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Because the development and deployment of the first nuclear weapons was done in such severely clandestine manner, it has been a long and slow declassification process to piece together the entire story. Each new book length treatment of the subject seems to enjoy a wealth of new information which wasn't available for the previous authors. It isn't just the guarded secrets of the Manhattan Project, but also a matter of witnesses and survivors who refused to talk about their experiences until near the end of their lives.
Some information:
The attack on Hiroshima was a relative fizzle. On August 4th, two days before the bombing, on Tinian Island, a pre flight practice arming of the bomb was staged. To make absolutely sure that the bomb would explode, it had been designed with redundant triggers, all of which were fragile and subject to unintentional detonation if supreme care was not exercised at all times. Consequently, the bomb was disarmed on the ground and not given its final preparation until in the air just before it was to be dropped.
In the shed, while practing this arming procedure, one of the scientists accidentally allowed a microsecond surge of uranium protons from the aft assembly rings. This brief exposure was sufficeint to reduce the bomb's power by nearly two thirds, as well as sufficient to kill the unfortunate scientist. What should have produced and explosion equal to 25-30 kilitons of TNT (as did ther Nagasaki bomb), actually produced but 10 kilitons. Obviously this was still enough to destroy Hiroshima.
The Nagasaki mission did not hit its target..in more than one way.
The second atomic bomb was scheduled to be dropped on Korura, Japan and indeed the plane "Bock's Car" arrived over Korura with every intention of dropping it there. However, because damage assessment was so important to the US military, they had insisted on clear weather targeting. Korura had the good fortune to be clouded over that morning. Pilot Charles Sweeney made three passes over the city searching for a break in the clouds, but failed to find one. Unable to wait any longer because of dimininshing fuel, Sweeney scrubbed the Korura mission and proceeded to his secondary target, Nagasaki.
There was only enough gasoline left for one bombing run over Nagasaki and Sweeney arrived to discover it too was mostly clouded. Sweeney decided at this point to disobey his orders and bomb by instruments alone. Bock's Car was on this instrument run when it suddenly encountered a break in the clouds. Bombing was instantly switched back to visual, only they were not over their selected aiming point in the center of Nagasaki, they were over one of the suburbs, Urakami. Urakami became the new aiming point.
Bock's Car very nearly failed to return from its mission. Between the fuel exhausted on the three runs over Korura, and the need to divert to the secondary target, the aircraft made it to an emergency landing on Okinawa with two of its four engines having already shut down for lack of fuel, and but 12 gallons remaining for the other two. (The aircraft normally consumed 300 gallons an hour.)
There were numerous Japanese citizens who were bombed twice, and a handful who were double atomic survivors. Refugees from Hiroshima who had family, friends or business interests in Nagasaki, relocated there only to be killed after miraculously escaping with their lives in Hiroshima. There are still three double bombing survivors, Akira Iwanaga, Kuniyoshi Sato and Tsutomu Yamaguchi. You may read their stories: R. W. Nutjob: Double A-Bomb victims, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato
Finally, the bombings demonstrated that it was possible to be at or near ground zero when the explosion takes place, and still survive. The forces being released in the first microseconds after detonation, moved with such unimaginable speed that rebounding shock waves often countered continuing shock waves from the explosion. The consequence was the temporary creation of "shock bubbles" small pockets where these massive forces stabilized against one another and left the area undamaged. You would also have needed to be in a sheltered, heavily shaded area when having the fortune to be in one of these shock bubbles, otherwise the heat or the radiation would have killed you instantly. There were hundreds of survivors who owed their lives to just happening to be in the right place...although being in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at all wasn't exactly the definition of being in the right place.
In the shed, while practing this arming procedure, one of the scientists accidentally allowed a microsecond surge of uranium protons from the aft assembly rings. This brief exposure was sufficeint to reduce the bomb's power by nearly two thirds, as well as sufficient to kill the unfortunate scientist. What should have produced and explosion equal to 25-30 kilitons of TNT (as did ther Nagasaki bomb), actually produced but 10 kilitons. Obviously this was still enough to destroy Hiroshima.
I don't know about the targeting yarn, but this first one is pure nonsense. Protons aren't what cause a nuclear reaction. It's neutrons. And if the weapon were reduced from a 25-30 kT weapon to a 10 kT weapon the Tinian airbase from which they flew would not have been there.
I don't know about the targeting yarn, but this first one is pure nonsense. Protons aren't what cause a nuclear reaction. It's neutrons. And if the weapon were reduced from a 25-30 kT weapon to a 10 kT weapon the Tinian airbase from which they flew would not have been there.
The targeting information is factual, not a "yarn" as you would have it.
The proton/neutron correction I accept, but you are incorrect with the rest. What I described really did happen, our source for this story is Luis W. Alvarez, a member of the Manhattan Project who worked on the development of the triggers. Mr. Alvarez was sent to Tinian and was in charge of arming the bombs. He also flew the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions in the science recording chase plane, The Great Artiste.
Luis Alvarez says that this happened...now should I believe the scientist who was there and was on the spot when the accident happened, or should I believe you? Do you know better than Mr. Alvarez?
Last edited by Grandstander; 05-13-2010 at 02:14 PM..
The targeting information is factual, not a "yarn" as you would have it.
The proton/neutron correction I accept, but you are incorrect with the rest. What I described really did happen, our source for this story is Luis W. Alvarez, a member of the Manhattan Project who worked on the development of the triggers. Mr. Alvarez was sent to Tinian and was in charge of arming the bombs. He also flew the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions in the science recording chase plane, The Great Artiste.
Luis Alvarez says that this happened...now should I believe the scientist who was there and was on the spot when the accident happened, or should I believe you? Do you know better than Mr. Alvarez?
I find no historical record to corroborate your stories of Alvarez. What's more the naive error about an inadvertent criticality indicates whoever told the story had no first hand knowledge. Finally, the early inadvertent criticality accidents were all with the plutonium bomb. Your story relates to the uranium bomb.
I have heard much of that before actually - for example on the switch to nagasaki from the initial primary target and why this occured.
Calling the hiroshima bomb a fizzle depends on how you define it. It did more damage than the Nagasaki weapon I believe and vast damage by the standards of the day. An atomic bomb's damage depends on where it is detonated relative to the population, weather and terrain features, and other factors more than the shear size of the blast. Which is why hiroshima was a more signficant attack.
I find no historical record to corroborate your stories of Alvarez. What's more the naive error about an inadvertent criticality indicates whoever told the story had no first hand knowledge. Finally, the early inadvertent criticality accidents were all with the plutonium bomb. Your story relates to the uranium bomb.
The story holds no water.
And your credentials for poo pooing it all?
You were perhaps an eyewitness? You are perhaps a nuclear scientist?
You may find the accident information which I presented in the 2010 book "The Last Train From Hiroshima" by Charles Pelligrino.
I am going to go with the theory that someone who researched and wrote a book on the subject, knows a great deal more than someone who is presenting a philosophy of "Never heard of it, therefore it cannot be true."
Read the book, then come back and tell me that Alvarez is a liar and Pelligrino is in league with him on this.
You were perhaps an eyewitness? You are perhaps a nuclear scientist?
You may find the accident information which I presented in the 2010 book "The Last Train From Hiroshima" by Charles Pelligrino.
I am going to go with the theory that someone who researched and wrote a book on the subject, knows a great deal more than someone who is presenting a philosophy of "Never heard of it, therefore it cannot be true."
Read the book, then come back and tell me that Alvarez is a liar and Pelligrino is in league with him on this.
Okay?
Here's what Amazon has to say about "Last Train from Hiroshima"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amazon
Henry Holt and Company has announced that it will no longer print, correct or ship copies of The Last Train from Hiroshima due to the discovery of dishonest sources of information for the book. According to the publisher: "Mr. Pellegrino has a long history in the publishing world, and we have been very proud and honored to publish his history of such an important historical event. But without the confidence that we can stand behind the work in its entirety, we cannot continue to sell this product to our customers."
Some people are just gullible and accept anything they read.
That is a pretty shocking behavior for a publisher to take. They must have been really shaken by something. I can't think of anything similar in history books.
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