Air power ended the Pacific War in a way beyond the imagination of any of the visionary prewar strategists. None of the Japanese or American planning have been conducted with any idea of the two weapons which would bring the war so completely and so suddenly to an end the Boeing Super Fortress and the atomic bomb. Conventional air power had gone a long way toward defeating the Japanese, but they were determined to resist an invasion with every weapon at their disposal. The Japanese were a homogeneous nation, 100 million strong. They were willing to die for their country and for their emperor. The other Boeing B-29 was the most expensive Single project of World War II. It cost more than 3 billion for design, development, production and deployment. The Manhattan Project, which resulted in the atomic bomb, cost two billion. The B-29 was clearly the most outstanding bomber in the war by any standards of performance. It was far ahead of the American B-17 and the British Lancaster. The Super Fortress was the joint project of a few visionary American corps planners. They were aided by the courage of general Hap Arnold, who pushed the program through the spite of many hazards. The Other important factor was the engineering strength and heavy bomber experience of the Boeing Aircraft Corporation. By 1940 It seemed possible that England would be invaded and occupied. That meant that Nazi Germany would have to be bombed by U.S. bases. The Air Corps called for a speed of 400 miles an hour, a range of 5,333 miles, and a 2000 pound bomb load. It was an audacious gamble of the part of the Air corp and of the Boeing Company. Boeing was perhaps taking the greater chance. The Air Corps could hedge its bets with other manufacturers for less ambitious airplanes. But Boeing had to rely not only on its own capability, it also had to trust its vendors. Many of them were being asked to create components fully as advanced as the aircraft itself. Shortcuts had to be taken, each one added to an already ambitious program. Dollars were freely available, but there were not always a solution. The Handsome, streamlined airframe was a radical departure from all previous Boeing practice and involved new metals and new fabrication techniques. Boeing's entire production capacity was occupied with building the B-17. For the B-29 it was necessary to build entire new plans, and there was a greater challenge. The creation of the new, highly skilled workforce. Vast schools were established on the factory sites with 90 days of training or less. Farmers, housewives, and young people just out of high school were taught how to do everything necessary to build the most complex aircraft in history. By 1943, Boeing had 58,000 employees building the B-29. Boeing knew from the start that its greatest question mark was the unproven engine. The 18 cylinder Wright R-3350 needed several years more development than was available. It would go into the field unready. It would be a constant nightmare to mechanics and a worry to pilots taking off with two heavy loads from two short runways. Even with the R-3350's power, the speed and range requirements were too difficult to attain. They could only be achieved by combining a highly streamlined design with a wing using a new Boeing high lift airfoil and sophisticated flap system. The U.S. AAF thought Boeing's approach was too radical. They thought the wing loading was too high and that its pilots wouldn't be able to handle the airplane. They cited the experience of the detourious Martin B-26 as an example. Boeing analyzed the B-26 and found that it had a low aspect ratio wing mounted on the fuselage in a way that induced drag. They explained that the B-26 problems stemmed out from bad design. They said that the B-29's excellent design would avoid difficulties. To achieve the necessary performance, the B-29 had to operate at high altitudes. For this, pressurization of the fuselage was mandatory. Boeing had experimented with pressurization in the model 307 Stratoliner passenger plane, but no production bomber had ever been pressurized. The B-29 adopted a new three bubble system, the pilot copilot, engineer, radio operator and navigator were up in the front pod. The gunnies were positioned in the mid fuselage pressurized area and connected to the cockpit by a tunnel spanning the twin bomb bays. The tail gunner was crammed into a third pressurized compartment in the rear, isolated and very much alone. Because of the pressurization system, standard gun turrets could not be used. The armament had to be remotely operated. A General Electric fire control system had to be created. It used an early computer that compensated for speed, range, altitude, wind, temperature and trajectory. The results were remarkably good. Any gunner apart from the tail gunner could control more than one station. The computers permitted firing at targets beyond the range of conventional hand operated guns. The demand for the Boeing B-29 increased. Rival firms Bell Aircraft and Glenn L. Martin were tasked to build it. Boeing felt it was being asked to train competition for the post war marketplace. By the time the XB-29 made its first flight on September 21st, 1942, the U.S. AAA Fed placed a mammoth order for 1,664 of the aircraft. But the first two prototypes caught fire in the air. The second one crashed into a meat packing plant. The entire crew was killed. In spite of all the difficulties, the first B-29 of the 58th Bombardment wing landed at Kharagpur, India on April 24th, 1944 to begin Operation MatterHorn. Operation Matterhorn was designed to knock out the Japanese steel industry. The idea of B-29 bombing Japan from Chinese bases was attractive in political terms. President Roosevelt had promised Chiang Kai-Shek to begin bombing operations against Japan by November 1944, but in practice it was flawed for a wide variety of economic, logistic and command reasons. Chiang Kai-Shek subordinates refused to get serious about building air bases until enough money had been paid to commit embezzlement on a massive scale. Army General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell estimated that at least half of the 100 million in gold required by the Chinese was siphoned off to corrupt officials. The air bases themselves were a monument to the patients and industry of the Chinese people. They literally built them by hand, without power equipment of any sort. They use the most primitive tools to move earth or chip stones. The Operation was based on the assumption that the B-29s would support their own operations by flying gasoline over the hump, the high mountain passes and the Himalayas separating India and China. The B-29s would be supported by a fleet of B-24s serving as tankers. But the B29 was a brand new weapon that had not yet received sufficient testing. It would be bad practice to subject it to continuous flights over the mountains. Then there was the primitive maintenance and the continuing shortage of parts and labour. But the task had to be done. There was no alternative. The complexity of the logistics was a function of the sheer size of the B- 29 units. the Super Fortress had a crew of seven. Seven aircraft per side per squadron and there were 28 per group and a grand total of 112 for the wing. Each B-29 was assigned two crews. A fully manned wing had a total personnel of 11,112. When all its elements arrived overseas, 20th Bomber Command had more than 20,000 officers and men plucked down in brand new bases in India and China eager to go to war. Lieutenant General George Stratemeyer was made responsible for the 20th Bomber Commands, administration and Logistics. General Claire Chennault was responsible for the fighter defense and complete ground support of the B-29 bases in China. The B29's very first combat raid was mounted on June 5th, 1944. General Wolfe led 98 air classed against the railroad marshalling yards in Bangkok, Thailand. Five aircraft crashed en route. Forty-two, had to make emergency landings. Later reconnaissance revealed that fewer than 20 bombs had landed in the target area. It was not a good start for the $3 billion dollar program. The commanders were veterans of the European theater. They were not yet aware of how different the B-29 was from the B-17. Nor were they aware of how difficult the Japanese targets, geography, and weather were compared to Germany's. Hap Arnold demanded better results. He wanted an attack on the Japanese homeland. On June 15th Wolfe launched 92 B-29s from India. Of these, only 79 reached their Chinese staging bases. 78 were dispatched on a night raid against the steel mills of Yawata and Kyushu, Japan. Each plane carried 2 tons of bombs. The results were once again disappointing. Only 47 aircraft made it to Yawata. Only one bomb hit Yawata. It damaged the power station more than half a mile from the steel mill Coke ovens. The Americans took comfort in the damage they must have caused to Japanese morale. But Arnold was not after Japanese morale. He was after their industry. The story of the next six months was much the same, and at home in the U.S. there was a myriad of B-29 production problems. Wolfe was sent back to sort them out. In September the 20th Bomber Command was taken over by a firebrand from Europe. His name was Curtis LeMay. The dramatic acceleration of the Pacific War, including the capture of the marinas in the summer of 1944, permitted a two pronged strategy of attack. From bases in Changsu, China. The 1600 mile operating radius of the B-29 permitted it to hit targets from Manchuria through Japan all the way down to the tit of French and Indochina. Super fortresses operating from Saipan and the Marianas could cover all the important targets in the heartland of Japan. Curtis LeMay's 20th Bomber Command was the first of two prongs. To provide the secon, the 21st Bomber Command was established in November 1944. It was to operate out of new airfields in the Marianas Islands. One of the United States Army Air Force's great planners, "Possum" Hansell, was made commanding officer of the 21st. Hansell, landed his B-29 "Joltin Josie" The Pacific pioneer on Saipan on October 12th, 1944. He was eager to validate and battle the many plans he participated in creating. The first element of the 21st Farmer Commanders arrived. When we've done some more fightin' we'll do some more Talkin'. Thank you. Hansel felt the weight of his responsibility. He knew that even Curtis LeMay, in spite of his success in Europe, was having trouble turning things around against the Japanese and China. LeMay's problems with the 20th Command and included difficulty of supply and the unreliability of the B-29s R-3350 engines. Occasionally good bombing results were obtained. In April 1945 the assets of the 20th Bomber Command would be transferred to Tiananmen and Guam. By then it had failed and it's essential task of sustained bombing of Japan. So much had been expected of the B-29 that the American commanders were driven to prove that it was in fact an excellent weapon. At the very highest levels of command, where people were aware of the Manhattan Project, the urgency was even greater. Only the B-29 could carry the atomic bomb. If the Super Fortress failed, the Manhattan Project became a complete waste. The pressure was felt and transmitted. But in the months after his arrival on Saipan, with the 21st, Hansell was able to do no better than had previously been done in the 20th from China. The Committee of Operational Analysis had reconsidered the priorities of Japan. They now suggested that the aviation industry was the most important target. This had been the Air Force's choice all along. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, directed at the principal aircraft engine manufacturers around Tokyo, became the primary targets. The long series of attacks on Tokyo would be helped by the incredible bravery and skill of the crew of an F-13. The F-13 was the unarmed reconnaissance version of the Super Fortress. Early in the morning of November 1st, 1944, Captain Ralph D Stakley's F-13 became the first U.S. plane to fly over Tokyo since the Doolittle Raid. These photos became the basis for all U.S. attacks on the city. Hansell's first strike on Tokyo was to be called San Antonio One. After much training and many postponements, San Antonio One began at 6:15 AM on November 24th. The first plane to roll down Isley Fields runway was Dauntless Dotty, flown by Brigadier General Rosie O'Donnell. His copilot, Major Roderick K Morgan, had been a pilot on the famous B-17 Memphis Belle. Dauntless Dotty was followed by 110 more B-29s carrying 278 tons of bombs. But the promising start to the mission unraveled. 17 aircraft aborted. Six more found themselves unable to bomb for mechanical reasons. The rest were caught up in a 120 knot wind. It was the infamous jet stream then only just being recognized. They were swept over the target at a blistering 445 miles an hour. It was too fast for accurate bombing. But on the positive side Japanese fighters resistance was light flak was ineffective. Once again, reconnaissance photos showed the bombing results to be totally inadequate. Only 16 bombs had been observed to hit the target area. By now. The B-29 was performing fairly well. Extensive modifications had improved the reliability of its engines, but bombs were still not hitting the target. The early Japanese analysis was that the costs of the B-29 was so great and its results so negligible, that not even a wealthy nation like the United States could afford to persist the attacks. But unknown to all of the Japanese and most of the Americans, a change was in the wind. On December 18th, 1944 eighty-four B-29s of Curtis Lemay's 20th Bombing Command dropped 500 incendiary bombs in a daylight raid on Han Kao, China. The attack destroyed the city as a major Japanese base. As a result of the success of LeMay's incendiary rate, Hansell's 21st Bomber Command was ordered to take a test rate on the city of Nagoya in Japan. It would be made by at least one hundred B-29s, all dropping incendiary bombs. Hansell objected, saying that he wanted to continue precision bombing of the Japanese aircraft industry. In doing so, he put his career on the skids. You can buck the brass in the military, but only if you succeed. A test raid was run on Nagoya on January 3rd 1945 97 B-29s carried mostly incendiary bombs. It was not a good mission. Only 57 aircraft bombed the designated target. The damage on the ground was slight. The Japanese drew the conclusion that their fire prevention system was highly efficient. It was an erroneous and eventually disastrous assumption. Hansell reverted to his previous precision bonding tactics. He was unable to generate better results apart from the one successful attack on the Kawasaki aircraft plant near Kobe. The one success didn't help Hansell. If you work for Hap Arnold, you delivered or you were relieved. Hansell was relieved by Major General Curtis LeMay. Hansell's Forte was planning. The time for planning was passed. Now was the time for direct action, which was Curtis LeMay's strength. As a new commander LeMay received more latitude than Hansell. He made two attacks using Hansell's method. Then he put 69 aircraft over Kobe to drop incendiary bombs. There was heavy fighter opposition, two B-29s were lost and 35 badly damaged. But the city of Kobe was hurt. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed. In the latter part of the war America's overwhelming advantage in numbers and quality usually allowed American forces to brush Japanese opposition aside. As the precision bombing efforts continued, further tests were made with incendiary bombs. In a heavy attack on Tokyo on February 25th Almost 30,000 buildings were destroyed, but the precision strikes against Japan continued to be ineffective. Enemy fighter opposition stiffened in a series of attacks in February, 29 B-29s were lost to fighters, 10 were lost to flak. Almost as many were lost on the long overwater trip between Saipan and Japan, another 21 clashed because of operational problems like engine fires, runaway propellers or fuel exhaustion. And so far the results were insignificant. The B-29, the multibillion dollar bomber, had failed in its intended role. But Curits LeMay already had the remedy in mind. Lemay was aware that he was as vulnerable to have Arnold's impatience as any other man. He decided to try tactics he'd long considered and which had been carefully tested in the United States. It was the common opinion that Japanese cities were much more vulnerable to firebombing than those of Germany. And although Japanese industry was spread out into residential areas, it was still far more concentrated than its German counterpart. The B-29 had been designed from the start as a high altitude bomber. In the European theater it would have had to remain so, but conditions were different in Japan. Antiaircraft guns and searchlights were not radar controlled. It was reported that there were only two night fighter units in the homeland. Japanese airborne radar was primitive and not widely used. Without notifying General Arnold, Lemay decided to launch a series of maxim and effort low level incendiary night attacks against Japan. He was putting his career on the line. Night bombing offered many advantages. The wings were not so strong. The B-29's navigation system operated more efficiently flying at lower altitude, easing the strain on the engines, lowering the fuel consumption and leaving behind armament and ammunition permitted as a much bigger bomb load, about 12,000 pounds per plane. The concept of unarmed low level night bombing alarmed many of LeMay's staff. The word murder was quietly mentioned, but never to LeMay. The first raid was set for the night of March night. 334 B-29s carried almost 2000 tons of bombs. The aircraft and lead squadrons were to act as simple pathfinders. Their napalm bombs were intended to start major appliance fires, which would require the mobilization of all the Japanese firefighting equipment. The rest of the B-29s each carry 24 cluster units of M69 incendiary bombs. The M69 was designed by a high level group of American scientists and engineers, some of whom were also involved in the Manhattan Project. Each M69 was only 20 inches long and three inches in diameter. It weighed just over six pounds. On clashing through the roof of its target. It was designed to detonate and skew out flaming gel as far as 30 yards. The gel stuck to whatever it hit, and it burned with hellish intensity. The technology of the M69 and the great logistics and support effort needed to deliver its target was an expression of the disparity between the American and Japanese war machines. In 1945. The Japanese simply had no counter and no equivalent. On the evening of March 9th, it took almost three hours for LeMay's entire forces of B-29s to get airborne. The bombers would approach Tokyo individually at altitudes from 4900 to 9200 feet. Over Tokyo the visibility was 10 miles or better. The Napon bombs of the pathfighter aircraft started fires that were fanned by a brisk and rising wind. The initial attack at a 12 mile square of the most densely populated part of the city. The fire spread rapidly and the results were devastating. The fire services were overwhelmed within 30 minutes of the attack. A firestorm swept the city. More than one Fourths of a million buildings were destroyed. More than one fourths of the city's houses were gone. More than a million people were homeless. 83,000 dead. 160,000 injured. There was no way to comprehend the disaster of this magnitude. It completely overrode the ideas of national superiority and the samurai spirit, and of the nation's place in the sun. On March 11th the city of Naguya became a target for incendiary attack. There was no firestorm, but two square miles of the city was destroyed. Osaka was attacked on March 13th. The city was blanketed by cloud cover and the B-29s were forced to use radar bombing unexpectedly that gave more uniform results than visual bombing. Within three hours, more than eight square miles of the city were totally destroyed. Morale and the B-29 units kept climbing. LeMay had found the magic formula. He made Maximin use of the B-29 and tactics that take advantage of the enemy's weakness. These tactics converted the B-29 from a blunder to a war winner. Lemay was on a rampage. He drove his crews hard. They were already flying 60 hours a month. That was higher than the average of the 8th Air Force in Europe. But there was a shortage of replacements and that shortage forced Lemay to increase monthly combat time to 80 hours. He had the scent of victory in his nostrils, victory over Japan and victory over the concept of air power. LeMay knew that he had arrived at a point that General Carl Spaatz and Bomber Harris had only dreamed of. He had the ultimate weapon at his disposal, and he knew that there was more to come. He believed that the maximum effort with his command could destroy Japan's ability to wage war. The strength of the 21st bomber command drew every day. By April, LeMay had more than 500 aircraft at his disposal. On May 11th he launched a further attack on the three Japanese cities. His girl was to create such havoc that the terrible cost America had born invading A Canoa would not be repeated in Japan. By June 15th he had destroyed 112 square miles of Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka,Yokohoma and Kawasaki. His B-29s had now the benefit of long range escort fighters, P-51s from Iwo Jima. LeMay had destroyed the six principal industry cities of Japan at a cost of 136 aircraft. The American loss rate 1.9%, was acceptable. Japan was not able to stop this destruction. It lacked antiaircraft guns, radar and Fiighters to repel the invaders. It lacked fire engines, bomb shelters and hospitals to help its citizens. Yet Japan was held captive by a Marshall spirit. That spirit had served the country ill on almost every battlefield in this war, but the government voted to fight on. LeMay in the 21st bombing command had brought Japan to its knees, but it would not surrender. The B-29's Success in area bombing was a great relief to all those who had staked so much on its development. At the time, few people were aware of the Manhattan Project, and the essential role of the B-29 would have been in the successful delivery of an atomic weapon. By July 1941, a decision had been made to create an atomic bomb before the Germans did. The Manhattan Project eventually employed 120,000 people, including the country's top engineers and scientists. On July 16th, 1945 an experimental bomb was detonated with results that were incredible even to those who had created it. Word of the successful test was immediately sent to the new President, Harry S Truman. Truman, who was a novice was plunged into the Potsdam conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Truman mentioned to Stalin that a powerful new weapon had been tested. Stalin responded that he hoped it would be tested to good effect against the Japanese. Truman was pleased that Stalin did not press for more information. He was unaware that Stalin already knew what he needed to know from the Soviet spies at the center of the Manhattan Project, the Potsdam Declaration of July 26th, indirectly warned the Japanese of the power of the new weapon. It stated that the only alternative to surrender was prompt and utter destruction. Japan was badly wounded by the B-29 raids. It was also cut off from food and industrial imports. Japanese leaders were fully aware that the war was lost, but as yet had not find a way to acknowledge it. A cultural phenomenon emerged unfamiliar to the West. It was "Mokusatsu", a time honored technique by which a Japanese officer would take refuge in a lofty silence. When he did not agree with or did not understand an order. When the new Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki announced his response to the Potsdam declaration, he used the term Mokusatsu. He meant to say, in essence, no comment, but his remarks were translated as meaning that Japan was contentiously ignoring the declaration. It was a fatal error. In early 1944, plans for modifying 15 B-29s were formulated. The modifications were not extensive. The atomic bombs were being designed at the same time. The designs were adapted as much as possible to fit the B-29's Bomb bay. The following summer, Arnold authorized the Top Secret team of experts to create the first combat unit to use the new weapon. Colonel Paul W. Tibbets Jr. was elected as commander of the new 509th composite group. The remainder of the group was handpicked to get the best possible people. For a long time, Tibbets was the only person in the 509th to know the true nature of the mission. The special facilities required for handling and loading the bomb were compared in Tinian in the spring of 1945. By July, the 509th that it's specially modified B-29s were in place. Further training began immediately with six specialized missions. Some of them involved harassment, bombing of isolated garrisons on the islands of Truck and Marcus. After July 20th, the 509th crews executed 38 sorties, gaining experience and the precise tactics to be used when the atomic bomb was dropped. These sorties also made the sight of small formations of B-29s seem customary and innocuous to the Japanese. A list of target cities was drawn up. They were the largest cities with the least damage remaining in Japan. Kyoto was removed because of its cultural significance and because of the negative reaction in Europe to the bombing of Dresden. Truman and Secretary Stimson thought the destruction of Kyoto might drive Japan into the Russian camp after the war. Hiroshima was now at the head of the line. Later Nagasaki was added to the list. On Tinian all necessary elements of the strike were prepared. Field order name at 13 was signed on August 2nd, 1945 by Lieutenant General Nathan Twining. It directed the 509th Group to make a visual attack on Hiroshima. At one time Hiroshima had been a busy naval port, but the port had been mined and the population was now reduced to under a quarter of 1,000,000 people. There were many military installations. The entire economy was geared to the Japanese war effort. There were no Allied prisoner of war camps in the area. Seven aircraft were assigned to the mission. Leading the principal force was Tibbets Its in Enola Gay, named after his mother. Enola Gay was accompanied by two escort planes crammed with cameras and observers to record the event. Three aircraft were signed duty as weather planes, one was designated a spare. On August 4th the crews were told that the exact nature of the mission and one of the bombs predicted 20,000 tons of TNT power. But even then they were not told it was an atomic bomb. At 2:45 in the morning of August 6th, the Enola Gay took off. Five and a half hours later, Tibbets received word that the weather and visibility were good. At exactly 9:15, Enola Gay was flying at 328 miles an hour at 31,600 feet. Bombardier Major Thomas Ferebee dropped the bomb. Tibbetts then executed what later became known as the breakaway maneuver, a steeply banked 150 degree turn to avoid the expected blast by the time the bomb exploded 50 seconds later. The Enola Gay was 19 miles away. At detonation there occurred the fireball, followed by the swiftly rising mass of smoke that turned into the notorious mushroom cloud, the cloud that still casts its symbolic shadow. President Truman immediately announced the event to the world. The news amazed every many members of the 509th Composite group. The Japanese reaction was confused. Officially, they diminished the results of the attack. They said that it was only a new bomb which should not be made light of. Certainly not. More than 40,000 buildings were destroyed, almost 80,000 people were killed. LeMay's B-29s and the U.S. Navy's carrier forces maintained pressure against Japan, while the sole remaining atomic weapon in the world was prepared for use. The second and last atomic mission of the war began at 3:49 on August 9th. Major Sweeney and his crew flew Bockscar. They traded their aircraft, the Great Artiste, to Captain Frederick C. Bock. The Primary target was Kokura, but it was weathered in. Sweeney made three bomb runs. The Bombardier couldn't see the target visually. Some Japanese fighters were in the area. Sweeney diverted to the secondary target Nagaasaki, which was also cloud covered. Bockscar used radio for its run and at the last minute the Bombardier, Captain Kermit Beehan, saw the target. At 10:58 he hit the bomb release. Most people were either at work or at home when the bomb detonated within one mile of the two huge Mitsubishi arms factories. Incredibly, Emperor Hiroheto's advisors on the Supreme Council for the direction of the War still debated whether or not to surrender. As Adolf Hitler had done, the military factions still wanted to resist in hope of obtaining better terms. On August 19th, the Japanese announced not their surrender, but their willingness to accept the Potsdam Declaration. In the days preceding the Japanese statement, routine B-29 missions had continued. On August 11th they were suspended to give the negotiations a chance to mature. The United States responded to the August 10th's Japanese statement by advising that from the moment of surrender, the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese government were subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. When no word came back from the Japanese government, LeMay's B-29s were authorized to resume attacks. General Arnold had long-awaited his own Tokyo Millennium. 1000 aircraft over Tokyo. While General Spaatz would have preferred to use such third atomic bomb if one had been available,LeMay was able to meet Arnold's wish. He put up a total of 828 bombers and 186 flighters over 1000 aircraft in all over Tokyo on August 14th. Before the last aircraft had landed, Japan had surrendered. The American forces continue to make a display of their air power over Japan. This reached the highlight September 2nd. 462 B-29s, cruised over Tokyo Bay. All the surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri. In the meantime, 900 B-29s had dropped almost 5000 tons of supplies to more than 63,000 prisoners of war. Not only that, but camps in Japan, China and Korea. Summer 1945. The war in Europe is over, but the world is not yet at peace in the East. Japan fights on. Her Imperial Navy is all but ruined. Her armies are destroyed or cut off on isolated islands. Her air forces are crippled by the loss of her experienced pilots. Japan's dream of empire is shattered, but her military leaders refused to surrender. The battle for Okinawa ended in mid June after 82 days of ferocious fighting. From there, the Allied Forces of America and Britain. Plan to attack the home islands of Japan. But their victory on Okinawa had come at a terrible price. More than 50,000 Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen were dead, wounded, or missing. More than 100,000 Japanese soldiers were killed or committed suicide. And more than 100,000 Okinawan civilians, perhaps a third of the population, were dead, many of them by suicide. As Allied leaders prepared for a massive invasion of Japan's home islands, military leaders in Japan swore to fight to the very last man, woman, and child. In late July, United States President Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a fateful decision, one that they hoped would end the war as soon as possible and save both the Allies and the Japanese from the bloodbath of an invasion. On 6 August 1945, the Americans unleashed a weapon the likes of which had never been seen before, the atomic bomb. Six years and $2 billion dollars in the making, the atomic bomb would finally bring an end to the Second World War. Perhaps no mission has ever changed the course of war more definitively or abruptly. Than the one undertaken by the 509th Special Squadron of the US Army Air Forces and the B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay. I'm Gary Sinise. And this is Missions that Changed the War. 6 August 1945 8:10 AM local time 32,000 feet above the city of Hiroshima, Japan, a lone American B-29 bomber made its way toward a point over the city's center. Dutch van Kirk was the navigator of that lone B-29. Today he is the last surviving member of her twelve man crew. To the day Paul Tibbets died, he and I would argue about whether or not I volunteered for this job. He'd say, well you when I called you, you volunteered. I'd say yeah. When I got my damn orders, I noticed their dated 2 days before your telephone call. So much for the volunteering part. I was flying with the crew that The captain in charge of that crew couldn't handle him. His name was Rocket and nothing mattered to him but he had two, two characters in his outfit he couldn't handle one of them was Theodore Van Kirk, and the other was Thomas W. Ferebee. And so I said that's the crew I want. They'll do what I want them to do. Well, it worked out that way. Of course. That's the beginning of a long relationship between the two of us. We didn't fly together too much, but we knew where each other was and all that sort of thing. When I got the bomb project, they were my first first two people I asked for. On that fateful morning in Hiroshima, Japanese authorities ignored that lone bomber. It was too high for fighters or antiaircraft fire, and besides, a single enemy bomber was not much cause for concern. At precisely 8:15 and 17 seconds, Bombardier Tom Ferrebee released a single five ton object from the aircraft's Bomb bay. Freed of its heavy load, the B-29 surged upward. Sergeant Wyatt Doosenberry, the flight engineer, pushed the throttles forward and the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbetts, banked the aircraft left into a gut wrenching turn that would take it far away from the target as quickly as possible. It was an evasive maneuver the crew had practiced many times. The object fell for 43 seconds through the clear air toward its aiming point. The T shaped Aioi bridge at 18,190 feet above the waking city of Hiroshima. The object, known to its builders as the little boy erupted in an unimaginable burst of heat and light, a single weapon with the power of 13 to 18,000 tons of high explosive TNT. In an instant it's 1200 foot fireball reached 7000 degrees Fahrenheit near ground 0, sand melted into glass and every living thing was vaporized or turned instantly to carbon. A full mile from the center of the blast the shockwave turned buildings into shrapnel. In the cockpit of the Enola Gay, nine miles from the blast, it was as if 1000 flashbulbs had popped off all at once. In the tail, gunner Bob Caron winced in pain and tore off the special goggles issued to the crew. Even through the polarized welding glass lenses, he feared he had been struck blind by what he later described as the fire of 1000 suns. of all the Enola Gays crew Caron had the best view of the blast to the rest of the crew. He described A roiling, fiery mushroom shaped cloud that boiled up 30, forty 50,000 feet. A moment later, the first shockwave from the blast hit the airplane, shaking the huge bomber like a leaf in a Gale. The aircraft was shaken a second time as the shockwave rebounded off the earth below, but the Enola Gay held together. Deak Parsons, the Enola gays, weaponeer and bomb commander, sent a coded message to Tinian, the mission was a success. Below, the city had vanished beneath a boiling pall of dirty brown smoke. Flames were erupting everywhere. Caron likened it to bubbling molasses or the fires of hell. Colonel Tibbets turned the plane broadside to the blast to give the crew a better view. While Caron wrestled with a bulky K20 camera, the rest of the 12 man crew was mostly silent. The first thing we saw was a mushroom shaped cloud, so called mushroom shaped cloud, all different colors within the base of that cloud and on top of it was a mushroom. You could see it was up well above our altitude already I guess 40,000 going higher. And then as we turn on around and everything we could see the city of Hiroshima. And we can make absolutely no visual observation because the entire city was covered with thick black smoke and everything. You want the description of it, I say it looked like a pot of boiling oil down there. As Tibbetts turn the Enola Gay toward Tinian and home, many of the men on board shared a single thought. This could be the end of the War. As they headed back to their base at Tinian, six hours away in the Marianas Islands, the men aboard the Enola Gay were awestruck by what they had seen. They struggled to find the words to describe it. From the tail, Caron could see the mushroom cloud for more than an hour. Finally, 400 miles from Hiroshima, he reported to the rest of the crew that the cloud was no longer visible. As the plane flew southward across the featureless Pacific Ocean, conversation dwindled among the crew as the excitement of the mission wore off. We were also damn tired. We're coming back. We did. It didn't make any difference what mood we were in for going out loud. From Tinian, Captain Parsons radio message was forwarded to the Pentagon. President Harry Truman was aboard the USS Augusta, returning from a meeting with Britain's Winston Churchill and Russia's Joseph Stalin. During lunch with a group of enlisted men, Truman was handed a copy of the message from Tinian. This, he exclaimed, is the greatest thing in history. The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. Aboard the Enola Gay, the crew talked of the end of the war. Some speculated that it might be all over by the time they landed at Tinian. How could the Japanese fight on? Everybody said they can not possibly stand up to force like this. In fact, Dick Nelson made it possibly? He said this war is over. The atomic bomb was an entirely new weapon, more complex, more sophisticated, and more deadly than any weapon system that had come before it. The airplane that delivered the atomic bomb was equally innovative, a technological marvel. At the time, it was the largest and most sophisticated aircraft ever flown. With its large bomb load and very long range, the B-29 was designed and built for just one purpose, to strike at the very heart of Imperial Japan. In 1939, with the threat of war gathering in Europe, the Army Air Corps requested design proposals for a very long range super bomber. Things looked so bad in Europe, that it would look like Great Britain would be defeated and occupied by the Nazis In the United States, would have to bomb Europe from the United States. And so there came into being the idea of the intercontinental bomber. Now it was ultimately realized in the B-36, but it set everybody's mind thinking. Boeing Aircraft Company had a set of brilliant engineers. They had done a whole series of design studies that led ultimately to the B-29. They incorporated in it so many things that would otherwise be regarded as too risky to involve into a single design. To get the performance that they thought they would need, they incorporated pressurization in a bomber. They incorporated new engines, new propellers, new fire control systems, new metallurgy, new types of aluminum in it. Everything was was pushed to an extreme when it came into being it had a very checkered career. There were constant problems with engine fires and so on. And yet, without a doubt, it was the most advanced bomber of the war. So it was. It was the supreme bomber of World War II. Boeing's B-17 bomber could carry up to 8000 pounds of bombs and had a maximum range of 2000 miles at a top speed below 300 mph. For its new super bomber, the Army Air Corps specified a bomb load of 20,000 pounds a top speed of 400 mph and a range of over 5000 miles. The B 29 would be the largest and most complex aircraft of the Second World War. It would extend the range of strategic bombing over distances never before seen in combat, with its pressurized compartments, automated gun controls, huge engines, and immense size and range. B-29 was, in its day, one of the most complicated pieces of movable machinery ever manufactured, and it was designed, built, tested, refined, and ready for combat in just four years. Building the B-29 was not a simple task. Thousands of subcontractors fed parts to the five main assembly plants, two in Washington state and one each in Georgia, Kansas and Nebraska. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and brought the United States fully into World War II, the X B-29 prototypes were not yet completed, but the Army was already impressed with the design. One month after Pearl Harbor, the B-29 went into full production with an order for 500 aircraft. The prototypes had not yet been flown. In the first months of the war, it was clear to American military planners that no other bomber had the necessary range to strike decisively at the heart of Japan, and the Army pressured Boeing to complete the B-29s in record time. But the Air Corps requirements for the B-29 were challenging, its design was highly advanced, and the aircraft was plagued with problems throughout the B-29s development and for much of its service life the most common source of problems was the engines. The Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone was one of the most powerful radial engines ever built. With its 18 air cooled turbocharged cylinders in two rows. This mammoth produced up to 3700 horsepower, but it had problems. The rear cylinders tended to overheat and cause engine fires. The crank case was made of high magnesium alloy. It burned so intensely that it could burn through the main wings bar in seconds, with predictable and catastrophic results. Once it was airborne, the B-29 could fly on just two of its four engines, but the failure of a single engine during takeoff could be disastrous with a full combat load of bombs and fuel. Other problems included uneven distribution of the air fuel mixture to the cylinders and the engines tendency to eat its own valves. During World War II, nearly all B-29s operated in the tropics, where high temperatures on the runway increased the risk of engine fires and reduced aircraft performance. Engineers at Boeing and Curtis Wright tried many fixes, but the B-29s engine problems continued. Until the introduction of the 28 cylinder Pratt and Whitney R 4360, which came too late for World War II. During the war, mechanics in the field scrambled to keep up with the fixes ordered by the engineers, including replacing the five top cylinders on each engine every 25 hours of engine time and replacing each entire engine every 75 hours. It was hardly standard practice to put an airplane into production before its prototype had been built and flown through 1942 and 43. As bugs in the design were discovered and fixed, many changes were applied on the production line. The B2-9 is just one example of progress being accelerated by the demands of war. By the end of 1943, production was in full swing. But there were so many changes that the B-29s coming off the production line were flown straight to modification depots for extensive refits. Bad weather and other delays meant that in early 1944 Boeing had built nearly 100 B-29s, but fewer than 15 were air worthy. General Hap Arnold, commander of the Air Corps, stepped in to tighten the screws, and by mid-april 150 B-29s were ready for deployment. At B-17, you always put your oxygen mask on. When you, you wore your oxygen mask continuously. If you moved around, you had to take a portable bottle with you and it was cold. It was uncomfortable. It was noisy. I can give you a lot of things wrong with it. Power settings had to be calculated precisely and frequently for best performance. Getting the right takeoff and landing speeds was especially critical, based on weight, air temperature, and field elevation. But all the extra charts and arithmetic paid off in more speed and longer range. The most revolutionary feature of the B-29 was its central fire control system, or CFCS. Each of the four gun turrets mounted Two 50 caliber machine guns. Each turret could be controlled by any one of four analog computers, one in the nose and three in the pressurized waste compartment. The 5th gunner in the tail could control his own pair of 50 caliber machine guns or the guns in the rear ventral turret. The crewman in the rear dorsal turret was the central fire control gunner who assigned the turrets to each of the other Gunners. The computer controlled gun sight for each turret compensated for the B-29's speed, the targets speed and angle, temperature, humidity and gravity. The analog gun sight computer was highly advanced for its time and gave B-29 Gunners an effective kill range of 1000 yards, twice the range of a manually aimed gun turret. Paul Warfield, Tibbets Junior, the man who would later become a US Air Force and aviation icon as the commander of the first ever atomic bomb mission, was born in Quincy, Illinois on 23 February 1915. The family moved to Iowa in 1918, where Tibbets father worked in his family's grocery business. When young Paul was nine, his father moved the family to Miami, Florida, and with a partner, started a successful wholesale candy company in the summer of 1927. Doug Davis, a barnstorming pilot, was under contract with the Curtis Candy Company to fly over county fairs, horse races and other public events and drop its new Baby Ruth candy bars from his airplane in Miami. Davis came to see the elder Tibbets, who was the distributor for Curtis candies. Young Paul sat in on the meeting and was enthralled by the dashing pilot. Davis needed someone to ride along in his airplane and drop the candy. Young Paul volunteered, reluctant at first. His father agreed. He looked at my father, said this service I have to have somebody fly with me in the front seat and throw these bars out while I fly from the back seat. I'll throw them out there and of course I held my hand up right away. My father looked at me and he said, no, not you. And my dad's business partner said Paul, Let him go, for God's sake, let him go. And Doug Davis spoke up at the time, he said Mr. Tibbets, he said I'm married. I got a lovely wife for two lovely girls, daughters and he said I'm going out there and flying this airplane just like it should be flown and I'm not going to hurt myself and I'm sure not going to hurt him. And my father relented and said okay that would give me my first ride throwing candy bars out over Hialeah racetrack. Well, I'm fascinated by that machine. I'll tell you, there's nothing like it. As they flew over the local racetrack just after the second race, Paul threw out handfuls of the sweets. The baby Ruth's landed on target, and as the crowd scrambled for the goodies, Davis made two more bomb runs over the track before heading downtown to the beach. They flew similar missions every day for a week before Davis moved on to another city. He later joined Eastern Airlines and became its most famous pilot, helping to pioneer air travel in the U.S. Young Paul Tibbets never forgot the excitement of those flights over Miami. In 1928 as young Tibbets prepared for 8th grade, his father sent him to Western Military Academy in Alton, IL where he would spend the next five school years. At first Tibbets rankled at the discipline of the Academy, but eventually he chose to make the best of it. He became a good student and an average athlete. He had a few runins with the cadet commander over various infractions, but the fairness with which he was disciplined made a lasting impression. And it would influence his own style as a commander in World War II. In later life, he described his five years of the Academy as distasteful, but he also believed that they were useful in preparing him for the challenges he would face as an adult. The summer before he started college, Tibbets hung around Miami's Opa-Locka airport, fueling planes and doing chores to earn money for flying lessons. He soloed that summer in a tailor cub. After six hours of dual instruction after five years of military school, Tibbets had trouble adjusting to the freewheeling college life, and he nearly flunked out of the University of Florida. As a pre-med student at the University of Cincinnati, he helped out in a local clinic and spent his free time flying for the fun of it. Tibbets found himself less and less enthusiastic about his chosen career in medicine, and more and more excited about aviation. As Tibbets pondered his future in late 1936, Douglas Aircraft Company introduced the DC-3 airliner. Suddenly, commercial air travel went from daring to safe and reliable, and Tibbets found his calling. Lacking the funds for a commercial pilot's license, he applied to be a cadet in the Army Air Corps and was inducted in February 1937. I said dad I'm going to be leaving school. He tried to look at me...leaving school? What for? Well I want... I'm going down to San Antonio, become a flying cadet and learn to fly airplanes in the Army Air Corps. He said, "well, you're over 21,I guess that's all right". But he said, "I want to remind you of something". He said, "going back for a long time. I've supported you pretty well. I bought your clothes and did everything before you put shoes on your feet and all that". But he said, "now that's finished, you're on your own". The Army, he reasoned, would teach him to fly and launch him on a career as an airline pilot. It never occurred to him that he might fly in combat. At Randolph Field in Texas, he was determined not to wash out. His five years at Alton had taught him all about military discipline and spit and Polish. If following the rules was the key to success, he would follow them to the letter, avoiding every temptation to slack off or show off. Tibbets finished basic training at the head of his class and received the Army Air wings in February 1938. As a top graduate, he was given his choice of assignment pursuit as fighters were called then, or observation. There were no bomber pilots in the Air Corps in those days. On the advice of one of the tactical officers at Randolph, he chose observation that would open the door to solo missions and multiengine training. During advanced training at Fort Benning, Georgia, Tibbets met a pretty department store clerk named Lucy Wingate. They were married in June 1938. After completing his advanced multiengine training, Tibbets stayed at Fort Benning, flying the Martin B-10 bomber, mostly towing gunnery targets. In early 1940, the Air Corps Third Attack Group received the New Douglas A-20 Havoc. To fly the high performance attack bomber, the Army searched for pilots with 1000 hours or more of multiengine time. Tibbets name was on that list. He was transferred to the group's base at Hunter Field near Savannah and assigned as engineering officer for the 90th Attack Squadron in 1940. The focus was on Europe, not Japan. And the Pacific. In occupied Europe, the Germans were building flak towers up to 100 feet high and mounting anti-aircraft guns on top of them. Pilots in the third attack group learn to fly their A-20 Havocs at high speed in tight formations at 100 feet or less above the ground. That would allow them to fly below the German flak towers, hugging terrain to avoid enemy gunners and plane spotters. Tibbets enjoyed the challenge. It required steady nerves and precise flying skills. By 1941, it was becoming clear to many Americans that the war was coming. the U.S. was organizing its civil defense system for warning of air attacks. Tibbets 90th Squadron was charged with putting the new system to the test. Their simulated low level attacks on cities like Boston and New York showed that the system was woefully inadequate. Theoretically, Tibbets later wrote, he and his squadron destroyed most of the East Coast, attacking coastal cities, roaring in on the wave tops in tight formation at 200 mph. The A-20s would sometimes nudge each other a wingtip Denting a fuselage or propeller nibbling at an elevator. But there were no serious accidents, and the pilots of the 90th Squadron became experts at low level tactics. Tibbets was on a return flight to the squadron's base at Savannah when he heard the news that the Japanese had attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Tibbets was selected for training in the new B-17 bomber, and the B-17s were slow in coming. He was temporarily assigned to form an antisubmarine patrol unit flying Douglas B-18 bombers. As American war production geared up, the big Flying Fortresses began to arrive. Along with the crews that would fly them. The B-17 was the largest land plane of its day, and some people thought it was too big and too complex for regular Army Air Corps crews to handle. Tibbets was given command of the 40th Squadron of the 97th Heavy Bomb Group at Macdill Field in Tampa, Florida. It was his task to prepare his green B-17 air crews for combat. It was an exhausting job. Tibbets sometimes flew 18 hours a day checking out the new pilots. There was little time and few resources to turn the raw airmen into effective combat crews. Our training was nothing. You just flew the airplane around and you take barrels out of the Gulf of Mexico and drop them into water and then fly around and shoot at them. That was our training. We had no gun retraining or anything. Most of the time we didn't have ammunition to train. When we got to England, we were the blind leading the blind. Believe me, we were. Too soon, Tibbets Squadron was ordered to the West Coast, bound for the Pacific. We got orders to go to Fresno, California. Now the group commander was not with me, but he got on the telephone. He called me. He said, Paul, you're going to get orders to go to Fresno, California. I am in Pennsylvania here at Olmstead with the other two squadrons, which I knew. He said I will get the message, I will send one message to you about where to go and I will join you later. I got my message. We got in the airplanes we started for Fresno, California. During their few weeks in Fresno, CA, Tibbets drilled his men constantly in formation, flying, navigation and other critical skills. But when their orders came, the 97th Bomb Group was sent back across the country to Bangor, Maine. In early June. They were finally ordered to England. On 17 August 1942, Tibbetts led 18 B-17s on the first daylight raid by American bombers on German occupied Europe. Their target was the railroad marshalling yards at Rouen, France. Prior to that raid, British and American bombers had been striking German occupied targets only at night. The Germans at Rouen were not expecting a daylight raid. Tibbets and his bombers caught them by surprise. That day, about half the squadron's bombs hit their targets at Rouen. Their accuracy was less than was hoped for, but it was still much better than nighttime raids were achieving. Two of Tibbets bombers were damaged by Flak. Their Spitfire escorts drove off three German fighters. All the bombers returned safely to England. The only injuries were caused by a pigeon that smashed through the nose of one plane, pelting the Bombardier and navigator with shards of plexiglass. In October, Tibbets led B-17s and B-24s. To Lille, France, it was the first time more than 100 bombers were joined in a single raid. Dutch Van Kirk would become Tibbets navigator, entered the Army Air Corps cadet program in October 1941 and earned his navigator's wings six months later at Kelly Field in Texas. After about a week there, maybe two weeks, they call out a bunch of names of 30 people and they could got us together and they said you people are going through here in half the normal time. Well they forgot to and doubled up on a calisthenics as well as. And the classes and everything else, they came... almost kill us for heaven's sakes. So they we finally convinced them they only needed the regular calisthenics and but we went through in double time. We almost all went to the 97th bomb group over that. My first combat mission we didn't get any enemy action. So I come back and I thought, oh this is snap, nothing to it. And I think it was maybe the 3rd or 4th mission that I changed my mind. I'd been looking out the window on my right on the right hand side. We had two guns up there and went out the right, one out the left and the 30 caliber out the nose and we never hit a damn thing. But that's okay. I was looking out the window on the right hand side. I turned around and look back a little bit. Look out the window on the left hand side. The time I turned around, look back at the window on the right hand side, there are four bullet holes where my head had been. And I decided they're fruiting at me. I earned my money today. From then on, we we knew we were in a war. That October, Tibbets, now a Lieutenant Colonel, was given the job of flying General Mark Clark from England to Algeria to meet with French commanders prior to Operation Torch, the American invasion of North Africa. Tibbets stayed in North Africa flying bombing missions. When it moved to Algiers in January of 1943, he became chief of bomber operations for General Jimmy Doolittle, who commanded the 12th Air Force in Africa. Less than a month later, General Hap Arnold, commander of the Army Air Forces, asked Doolittle to send back to the States his best field grade officer with most experience in B-17s The Air Forces had a problem and Paul Tibbets was just the man to fix it. Arriving in Washington in late February 1943, Tibbets learned that the Army Air Force's newest bomber, the B-29, was in serious trouble. The aircraft was plagued with problems mostly related to the newly developed Wright R-3350 engines. In July, Tibbets was sent to New Mexico to test the B-29 bombers combat characteristics with P-47 fighters making simulated attacks. The big bomber was hard to control in the thin air at high altitudes. It would be impossible to fly in tight combat box formations. Tibbets began to doubt the airplane's ability to survive in combat. On a day when his regular test plane was out of service, he borrowed a strip Down B-29. Without it, 7000 pounds of guns and ammunition. The plane flew higher and faster and was much easier to control. Above 30,000 feet, the lightened B-29 could turn tighter than a P-47 and could outrun the fighters. It was an important lesson that he would later put to good use. In September 1944, Tibbets was called to Colorado Springs to organize and train a bomber group for a super secret mission, one that might end the war. The Manhattan Project, America's program to develop an atomic bomb, was far enough along that figuring out how to deliver the weapon and training the crews to do it had become an urgent concern. The Army Air Force did not want a suicide mission. Tibbets job was to figure out how to deliver the bomb safely and to assemble a bomb group specially trained to drop the weapon. He was to prepare two special bomber squadrons, one for Japan and one for Germany. Tibbets would get whatever men and resources he needed. If anyone refused the code word, silver plate would breach all barriers. As his base Tibbets chose Wendover Field in Utah. The facilities were adequate and very isolated. USO comedian Bob Hope called it leftover field. The men called it the "End of Nowhere". As the core of his 509th composite group. Tibbets chose the 393rd Bomber Squadron, a Combat Ready B-29 unit, and he began bringing in the best crewmen from his B-17 days, Bomber dear Tom Ferebee, navigator Dutch Van Kirk, Flight Engineer Wyatt Dusenbury and tail gunner Bob Caron. These men formed Tibbets own B-29 crew and helped to train the other crews. It really came home to me when you saw. When they were describing what you were going to do, that you were going to do something that would destroy an entire city. It could be you're going to shorten the war, end the war, and you saw a bunch of guys running around who you knew were, nuclear physicists. How many people in the organization knew enough about Atomic Energy at that time to guess that we were working on an atomic bomb is beyond me. Security was extremely tight. Only Tibbets knew the unit's true purpose, and the men were cautioned. Don't talk to anyone and don't even be curious. You didn't talk about it because if you did, you would get sent off the illusions. There's no place like that. How does one drop an atomic bomb and get away safely? The scientist came to us and right at the beginning, and they wanted, one of them said. We think you will be okay if you're nine miles away when the bomb explodes. I can remember looking at the guy and saying what the hell do you mean, You think? We could be wrong. Some guys are saying it could be 50 miles away. Some people are saying you can't get far enough away. The bomb would be released from six miles high. A steep turn of 155 degrees and a shallow dive for speed would put the plane about nine miles away from the explosion. Immediately we decided we wanted to use strip down B-29s. These were B-29s and all the turrets taken out, all the guns taken out except the tail guns. As much of the weight as we could get out of that B-29, take it out and get rid of it. So it could get up higher and go faster. We could not have done this mission in a regular B-29. With strip down B-29s, the crews dropped dummy bombs and practiced navigation and the evasion maneuver that Tibbets had worked out. Germany surrendered on 8th May 1945. The 509th composite group now had only one target, Japan. They were ready. But at Los Alamos the scientists argued about the odds a one in 10,000 chance that the bombs trigger would fail. They wanted one in a million. Tibbets said he would take 10,000 to one any day, and he gave the order to move the bombers to Tinian, 1500 miles from Japan. The pieces were in place for a mission that might end the war. Most people have no concept of why we drop the bombs at the time we did. They just assume that we drop the bombs in order to cause those large casualties. They do not take time to read it and understand it and no matter what you tell them, I don't think they're...that most people will never understand it. You go to high schools today and the high schools today don't understand anything about World War II. I've... I think I did describe how I was introduced at once high school and as a as a veteran of World War eleven (11). There had been no other mission like it in history. The use of an atomic bomb for strategic purposes in time of war, The complexity and destructive power of the weapon is well documented. That the little Boy dropped on Hiroshima and the Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki three days later caused the Japanese leadership to change its policy of defending the home islands to the last man, woman and child to one of immediate surrender is a matter of historical fact. It is a singular story of technological genius in the fog of war. Magnificent courage and terrible suffering, diligent planning and unpredictable happenstance. The mission of the B-29 bomber, called the Enola Gay and its crew on August 6th, 1945, not only changed the Second World War, it changed the face of warfare as we know it until this day. It was in fact a mission that changed human history. I'm Gary Sinise, and this is missions that changed the war. The Boeing B-29 Super Fortress, the airplane that dropped the atomic bomb, was as much a technological marvel as the bomb itself. It featured innovations like a pressurized cabin, an electronic fire control system, and remote controlled gun turrets. Its wingspan, 141 feet, was nearly twice the span of Boeing's B-17 Flying Fortress at 155,000 pounds combat weight. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to serve in World War II. It went from drawing board to combat in less than four years. It went into full production before its prototype flew and the 1st B-29s to come off the assembly line were full of problems. But eventually it became a very capable strategic bomber and it served the U.S. Air Force through the end of the 1950s. In late 1944, the United States was well on the way to developing an atomic bomb. the US Army Air Forces created a special B-29 bomber group to deliver the bomb, the 509th Composite Group. Its leader was Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets, one of the 8th Air Forces most experienced B-17 pilots, and a test pilot for the B-29 program. Tibbets was tasked with organizing and training two special bomb units, one for Germany and one for Japan. As the core of his 509th Composite group, he chose the 393rd Bomber Squadron, a combat ready unit of fifteen B-29s in an archival interview. Paul Tibbets talked about the mission. You got a tremendous amount of responsibility there. You got a tremendous amount of authority. Be careful of how you use it. We're in General Ant's office and he is instructing me as to my assignment. You are going to organize and train a unit to drop these atomic bombs simultaneously in both Europe and Japan, and he told me about it using my code word of silver plate. But he said Journal Arnold had advised his entire staff in Washington that any requisition with the word silver plate would be honored without question. I reflected back over to the things that have been said, knowing that it was going to be the most important thing that I ever did in my life. He added three more factory fresh B-29s to the group, personally selecting his own aircraft from Boeing's production line. One of his main concerns was how to drop an atomic bomb and get away safely. The bomb would be dropped from 30,000 feet and it would explode 43 seconds later. Tibbets worked out an evasive maneuver that would get his bomber 9 miles from the blast. The scientist came to us and right at the beginning and they from one of the one of them said we think you will be okay if you're 9 miles away when the bomb explodes. I can remember looking at the guy and saying "what the hell do you mean you thin"? We could be wrong. Some guys are saying it could be 50 miles away. Some people are saying you can't get far enough away, so you just paid your money. You took your choice. The 509th trained at an isolated airfield at Wendover, Utah. Their mission was super secret. Only Tibbets and a handful of officers knew what they were training for, though others may have guessed. We had every telephone coming into Wendover Utah or going out. It was tapped. Security was the most important thing that we had to maintain because they didn't want anything to get out. Tibbets caution the men of the 509th not to talk to anyone about the unit. And not to speculate about its purpose, violators quickly found themselves transferred to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, where they could talk as much as they liked to the walruses and seagulls. The aircrews practiced navigation and dropped practice bombs, called pumpkins, that were shaped like the bulbous atomic bomb but filled with conventional high explosives. For maximum altitude and speed, they stripped their B-29s, dumping 7000 pounds of gun turrets, ammunition and other gear. Their only remaining armaments were their tail guns. By April 1945, it was clear that the war in Europe was in its final days. The bombers of the 509th now had just one target, Japan. In early May, they began shipping out to Tinian, an island in the Marianas group, 1200 miles from the Japanese homeland. Tinian, is a 39 square mile coral island roughly five by thirteen miles in the Northern Marianas island chain, 3700 miles from Hawaii. Claimed by Japan after World War I, it was mainly a sugar plantation under Japanese rule during World War II. The Japanese built two small airfields and launched fighters and light bombers from the island. U.S. Marines invaded the island in July 1944 and secured it on August 1st. 8,000 Japanese soldiers died in the Nine Day Battle. The Marines lost 328 dead and 1500 wounded. Several 100 Japanese soldiers remained hidden in Tinian's semi tropical jungles. The last survivor was captured in 1953. With Tinian secured 15,000 CB's (construction battalion), moved in to build runways and prepare camps for 50,000 personnel. They built two airfields for the B-29s, a total of six 8500 foot runways. Said to be the longest runways in the world at the time, Tinian became the busiest military airfield in the war. Mass bombing raids from Tinian began in November 1944. On the night of 10 March 1945, 279 B-29s flying below 6,000 feet dropped 1700 tons of bombs on Japan's capital city, Tokyo. The bombs ignited a firestorm that destroyed 16 square miles of the city and killed at least 100,000 Japanese. Fourteen B-29s were lost. These mass raids continued until the end of the war. On Tinian the 509th was again shrouded in secrecy. While other B-29 units flew low level airstrikes on Japan from which some crews did not return, the planes of the 509th flew milk runs, dropping their pumpkin shaped bombs from high altitude, far out of reach of enemy fighters and flak. Other units began to view Tibbets crews as pampered misfits who contributed nothing to the war effort when word slipped out that the group's mission might end the fighting. Someone wrote a satirical song called "The 509th Is winning the war". In truth, the group's station on Tinian was not hardship duty. The hours were long and the work was hard, but there were white coral beaches and a hospital full of pretty nurses to provide recreation. In mid-July, the 509th began flying missions to Japan. Dropping their pumpkin bombs on military and industrial targets, in contrast to the huge low level raids, the 509th sent only two or three bombers at a time over Japan and bombed in daylight from high altitude around 30,000 feet. The Japanese began to ignore these daytime attacks. After all, two or three bombs did little damage compared to the massive nighttime raids. On 17 July, Tibbets received a coded message from General Groves, head of the Manhattan Project. The atom bomb test had been successful. Scientists had set off the world's first atomic explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Up to then, it had all been theories and high hopes. Now the Super weapon was a reality. From Tinian, Colonel Tibbets made three round trips to Washington between May and July to work out problems and to discuss target selection for the atom bomb. At first the list of possible targets included the cities of Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and Kokura. All of these cities were important industrial or military centers, and all had been spared from conventional bombing. Kyoto was taken off the list when Secretary of State Henry Stimson pointed out that it had great historic and religious significance to the Japanese. Remember, up to this time they had a target committee and there are a lot of people picking out targets and everything else. These targets which had had never before been bombed by any other beings. I knew the five of them beforehand, but I didn't know which one it would be. But we were all in favor of Hiroshima. That was where we could do the most good, with one bomb that we were going to drop and everything else. That's because they, the second the Army was there. You don't probably don't realize it, but 25% of the people killed in Hiroshima were military people. And then you had material that was going over to Shikoku for the defense of Japan and everything else. You could probably do more good at bombing that than you could have any other city. The 509th continued to fly practice missions to Japan. Dropping their black powder bombs configured in shapes similar to the anticipated atomic bomb. In mid-July, Tibbets learned that the atomic mission might be given to a different B-29 unit. Colonel Butch Blanchard, the senior operations officer on Tinian, had argued that other B-29 crews were more experienced and more qualified. Tibbets countered that the 509th had been training specifically for the atomic bomb mission and were fully competent to fly it. He offered to take Blanchard on a practice mission to prove his point. With Blanchard in the jump seat, Tibbets flew to nearby Rota Island, still held by the Japanese. The Tibbets plane arrived at its target precisely on time and dropped its simulated atom bomb precisely on target. With the bomb away, Tibbets snapped the big bomber into the evasive maneuver his crews had practiced. Blanchard turned pale as the G forces pinned him to his seat. He declared that he'd seen enough the 509th would drop the atom bomb. The B-29 was not supposed to all got together under that maneuver, we later found out, Make the turn when you're coming office steep enough so your tail starts to stall, then you know you have the turn steep enough. And it's push the throttles forward, use a couple 1000 feet in the turn, and just run like hell. In the second-half of July, the f509th made a dozen conventional raids on Japanese cities, dropping the simulated atom bombs, bulbous pumpkin shaped casings filled with black powder or other conventional explosives. The raids avoided cities that were on the atom bomb target list. They're strange tactics, just two or three bombers at high altitude confused the Japanese. Fighters almost never tried to intercept the bombers, and antiaircraft fire couldn't reach the B-29s at 30,000 feet. Gradually, the Japanese became accustomed to seeing small groups of bombers that didn't cause much damage. Although some of the pumpkinshaped bombs were aimed by radar on the cloud covered targets, it was decided that the atomic bomb would only be dropped if the target were clearly visible to the Bombardier. Colonel Tibbets was prohibited from flying these practice missions to Japan. General Curtis LeMay, who commanded all B-29 combat operations against Japan, declared that Tibbets was too valuable to the atom bomb mission and knew too much to risk falling into Japanese hands. The pumpkin raids proved to Tibbets that his crews were ready for the atom bomb mission. They could deliver the bomb precisely on time and precisely on target. The practice bombing missions also revealed a potentially serious problem in the bombs design. The fuse that ignited the bombs was a radar actuated proximity fuse that was supposed to detonate the bomb at 1890 feet above the ground. But on two occasions the fuse detonated its pumpkin bomb too soon, once over Wendover and once over the Pacific. The bombs detonated just after leaving the Bomb bay at 31,000 feet. The premature explosions did no damage to the planes, but they caused some serious worry among the crews. Tibbets made the last trip to Washington in mid-July. There it was decided that everything would be ready by the first week of August. Tibbets flew back to Tinian to oversee the final preparations for the mission. On the morning of 26th July, the cruiser USS Indianapolis arrived at Tinian to deliver the firing mechanism and a small slug of uranium for the atomic bomb. The second slug of uranium was delivered by a B-29 from the United States halfway between Guam and the Leyte Gulf. In the early hours of July 30, the Indianapolis was hit by two Japanese torpedoes. Of the nearly 900 men who went into the water on July 30, only 317 were rescued. It was the worst sea disaster in the history of the US Navy. Back on Tinian, the technicians continued to prepare what some were calling the device. Its final assembly would be done on the day before the mission. We never call it atomic bomb at all. How many people in the organization knew enough about Atomic Energy at that time, to guess that we were working on an atomic bomb, is beyond me. But if you did, if you guessed it, you didn't talk about it, because if you did, you would get sent off the Aleutians. There's no place like that. Fat Man, like the atomic bomb tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico in mid-July was an implosion type plutonium bomb. A sphere of shaped explosive charges surrounded a smaller sphere of radioactive plutonium. When the explosive charges detonated, the pressure of the explosion compressed the plutonium sphere to critical mass, setting off an uncontrolled atomic reaction. Fat Man would be the second atomic bomb used in combat. The bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima was of a different type than the one tested in New Mexico. This was a rifle type bomb in which one slug of uranium would be fired into another. The pressure of their impact would push both slugs of uranium to critical mass and trigger the explosion. Little Boy was a simpler design and the scientists considered it more reliable than the implosion type Fat Man. But in fact, a rifle type atomic bomb like Little Boy had never been tested. Its first use as a weapon would also be its first trial run. America, China and Britain sent the so called Potsdam Proclamation to Japan on 26th July. Surrender, it said, or face prompt and utter destruction. The Japanese ignored it. Three days later, General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz arrived on Tinian to take command of the U.S. strategic forces in the Pacific. He brought with him a signed order from General Leslie Groves, the head of the Manhattan Project. The order authorized the 509th Composite group to quote "deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945". un quote.Tthe target was to be one of four cities, Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagata or Nagasaki. Paul Tibbets favored Hiroshima. In a handwritten note on the margin of the order, President Truman wrote, quote "release when ready, but not sooner than August 2". un quote. Truman was meeting in Potsdam, Germany, with Allied leaders Churchill and Stalin in early August and did not want the bomb dropped until that meeting was over. I was never challenged. Nobody ever asked me. Can I drop the bomb or you know, have you made a decision Who's going to drop it? if they had I'd have told him yes, decision made the first day I heard about and that's going to be me. Colonel Paul Tibbets would fly the first atomic bomb mission with a handpicked crew. Captain Bob Lewis, age 25, from Richfield Park, New Jersey, would be Tibbets, copilot. Lewis had often commanded the aircraft when Tibbets was busy with other duties. Theodore "Dutch" van Kirk, Navigator, age 24, from Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and Major Tom Ferebee, Bombardier, age 24, from Mocksville, North Carolina. Both men had been part of Tibbets regular B-17 flight crew in England. Tom Ferebee was the best poker player I ever saw in the Army, and that's saying a lot. Best crapshooter too. We met in the nose of a B-17. We're best friends until he died. Captain William"Deak" Parsons, age 44, from Chicago, was a U.S. Navy ordinance expert who had worked on the Manhattan Project. He would be responsible for arming and monitoring the atomic bomb during the flight to Japan. He was assisted by Lieutenant Morris R Jepsen, 23, of Logan, Utah. Tech. Sergeant Wyatt Dusenbury was the Enola Gays flight engineer. He had flown in B-17s with Tibbets. He wasn't very... Could...He'd really get more out of engines than anybody else. He was a master at engine and that sort of thing. Best flight engineer I ever saw. Lieutenant Jacob Beser, 24, of Baltimore, Maryland, was a radar specialist. These bombs operated on radar proximity fuses. They had that very accurately measure their height above the ground to get their explosion. If the Japanese had gotten on to the frequency on which they had operated, they could have exploded the bombs in the airplane. We didn't think that was a very good idea, so we took Jake along, and Jake was our radar countermeasures expert. Filling out the Enola Gay's 12 Man crew were PFC Robert Chamard, Assistant Flight Engineer Sergeant Joe Stiborik, radar operator. PFC Richard Nelson, radio operator and tech Sergeant Bob Caron, tail gunner During the first few days of August, Tibbets gave considerable thought to a name for his airplane. He had no doubt that the first atomic bomber would become a celebrity of sorts, and the current identifier, Plane number 82, didn't sound very heroic. He finally decided to name the plane after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets. She was a strong, caring woman who had much influence on Tibbets life and values. Bombardier Tom Ferebee and navigator "Dutch" Van Kirk both knew Tibbets mother, and both heartily agreed with his choice. On the 3rd of August, the final order came from General Curtis LeMay, who commanded all B2-9 operations in the Pacific. The official order for Special Bombing Mission number 13 listed Hiroshima as the primary target, followed by Kokura and Nagasaki. If the number 13 worried any of the crew, they never mentioned it. Over the next few days, Tibbets and Ferebee be pored over huge aerial photographs of the three targets. Especially Hiroshima. Ferebee chose a landmark east of the city as his initial point where he would begin his bomb run. For the aiming point, he chose a bridge in the center of Hiroshima. Of the many bridges across the Ōta River, the T shaped Aioi bridge would be the easiest to spot from 31,000 feet above the city, with orders to drop the atomic bomb only if the target were visible. Tibbets wanted to be sure of the weather over each city. Not content to rely on long distance weather forecasts, he decided to send three B-29s ahead as weather reconnaissance planes. The planes would leave Tinian about an hour before the Enola Gay. They would fly over the primary target and the two alternates and report on weather conditions. Three other B-29s would leave Tinian with the Enola Gay. One carried scientific instruments to measure the intensity of the atomic explosion. Another carried cameras to photograph the mission and the blast. The third, B-29, was a backup plane. It would follow the Enola gate to Iwo Jima, about halfway to Japan. There it would land and wait. If the Enola Gay had mechanical problems on the way to Japan, Tibbets would return to Iwo Jima, transfer his crew in the atomic bomb to the backup B-29 and complete the mission. On the morning of the 5th of August 1945, the forecasters said the weather looked good for a mission. The next day, final preparations went into high gear. The Enola Gay was moved to a loading pit while the bomber crew attended a mission briefing. By noon the atomic bomb was loaded in the B-29s, specially modified Bomb bay and then they told us to go get some sleep. How they expected to tell you you're going to draw and to go out and drop the first atomic bomb which might blow off the airplane and go get some sleep is absolutely beyond me. I know Tibetts didn't sleep. I knew Ferebee didn't sleep, because we're all three in the same poker game, and I don't even know who won. It was that bad. The crews of the three strike planes were summoned again about 11:00 PM. They came and got us final briefing, latest weather information, all that sort of stuff. Air, sea Rescue, everything of that type. And then over to the final breakfast. And I don't. I do know what I remember vividly, what we had for the final breakfast. Paul Tibbets loved pineapple fritters. I hated the damn things. We had pineapple fritters for breakfast that morning, that evening, I should say. The Japanese were known to be torturing B-29 crewmen who had been shot down over Japan. As Tibbets left the mess hall, the flight surgeon handed him a small pillbox containing 12 cyanide capsules. Tibbets gave one of the capsules to Parsons, but kept the rest to be handed out only in an emergency. Paul Tibbets made it clear to the crew that if the plane were shot down, each man should decide on his own whether or not to commit suicide to avoid capture. The crew arrived at the flight line about 1:45 AM to find the Enola Gay bathed in flood lights. General Groves wanted the planes departure from Tinian to be recorded on film. We got trucks, went down the airplane and I think we all got down there we were all surprised because the plane was lit up by keg lights. Like a like a Hollywood premiere for heavens sakes. Dick Nelson, who comes from Southern California, said "Ah, Looks more like a supermarket opening to me". Point I want to make if all the interviewing is being done, all the pictures are being taken and everything of that type were being done by the Manhattan Project, there was no media on the island at all. The crew boarded the aircraft and went carefully through their checklists. No one wanted to make the mistake that would jeopardize the mission. We were very heavily loaded on takeoff. We were about 250,000 Max gross weight, normal Max gross weight of a B-29 over there. At that particular time was about 2:35 2:30 35,000. At 2:45 AM, Tibbets began his takeoff role on Tinian's 8000 foot runway. As the aircraft reached 140 knots it's normal takeoff speed, Co-pilot Bob Lewis reached for the control yoke. I was confident that this was the only way to do it so that I could control with the tail if I had to so. When I'm going down there and I kept it past that magic 140 that you lured, we used to, he started to grab the yolk and pull back on it. He says no lift it off. And I told him, I said keep your goddamn hands off for that yoke. I'm flying this airplane. And T.P. was in charge. Absolutely. No. That was Paul Tibbets on an airplane. I don't know what speed we coming off on it, but I know we used every damn foot of that runway. At two minute intervals, the camera plane and instrument plane took off behind Tibbets, followed by the backup B-29. Conventional bombs were usually armed on the ground, but if the Enola Gay were to crash on takeoff, Parsons worried that a fire could set off the atomic bombs black powder trigger. As the Enola Gay reached its initial cruising altitude of 4700 feet, Deak Parsons and Lieutenant Jeppson climbed into the Bomb bay to arm the atomic bomb. While Jeppson held a flashlight, Parsons inserted a small slug of uranium and a small explosive charge that would fire one uranium slug into another and trigger the atomic explosion. I was worried to beat hell. The fact that we had an atom bomb behind me, right behind me, didn't concern me a whole lot. The fact that Deak Parson was back there in a Bomb bay fooling with black powder, that worried me. Because I knew what black powder would do. With the arming task completed, th crew relaxed. Many of them slept, making up for the sleepless days leading up to the mission. The six hour flight to Japan seemed routine and uncomplicated, in spite of their unique payload. Use celestial navigation. Then get up to Iwo Jima and if you get lost between Iwo Jima and Japan, you are the lousiest navigator in the world. I'm sure there's some people have done it already, but not many. Because you had a volcanic island sticking up above the ocean. And you could pick them up on radar and lead your way right in. At 5:55 AM Tinian time, the crew cited Iwo Jima, halfway to the target. The backup airplane a B-29, named Top Secret, landed there. Tibbets circled the island once to allow the two other B-29s Great Artiste and an unnamed number 91, To form up on Enola Gay and the three planes headed for Japan three hours away, at about 7:45 AM Tinian time, the Enola Gay climbed to 32,700 feet, or intended bombing altitude. Half an hour later, Tibbets received a coded message sent from Major Ethery, the pilot of Straight Flush, one of the B-29 weather reconnaissance planes. The weather over Hiroshima was suitable for a visual bomb strike. The other two weather planes also sent messages. The skies over Nagasaki were clear, but Kokura was hidden underground fog. The skies over all three cities were empty of other Allied aircraft. Orders kept them well clear of the possible targets. About 9:00 AM Tinian time, the city of Hiroshima came into view. It's white buildings gleaming in the morning sun. "Dutch" van Kirk's navigation was near perfect and the Enola Gay reached the initial point almost precisely on time. Tibbets turn the plane left to a heading of 263 degrees to begin the three minute bomb run. We made the turn to the West. We wanted a bomb on a heading of 270. I missed it and we got on a heading of 263 and we just went in and drop the bomb. The bomb run was very long. We were having conversations while we're on a bomb run and Tom Ferebee turned around me once and he said, Christ, Dutch, if we'd have sat on a bomb run this long over Europe, we wouldn't be here. Well, that says it's still on the target. He says it's gone right down the track. He says nothing I can do. You see, when the Bombardier is making his bomb run, he's flying the airplane. It's on automatic pilot, everything of that type. And Tom was extremely good at it. An hour earlier, the B-29 weather plane "Straight Flush" had set off air raid sirens in Hiroshima, but no fighters rose to attack it. The Japanese had no defense against high flying airplanes up until that time, and we were going to be as high as we could get. So we didn't expect any enemy action of any type on this particular mission, and we didn't get any. Ten miles out Bombardier Tom Ferebee spotted his aiming point. The T shaped Aioi bridge at 90 seconds from bomb release Tibbets switched the autopilot and gave the plane to Ferebee. The city of Hiroshima was one of Japan's principal seaports. It was an important shipping point for soldiers and equipment. It was also one of the landing points for the Allied amphibious invasion that was planned for November 1945. It was the headquarters of the Imperial 2nd Army, the Chugoku Regional Army, and the Imperial Army Marines. There were large military supply depots and many small factories for military goods. In this city of 420,000 people, the Enola gays, pneumatic Bomb bay doors opened automatically at 9:15 and 17 seconds Tinian time. The atomic bomb tumbled away. It's burden gone. The Enola Gay pitched sharply upward. Tibbets now had to fly the world's largest bomber as if it were a nimble fighter plane. We made a right hand turn 60 degree bank, lost about 2000 feet to turn, push the throttles forward. Just ran like hell. Tail gunner Bob Caron felt like the last man in a wild game of crack the whip. Dutch Van Kirk recalls one particular thought as the plane speed away from the release site. I hope it works. Because you know, it had never been dropped before. Two days before the fusing mechanism didn't work. I think if I'd have been betting man, I would have bet before we dropped that bomb, I was going to be a duck. So everything was everybody was waiting to see whether it did explode and did it work. And then suddenly we saw the bright flash in the airplane. Hallelujah, it had worked. After we were certain we weren't going to get any more shockwaves, we turned around and... to look what had happened. The first thing we saw was a mushroom shaped cloud, all different colors within the base of that cloud. And on top of it was a mushroom, you can see.Iit was up well above our altitude already, I guess. Ah, 40,000 going higher. And then as we turn on around and everything we can see the city of Hiroshima. And we can make absolutely no visual observation because the entire city was covered with thick black smoke and everything. You want the description of it, I say. It looked like a pot of boiling oil down there. The initial fireball incinerated or vaporized everything in the immediate area of the blast. Beyond that, buildings were flattened, then set on fire. 4 square miles of the central city were destroyed, about 60% of the city's area. The firestorm that erupted after the blast widened. The destruction estimates put the human toll at 60 to 80,000 dead and an equal number injured. In Tokyo, many in the civilian government argued for surrender. The Russians were poised to attack Manchuria. The Allied blockade was strangling Japan. There were food shortages. Victory was no longer possible, but Japan's military leaders vowed to continue the war. America, some said, had no more atomic bombs. On 9 August, a B-29, called Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney, dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The mission was flawed. The bomb missed its target by nearly half a mile, causing less destruction than at Hiroshima. That same day, the Russians invaded Manchuria. Two days later, a group of Japanese military commanders met in a plot to seize the government and continue the war. The plot failed when senior officers refused to join the coup d'etat on 14 August, more than 1000 American army and Navy bombers hit Japanese cities. Faced with the total destruction of his nation, the Emperor ordered the unconditional surrender of Japan. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the nature of warfare forever. Atomic weapons elevated the role of the strategic bomber and helped give birth to the U.S. Air Force as a separate service. They shaped much of the military and political landscape of the second-half of the 20th century. The decision to use atomic bombs on Japan, made jointly by Truman and Churchill, has remained controversial, but one fact cannot be disputed. The use of the bombs was intended first and foremost to end as quickly as possible, a terrible war against a ruthless enemy who was determined never to surrender. Let me say emphatically that there's no way in those days that I could have even considered not wanting to do it. I was anxious to do it. I wanted to do everything that I could to subdue Japan, and in other words, I wanted to kill the bastards. That was the attitude of the United States in those years. The Battle of Okinawa in early 1945 produced 50,000 Allied casualties and up to 150,000 Japanese casualties. If Japan fought on, Allied leaders feared a score or more of Okinawa's to be fought all over Asia. If you were over there in around Tinian and a Saipan Guam at that particular time, you knew that an invasion was going to be have a lot of casualties because they were building hospitals all over those islands. We wanted the war to be over. We want to stop the killing. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was instrumental in ending the Second World War. Tibbets, his crew more than a million American servicemen and women and the American public were overwhelmingly grateful for the peace that followed, and the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has helped to ensure that such weapons have never again been used in anger. I just like to say to all people that before you make any say anything critical about what we did and the casualities we caused or anything of that type. Study the history of the war, Study the history of that people, Find out really, what was really going on back in those days, and then make up your mind.
