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| Mushroom Cloud over Nagasaki as seen from Koyagi-jima on August 9, 1945 |
Today marks the 69th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, an event that would lead to the end of World War II and the beginning of a nuclear debate that continues to this day.
On August 9, 1945, at 11:01, the
American B29A Superfortress piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney opened his bomb bay doors and dropped Fat Man
over the Japanese industrial center of Nagasaki. The weapon exploded at an altitude of 1650 feet above a tennis
court located half way between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works and the
Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works which made torpedoes for the Japanese war
effort. The resulting 21 kiloton explosion generated temperatures of over 7000˚F
and winds reaching 624 mph, vaporizing its victims and reducing much of the city to burning rubble in an
atomic flash. Estimates of the death toll range from 39000 to 80000, and six
days later the Japanese surrendered, ending World War II.
