shifted from Kokura to Nagasaki. Bockscar reached the skies of Nagasaki at 11: 50 A.M. Visibility here was better and the bombardier was able to identify the Mitsubishi Steel and Arm Works located at the entrance of a valley. Staring at the target through the bombsight he released Fat Man. Bockscar changed its flight path at once and banked in order to create distance between the plane and the immanent explosion and so to avoid the effects of the blast and the released radiation. The nuclear bomb detonated at 12: 02 P.M. about 500 meters above the ground. This altitude maximized the slaughter and devastation. Bockscar was accompanied by another airplane, called "The Great Artiste", that filmed the atomic blast, recordingthe giant pink and orange mushroom cloud rising in the sky as Fat Man burnt people to ashes, destroyed and wiped out the City of Nagasaki. The atomic bomb killed immediately over 40,000 people and injured even more. Furthermore, an estimated 50,000 men, women and children died later because of injuries and the long term effects of radiation exposure. The atomic bombing of Nagasaki occurred only 3 days after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima. The horrors of nuclear war, the persistent air raids, the fire bombing and destruction of Japanese cities, the growing and grinding war weariness, combined with the threat of a Soviet invasion, led eventually to the abandonment of the steadfast Japanese resolve and determination to continue the war to the very last and never capitulate. Eventually, on August 15,1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of the Empire of the Rising Sun. On September 2,1945, Japan formally signed the document of her unconditional surrender. It brought the Second World War to a close.