The big bang took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
Rush - Manhattan Project
Rising sun = japs 🇯🇵
They were all very happy and likeable individuals and there was none of the rumored remorse among any of them. I told them of my father's response to their mission and how grateful he was to them. He would have been among the earliest to land in any invasion of Japan. He thought he was a dead man walking.
After meeting them, it was a shame that Gen Tibbetts had requested tht his ashes be scattered in an anonymous location because he didn't want to be the center of a circus of protests
I stood in the open bomb bay of Enola Gay when it was being restored at the Smithsonian’s Paul Garber Facility c. 1993. Very powerful moment for me.
The technician working on the skin said that the exterior surfaces were covered in pits but Enola Gay’s pits would be as shiny as possible. They also said that they restored systems including engines to original condition and if necessary used worn out original parts, including gaskets and orings instead of modern replacements. They said they would prefer the oil leaks.
Have never been able to figure how killing civilians with an atomic bomb was somehow more reprehensible that fire bombing them to death.
I met General Paul Tibbets ay Tamiami Airport in 2000. We had a nice conversation, and he noticed my bike helmet, and asked me about my ride.
When I described my 93FXR to him, he said he wanted to see it, so the two of us walked out to the parking lot, leaving the people (and my hubby) in the hangar.
He liked my bike and said so. I thanked him for helping end WW2, asmy Dad would have been part of the invasion force if the war hadn’t ended.
It is a precious memory!
I was wondering if anyone else was going to post on August 6th, 1945.
I’ve been busy with blueprints while browsing posts...
https://www.newsweek.com/are-hiroshima-nagasaki-still-radioactive-nuclear-1751822
Today, both cities are bustling urban centers and radiation levels there are on par with the general levels of background radiation experienced the world over.
Bflr
As a counter point the fire-bombing of major Japanese cities near the end of the war was also pretty horrific by Allied forces.
That bit of advice Tibbets got from Oppenheimer about tracking out tangentially rather than perpendicularly from the blast center to escape - found that fascinating, for some reason. The plane would have been over five miles from the blast.
Real sobering to consider that kind of power.
Great interview. Thanks for posting.