At first, Tibbets thought he was taking flak.
Though already eleven and a half miles away, the Enola Gay was rocked by the blast. Forty-three seconds later, a huge explosion lit the morning sky as Little Boy detonated 1,900 feet above the city, directly over a parade field where soldiers of the Japanese Second Army were doing calisthenics. Tibbets immediately dove away to avoid the anticipated shock wave.
Hiroshima time the Enola Gay released “Little Boy,” its 9,700-pound uranium gun-type bomb, over the city. The bomber, piloted by the commander of the 509th Composite Group, Colonel Paul Tibbets, flew at low altitude on automatic pilot before climbing to 31,000 feet as it neared the target area. Hiroshima had a civilian population of almost 300,000 and was an important military center, containing about 43,000 soldiers.
The bomber’s primary target was the city of Hiroshima, located on the deltas of southwestern Honshu Island facing the Inland Sea. In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from the island of Tinian and headed north by northwest toward Japan. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
