There was no fighter opposition and no flak.” He immediately directed that the media report that had been prepared by Major General Leslie Groves, commanding officer of the Manhattan Project, be released. The message of the successful drop reached President Truman while he was aboard the cruiser USS Augusta headed back to America from the Yalta conference: “Hiroshima bombed visually with one-tenth cloud cover. Then Ray Gallagher, the radio operator on Enola Gay, snapped out if it and hollered through his intercom, “if we don’t get out of here, were going to get caught in our own bomb blast.”Įnola Gay arrived back on Tinian at 2:58 P.M., where General Spaatz pinned the Distinguished Serve Cross on his chest with cameras rolling and the booze flowing.Ībove: the B-29’s of the 509 th Composite Group (left to right): Big Stink, The Great Artiste & Enola Gay. The Enola Gay crew was mesmerized, then frightened, by the boiling mass of multi-colored fire and smoke that blanketed Hiroshima, then raced up toward them as they cruised at 39,000 feet.
At 09:15:17, Little Boy was dropped, exploding at about 1,950 feet, crushing Hiroshima to the ground, and starting a series of fires. They reached Hiroshima shortly after 0900, Tinian time. Tibbets then informed the crew that the weapon they were carrying was an atomic bomb. They successfully rendezvoused at Iwo Jima shortly after 0600. Eight minutes after they were airborne Parsons loaded the four silk bags of high explosive propellant into Little Boy.Ībove: The B-29 Enola Gay in front of the “Little Boy” Bomb Pit. Thanks to the in-depth advance planning by navy ordnance officer Captain Deak Parsons, the August 6, 1945, atomic strike mission to Hiroshima was essentially a “milk run.” Īlthough overloaded because of the five-ton Little Boy atomic bomb, extra fuel, and the two Manhattan Project weaponeers, Enola Gay lifted off from Runway Able, Tinian, at 0245, with The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil close behind.
MHT is lucky to have these excerpts from Don’s latest book as we reflect on the dual bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII. Tinian: Atomic Bomb Island by Author & MHT Tour Historian Don Farrell