A review essay

Abstract

It was thirty-six years ago, on August 6, 1945, that Colonel Paul W. Tibbets and his crew, military men representing the United States in the Allied War against the Japanese Empire, flew their B29, Enola Gay, from the Tinian Air Base to Hiroshima in order to drop a 12.5 kiloton uranium 235 bomb dubbed “Little Boy” (after Franklin D. Roosevelt) on this enemy city. The hypocenter of the bomb was in the vicinity of Shima Hospital; the time, approximately 8:15 a.m. A few days later, on August 9, 1945, Don Albury and his crew left the Tinian Air Base to drop a 22 kiloton plutonium 239 bomb over Kokura, Kyushu, only to find a heavily clouded sky. “Fat Man” (after Winston Churchill) was thus destined to detonate over Nagasaki. The hypocenter of this bomb was in the vicinity of the main intersection in the township of Matsuyama; the time, approximately 11:02 a.m.