I hope he does one on the Nagasaki mission, this one went by the book but the Nagasaki mission was a mess and Tibbets was absolutely livid after it, there were planes that missed check points causing the bomb plane to orbit Iwo Jima for something like an hour longer than it should have waiting on them, after burning off more fuel than he should have waiting on them and they still hadn't showed up things got even worse when Bockscar got to the primary target and cloud cover prevented it from dropping there, and he'd made something like 3 runs trying it wasting even more fuel, to make things even worse the reserve fuel tank in the aft bomb bay had a valve problem and not only could they not use the fuel in it that meant it was dragging around over 6,000 lbs of dead weight causing them to burn up even more fuel, after finally getting to Nagasaki and getting an acceptable run when a hole formed in the clouds after several attempts the pilot determined there was no way they could make it back to Tinian so he headed for Iwo Jima, 30 seconds out from landing one of the engine's quit from running out of fuel with another one quitting just as they touched down and a 3rd shutting down just as they taxied into their parking spot, the last engine only had seconds worth of fuel left before it to would have quit. That mission was a real mess and should make for a pretty exciting video from him the way he nails everything through his research.
@@NathanDudani I guess for the first 5 hours or so of the mission there was some kind of debate as to who was actually in charge, the pilot or that Navy officer from Los Alamos that armed the bomb and was in charge of it, so officially for the first 5 hours or so the mission didn't have a commander and that's something else that Tibbets was just livid about after the mission. Between and atomic bomb being flown around for hours without someone clearly being in charge, the bomb plane flying around in circles at Iwo Jima for an hour or whatever waiting for the support planes that never showed up, support planes flying around God knows where that might have alerted the Japanese to it being a repeat performance of what'd happened just days before at Hiroshima, multiple bomb runs over the primary that never got bombed anyway but invited fighter's and AA fire to have a go at the bomb plane, multiple passes over the secondary target inviting the same kind of disasters, certain decisions being made like circling around over Iwo Jima as long as they did with their accessory fuel tank inoperable and the plane running out of fuel just as it made it to Iwo Jima that because of all the confusion and difficulties turned a 10 or whatever hour mission into an 18 hour mission Tibbets was so mad after debriefing the crew and reading the mission logs he wanted to start releiving people of their positions in the program, but I guess after a cooling down period he got his head and his ass wired back together and wrote it off as a learning experience and reorganized some aspects and made others clear, like when he flew the first mission he told the support aircraft that when he got to Iwo Jima he was going to point his left wingtip at Mount Suribachi and make one 360° turn around it and by the time he was done if they hadn't arrived he was going on without them to the target, he made it clear that any further missions should be flown like that by the bomb plane since it was what the mission was all about and as such meant that the commander of that aircraft had control over the mission and no one else, any scientific equipment and measuring devices dropped by the support planes was a secondary concern and not considered vital to the mission.
The actual divert airfield was Yontan field on Okinawa a beeline of approx 697 miles v.s. Iwo of appox 882 miles. Believe Sweeney fueled up enough on Okinawa to reach Iwo and then after fueling up on Iwo continued to North Field.@@dukecraig2402
I thought I had seen every video about this mission. My mother was a Hiroshima survivor and was north of ground zero and lived to be 83 years old… mom was always a happy lady and never said much about this day.
The Silverplate B29's that were to be used by the unit that flew the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions were hand picked by Tibbets at the Marietta Georgia plant where they were made. Tibbets traveled to the plant and talked with the production supervisor and told him he needed the 5 (or 6, I can't remember the number) best ones they had, the guy gave him a list of the number he needed that didn't have any production rejects and didn't flunk any inspections during production so they didn't need anything reworked on them. He can be heard talking about it in an interview he did with Kermit Weeks (Werks? Something like that) on his channel here in UA-cam. The Silverplate B29's were basically modified B29B's that were specially built for the low level raids and had all the defensive guns removed except for the tail guns for the sake of lightning them up for speed and increased bomb load, Tibbets wanted them for increased altitude and speed. Whats amazing is when they were still in the States training for the missions he took one up to 32,000 ft where he planned on bombing from and had a nearby unit that had P47's engage him in mock dogfights, at that altitude he could actually turn inside of the P47's, I'd have lost money on that bet and would never believe it to be true if I didn't hear it come directly from his mouth, that was a real shocker.
It's usually agreed that the Enola Gay and many of the Silverplate B29s were built by Martin's Omaha, Nebraska plant NOT Marietta, GA. The plant was actually at Bellevue, NE, just south of Omaha, where Offutt Air Force Base now stands.
Not surprising but I heard more than once from cold war bomber pilots that “altitude” was the main defense against fighters. I’d have lost money on a bet that multiple Mig-17’s could reach but not shoot down a B-47 flying below 40,000 ft. as happened in the 1954 recon incident.
@@johnwatson3948 It was but the reason they made the special low level night bombing version of the B29 without defensive guns so they could increase bomb load and speed was because Japan had essentially no night fighter defense's in Japan. Now yes, on normal daylight bombing raids altitude is what it's all about, that's why the Army wanted the engine's on their bombers made with the high altitude supercharger/turbo configuration and why they kept the bomb loads on B17's at 6,000 lbs for deep penetration mission's, that way they could fly and bomb from 23,000+ ft where even though fighter's could get that high their performance was down, that made them more susceptible to the defensive guns on them. I don't know about the B47 but certain variant's of the B36 could achieve altitudes of up around 50,000 ft with a bomb load, way up there the earliest jets that came out of Russia could barely fly, any maneuver resulted in a loss of altitude, that makes it extremely difficult to shoot down something even as big as a B36 because when you get to the top of your climb you have to be lined up for a successful shot because any maneuver means you'll drop away, then you've got to start all over again from a lower altitude and hope you get it right this time.
As a (now retired) professional pilot I can greatly appreciate your focus on the detail of the mission. My father was flying B-25 bombers during this period of the war. He told me he was relieved when he learned of the success of the mission as it meant a ground invasion of Japan could be avoided. Years later, my father and I met Colonel Tibets on two separate occasions. It was a great honor both times.
Very informative. Unfortunately youtube puts title cards over the last 15 seconds or so of the video, obscuring the last slides. Any chance you could stick up a sacrificial end card for the last 15 seconds or so, such that the last actual slides remain clear? Cheers.
The really best description of this incident. Very special thanks to presentation of real values in altitudes & times etc. and procedures. This presentation shows the very many planning and action work, all of which were necessary to accomplish this mission.
Thanks for all the details! There are a lot of things here that I never knew, such as the observation planes flying in formation with Enola Gay, and the fleet of other bombers running practice missions.
Reminds me around 2005 when I called Sandia Corporation for some info and ended up talking with Leon Smith for almost an hour - he was the weaponeer who famously lost a coin toss to be on the Hiroshima mission. Was also the electronics designer and builder of the first FTB flight test box to monitor the bombs in flight - later became a director at Sandia and had an office there in retirement.
Some feel the need to leave the source material behind a paywall. I can understand if they are using UA-cam for free to advertise their site, but too often they then run ad after ad or include a promotion for the video sponsor. WW2USB is in a league of his own when it comes to providing source material that supports his content.
Excellent video. As someone who's studied nuclear weapons a great deal, but not looked a whole lot into the details of the 2 missions on Japan, I found this very informative. There is one minor correction I'd like to offer, however. The fissile fuel used in the little boy was not pure U-235. According to an ORNL bi-weekly uranium delivery document, and using recorded dates of target and projectile manufacture, we can determine that the enrichment (U-235 content) of the the projectile was 82%, and the target was 86% for an average of 83.5% U-235 in the total fuel mass.
Great video, as usual. BTW, the corrected true altitude (17:05) doesn't necessarily mean the altitude recorded in the original log was in error. That was probably pressure altitude above mean sea level, which aircraft normally fly at high altitudes by setting the altimeters with QNE (29.92 in or 1013hPa). True altitude might mean correcting this for the actual local barometric pressure, or could mean actual altitude above ground level. These can both be significantly different than the standard pressure altitude for mean sea level.
Thanks, you provided new material. I have visited Wendover Field and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, my library has more than two dozen books on the WW2 atomic bomb missions (including the Smyth Report), and I have several videos on the subject. I've been studying the Hiroshima mission for a half century. I still learned something new from this video.
I really enjoy your videos. Lots of good information. Please don't stop making videos just because WWII is ending (with a bang). WWII bombers got used a lot after that period. B-29 use immediately after WWII (Russia overflights?), and then the Korea "police action" probably have some interesting history. Did the USAF use B-24s after WWII? I know the USN used PB4Y Privateers way into the '50s, because I saw them flying out of NAS Alameda as a kid. Thank you for putting all this history together and posting for out education and enjoyment.
I would be very interested in a video of the Japanese response of the bombing in a similar fact based manner. Any suggestions or will there be another video addressing that?
The bomb actually detonated at a height of 1986 ft. The actual U235 projectile rings (impactor) travelling at 300m per sec pushed the impacted target rings of U235 onto four Neuton initiators made of pollonium- beryllium which triggered the chain reaction. The Little Boy design was not very efficient and was not used again however 33 of the bombs were produced.
Silverplate was also the code for the Manhattan Engineering District supply requisitioning status. 'Silverplate' could get you anything; it's claissification status was literally 'handed over on a silver platter' You made a funny, the first I've noted so far in all your videos. Well done! Only a very small amount of the U235 material of the bomb actually fissioned the rest was 'disassembled' as the bomb exploded.
@@ShiddyFinkelsteinThe U-235 was converted to vapour and blown out to sea (that’s why they didn’t do a ground burst). The Little Boy design also used ten times as much fissile material as the Fat Man design - but Little Boy was guaranteed to work because it would detonate mechanically on impact with the ground (which also scared the bomb crews). Very little radioactive material was actually delivered to the ground - the radiation sickness was from the prompt exposure and a low level of induced radiation.
Very interesting. For those interested in the technical and theoretical aspects of the devices, I'd recommend Scott Manley's series on nuclear history.
Wow- I always thought the Silverplates had a wing mainspar that arched over the bombay to put that mass right under the wing. It's relatively minor safety mods, as it turns out
1 silverplate was modified for testing, the 2 bombays were combined into 1 long bombay by modifying the wing spar. After the change to the gun-type device, the original bombays were long enough. The silverplate altered for testing was reverted to its original configuration.
When the bomb was released, did the excess fuel in the balance bladders affect the handling of the plane, since the center of gravity was now further aft?
It's only just dawned on me, if Paul Tibbets named Enola Gay after his mother, and the bomb itself was dubbed Little Boy, then there's a very Freudian element to consider.
navigator dutch van kirk said finding their way to hiroshima on time was easy because of all the shoals and islands to follow getting there. was just reading "duty; a father, his son, and the man who won the war." its a good read, i recommend it.
Excellent research. Is there any details on additional training or contingency plans of the Enola Gay mission? Was the tail gunner given any eye or radiation protection? Is there any record of what the crew received in radiation? What procedures were in place if the aircraft ditched? Was another aircraft following the Enola Gay with a conventional bomb load to destroy it if a ditching occurred?
If the plane had mechanical problems, what plans where in place? If by some fluke the B-29 crashed on land, did the Japanese have the capability to do anything with a captured bomb?
Lots of interesting info I’ve never seen before. I would have used a higher altitude to demonstrate the difference between indicated and true airspeed.
The U-235 isotope enrichment level for the projectile and target rings was not uniform, as not enough 90%+ enriched U-235 was available in time. One can look up the actual range of enrichments used.
Tibbets went to the rear compartment of the Enola Gay to talk to the rear crew at around 4:30AM when they got to Iwo, including the Rear Gunner who had come forward before the aircraft climbed to altitude. That is when the questions about what they were carrying were asked. It was the rear gunner, Bob Caron, who had been flying with Tibbets when they were doing the B-29 service trials and he was asked by Tibbets did he have any idea about what they were carrying. Caron said "no, with all of the Security on the unit , he hadn't wanted to know". Tibbets then said "It’s too late now. We’re on our way. You can guess whatever you want.” It was Caron who said "chemist's nightmare" as they had been hearing rumours about a new British "Super" explosive. The crew had been briefed that the weapon had a yield of thousands of tons of TNT. Tibbets said no, to which Caron then said “Colonel, is this a physicist’s nightmare?”. Tibbets replied “You might call it that.” and after a few more minutes of chatting, Tibbits started to go back towards the front of the aircraft. Caron grabbed his foot as he was leaving and Tibbets came back thinking something was wrong. Caron then asked Tibbits “Are we splitting atoms today, Colonel?” Tibbets he shook his head and said, “Yes!". He then went back to the cockpit and told all of the crew on the intercom that they were carrying an Atomic Bomb. Caron had actually gone to a high school that specialised in engineering and science and was an avid reader on all things technical. He had actually been reading a physics book at the library at Wendover which covered the nuclear research up to 1940 including the development of the cyclotron Atom Smasher, So he was fully aware of the energy in a atom.
I know someone who is the grandchild of a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. She has several genetic defects as a result of the radiation causing mutations in her grandparents. Nothing lethal, but some inconvenient. She doesn't blame the US, she fully realises (and she is Japanese) that this was a necessary step required to end WW2 without millions more casualties, both US and Japanese. She doesn't try to sweet talk what the Japanese did, she's not proud of her nation's actions during that period even though she is very proud of her native culture and history overall.
Negative. Only one Silver Plate was modified for tests, BW-42-6259. The “thin man” device’s 17 foot length prevented it from fitting in a single bomb bay. When the gun-type device was changed, it got shorter, hence “Little Boy.” It could then fit in the single bomb bay without modification. “Fat Man” could always fit in either bomb bay, the one Silver Plate modified was reverted to original specifications.
"I m" an IDIOT! for 45 plus years of My Life "I did Not" Know the second attack was Not on the Mainland! of Japan? I Had to Watch Twice! and I thought I studied these events Multiple Times! built a perfectly detailed 1:48 B-29 model of These SHIPS in the mid 70's while I studied the First Time. THANK YOU! Now I get to Look at this Again! Thank you Sr! May I have Another? These MEN where my Friends, Family, Buddies! R.I.P! Greatest Gen!
What R some opinions of the 1950s movie "Above and Beyond." This was abt the Hiroshima mission, starring Robert Taylor as Paul Tibbets. I enjoyed this movie. Anybody else like it?😊
@@NathanDudani Bit hard… I live in Australia… however when write a report on some research I always provide a list of references of either online or hard copy sources I use….
OUTSTANDING! But, I feel it's safe to say this: the Enola Gay and it's crew didn't drop the bomb. The United States government dropped the bomb to end the war. The plane and crew were simply the mechanism used.
The part I find interesting is the don't test the bomb because it will escalate into an arms race. They didn't need to test the uranium bomb, they already knew it would work, they needed to test the plutonium bomb to see if it would work?
Payback for multiple incursions of humanity and civility. That it had to be done is on the military hierarchy of Japan at the time. They can thank the Allies for not dragging their Emperor out of his palace and summarily executing him, on the spot.
More people died in the fire bombing of Tokyo than at the two A bomb sites combined.After 2 A bombs the japanese still refused to surrender and not until thje USSR invaded the Kuril Islands on August 15 did they surrender.The soviets continued to fight the japanese right up to Sept.2 when they officially surrendered.
Fascinating details of a major event! By the way, the You Tube channel for the "Unauthirized History of the Pacific War" podcast had a really good special episode recently that highlighted US Navy support of the atomic bombs. Definitely worth a look at ua-cam.com/video/ervx9O3IFTc/v-deo.html One of the major points to come out on that presentation was that CPT William Parsons, USN was not just the "weaponeer" but had a lot to do with the actual design of the weapon and other systems. Most histories treat him like he was just an extra man who happened to arm the bomb, but he was actually the mission commander, while Tibbets was aircraft commander.
Yep. Parsons was a naval gun expert and helped design the gun that fired the U-235 projectile and its target cup. It was quite complicated. But I don't think ANYONE was going to override Paul Tibbetts commands on that mission.
I’m hoping you would like this, because it is history and the only way to stop it from repeating itself is that everyone is educated about it. I love you honey.
Everybody forgets this fact. The Japanese R not citizens, they R subjects. For any country that has a monarch, the people pledge their loyalty 2 the monarch, not 2A Constitution, or another form of gov't.
The Enola Gay got its' name from the B-29's pilot, Col. Paul Tibbets and those names were were the first and second names of his mother, I wonder how she felt about her son naming his bomber after her?
Oh no, Tibbets was absolutely in charge of the mission, Parsons was in charge of the bomb itself and gave the thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not it was ready to go and whether or not it could be released but it was 100% Tibbets' mission and had been from day one months before when he was selected to run the program. Even though he says in this video that Lewis was actually the pilot and Tibbets was the mission commander when they were taking off Tibbets was flying the plane with his hands on the controls and the throttles, when they were rolling down the runway as per standard procedure for taking off in a B29 Lewis put his hands on the controls and Tibbets barked "Get your hands off the controls, this is my aircraft!!!". Likewise he was flying the plane during the bomb run, after taking off and getting the bomb armed Tibbets took a nap from having been awake for something like 36 hours straight before take off because of everything he had to look after, when they got to a certain point they woke him back up and he took over the controls again for the actual bomb run, it's release and the escape turn and dive they'd practiced to get away from the bombs blast, onboard sensors registered something like 2.2 g's when the first shock wave hit the plane. You can hear him talk about the mission in great detail in an interview he did with Kermit Weeks that's on his channel, after listening to it you'll have no doubt that he was 100% in charge of that mission in every regard except for the arming of the bomb, whether they dropped on the primary or would have proceeded to the secondary and every other decision was all on him.
I understand that they turned away from the bomb after its release to maximize their distance from the blast out of concerns for radiation safety, which is a good idea since they were flying about 3 miles per minute and the bomb took 43 secs. to fall, and they had an altitude of over 5 miles ). It so happens that for the people on the ground who were at 3 Km from the hypocentre, the open air dose they received was about 2mSv, which is taken to be the annual background dose at sea level.
They had to get away from the blast point because of the shock wave.They need to be at least 5 to 6 miles away otherwise the shock wave would crush the plane.The radiation would not matter.
Something to be considered is that WWII was staggeringly expensive to the US. The US was just about broke by mid 1945. It is questionable whether or not the USA could have afforded six more months of full scale combat operations without resorting to measures that would have crippled the post war economy. The money was already spent to develop atom bombs, so the decision to use them was not difficult. Remember, people of that time did not have the horror of radiation and nuclear fallout that modern people do. To the 1945 decision makers it was a case of "You've made a bomb big enough to take out a whole city? Brilliant! Lets drop a few on Japan and wrap this war up a few months early, before we go bankrupt!"
Wondering about the relationship between the secret mission to produce and deliver the a-bomb, and the decision to invade Iwo Jima. Some describe an almost dart-thrown-at-the-map approach to the Iwo Jima decision, others cite the abysmal statistics consuming the B-29 force in the effort to conventionally bomb Japan; but surely the decision to invade Iwo was influenced at high levels of command by the closely kept knowledge, not admitted due to secrecy, of the upcoming likelihood of an a-bomb in order to remove the possibility of intercepting the a-bomb missions by fighters stationed at Iwo Jima.
"Japanese Submarine slammed two Torpedoes into our side, Chief. We were coming back from the Island of Tinian Del-ay. We'd just delivered the Bomb. The Hiroshima Bomb."
Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into her side, Chief. We was comin’ back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We’d just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb
@@bottomshot4546 "...anyways, we delivered the bomb". Did you know that the USS Indianapolis didn't actually deliver the bomb like Quint said and most people think, it actually delivered the uranium fuel or some other component, the actual bomb itself was delivered by another means, or the bomb was delivered by the USS Indianapolis and the uranium was delivered by another means, I believe it was because they didn't want an accident to happen and figured they should keep the vital parts as far away from each other as they can. But the main part, and the fuel weren't all delivered together so the USS Indianapolis didn't actually deliver the complete bomb just a component.
@@dukecraig2402 yes they carried the core or "gun" assembly for the Little Boy. The bomb itself was to be fully assembled on the island. I would love to see what was in John Milius' 10 page speech, he's no doubt capable of such detail.
Can't say it enough: your use of period primary sources and "just the facts" style is fantastic. Another home run of a vid WW2USB.
I hope he does one on the Nagasaki mission, this one went by the book but the Nagasaki mission was a mess and Tibbets was absolutely livid after it, there were planes that missed check points causing the bomb plane to orbit Iwo Jima for something like an hour longer than it should have waiting on them, after burning off more fuel than he should have waiting on them and they still hadn't showed up things got even worse when Bockscar got to the primary target and cloud cover prevented it from dropping there, and he'd made something like 3 runs trying it wasting even more fuel, to make things even worse the reserve fuel tank in the aft bomb bay had a valve problem and not only could they not use the fuel in it that meant it was dragging around over 6,000 lbs of dead weight causing them to burn up even more fuel, after finally getting to Nagasaki and getting an acceptable run when a hole formed in the clouds after several attempts the pilot determined there was no way they could make it back to Tinian so he headed for Iwo Jima, 30 seconds out from landing one of the engine's quit from running out of fuel with another one quitting just as they touched down and a 3rd shutting down just as they taxied into their parking spot, the last engine only had seconds worth of fuel left before it to would have quit.
That mission was a real mess and should make for a pretty exciting video from him the way he nails everything through his research.
@@dukecraig2402 Yes, I heard the same in a Los Alamos lecture by the weapons officer the year before he died or something.
@@NathanDudani
I guess for the first 5 hours or so of the mission there was some kind of debate as to who was actually in charge, the pilot or that Navy officer from Los Alamos that armed the bomb and was in charge of it, so officially for the first 5 hours or so the mission didn't have a commander and that's something else that Tibbets was just livid about after the mission.
Between and atomic bomb being flown around for hours without someone clearly being in charge, the bomb plane flying around in circles at Iwo Jima for an hour or whatever waiting for the support planes that never showed up, support planes flying around God knows where that might have alerted the Japanese to it being a repeat performance of what'd happened just days before at Hiroshima, multiple bomb runs over the primary that never got bombed anyway but invited fighter's and AA fire to have a go at the bomb plane, multiple passes over the secondary target inviting the same kind of disasters, certain decisions being made like circling around over Iwo Jima as long as they did with their accessory fuel tank inoperable and the plane running out of fuel just as it made it to Iwo Jima that because of all the confusion and difficulties turned a 10 or whatever hour mission into an 18 hour mission Tibbets was so mad after debriefing the crew and reading the mission logs he wanted to start releiving people of their positions in the program, but I guess after a cooling down period he got his head and his ass wired back together and wrote it off as a learning experience and reorganized some aspects and made others clear, like when he flew the first mission he told the support aircraft that when he got to Iwo Jima he was going to point his left wingtip at Mount Suribachi and make one 360° turn around it and by the time he was done if they hadn't arrived he was going on without them to the target, he made it clear that any further missions should be flown like that by the bomb plane since it was what the mission was all about and as such meant that the commander of that aircraft had control over the mission and no one else, any scientific equipment and measuring devices dropped by the support planes was a secondary concern and not considered vital to the mission.
@@dukecraig2402 Thanks for the additional information. May I ask where your knowledge comes from? Are you a historian in the matter?
The actual divert airfield was Yontan field on Okinawa a beeline of approx 697 miles v.s. Iwo of appox 882 miles. Believe Sweeney fueled up enough on Okinawa to reach Iwo and then after fueling up on Iwo continued to North Field.@@dukecraig2402
I thought I had seen every video about this mission. My mother was a Hiroshima survivor and was north of ground zero and lived to be 83 years old… mom was always a happy lady and never said much about this day.
I really appreciate the reading material included. This is the first time I've seen anything like a flight log.
The Silverplate B29's that were to be used by the unit that flew the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions were hand picked by Tibbets at the Marietta Georgia plant where they were made.
Tibbets traveled to the plant and talked with the production supervisor and told him he needed the 5 (or 6, I can't remember the number) best ones they had, the guy gave him a list of the number he needed that didn't have any production rejects and didn't flunk any inspections during production so they didn't need anything reworked on them.
He can be heard talking about it in an interview he did with Kermit Weeks (Werks? Something like that) on his channel here in UA-cam.
The Silverplate B29's were basically modified B29B's that were specially built for the low level raids and had all the defensive guns removed except for the tail guns for the sake of lightning them up for speed and increased bomb load, Tibbets wanted them for increased altitude and speed.
Whats amazing is when they were still in the States training for the missions he took one up to 32,000 ft where he planned on bombing from and had a nearby unit that had P47's engage him in mock dogfights, at that altitude he could actually turn inside of the P47's, I'd have lost money on that bet and would never believe it to be true if I didn't hear it come directly from his mouth, that was a real shocker.
yeah, you had it right the 1st time kermit weeks. great channel, lots of great content.
It's usually agreed that the Enola Gay and many of the Silverplate B29s were built by Martin's Omaha, Nebraska plant NOT Marietta, GA. The plant was actually at Bellevue, NE, just south of Omaha, where Offutt Air Force Base now stands.
@@Perfusionist01 Yea, I read that too.
Not surprising but I heard more than once from cold war bomber pilots that “altitude” was the main defense against fighters. I’d have lost money on a bet that multiple Mig-17’s could reach but not shoot down a B-47 flying below 40,000 ft. as happened in the 1954 recon incident.
@@johnwatson3948
It was but the reason they made the special low level night bombing version of the B29 without defensive guns so they could increase bomb load and speed was because Japan had essentially no night fighter defense's in Japan.
Now yes, on normal daylight bombing raids altitude is what it's all about, that's why the Army wanted the engine's on their bombers made with the high altitude supercharger/turbo configuration and why they kept the bomb loads on B17's at 6,000 lbs for deep penetration mission's, that way they could fly and bomb from 23,000+ ft where even though fighter's could get that high their performance was down, that made them more susceptible to the defensive guns on them.
I don't know about the B47 but certain variant's of the B36 could achieve altitudes of up around 50,000 ft with a bomb load, way up there the earliest jets that came out of Russia could barely fly, any maneuver resulted in a loss of altitude, that makes it extremely difficult to shoot down something even as big as a B36 because when you get to the top of your climb you have to be lined up for a successful shot because any maneuver means you'll drop away, then you've got to start all over again from a lower altitude and hope you get it right this time.
This is truly a special channel. I can't imagine how much work and research goes into these short 20 minute videos. Thank you for the content.
As a (now retired) professional pilot I can greatly appreciate your focus on the detail of the mission. My father was flying B-25 bombers during this period of the war. He told me he was relieved when he learned of the success of the mission as it meant a ground invasion of Japan could be avoided. Years later, my father and I met Colonel Tibets on two separate occasions. It was a great honor both times.
In all probability, I wouldn't be here had we not used the atomic weapons. Pop was slated for the invasion.@@mcs699
Thanks!
Thanks for the channel donation. It is much appreciated!
Very informative. Unfortunately youtube puts title cards over the last 15 seconds or so of the video, obscuring the last slides. Any chance you could stick up a sacrificial end card for the last 15 seconds or so, such that the last actual slides remain clear? Cheers.
outstanding research and presentation. thank you.
The really best description of this incident. Very special thanks to presentation of real values in altitudes & times etc. and procedures. This presentation shows the very many planning and action work, all of which were necessary to accomplish this mission.
I have to say this channel is above and beyond most YT stuff. Bravo!
Thanks for all the details! There are a lot of things here that I never knew, such as the observation planes flying in formation with Enola Gay, and the fleet of other bombers running practice missions.
Reminds me around 2005 when I called Sandia Corporation for some info and ended up talking with Leon Smith for almost an hour - he was the weaponeer who famously lost a coin toss to be on the Hiroshima mission. Was also the electronics designer and builder of the first FTB flight test box to monitor the bombs in flight - later became a director at Sandia and had an office there in retirement.
Nobody else has the data like you do man. Thanks for your dedication, this in-depth stuff really sucks me in.
Some feel the need to leave the source material behind a paywall. I can understand if they are using UA-cam for free to advertise their site, but too often they then run ad after ad or include a promotion for the video sponsor. WW2USB is in a league of his own when it comes to providing source material that supports his content.
Excellent video. As someone who's studied nuclear weapons a great deal, but not looked a whole lot into the details of the 2 missions on Japan, I found this very informative.
There is one minor correction I'd like to offer, however. The fissile fuel used in the little boy was not pure U-235. According to an ORNL bi-weekly uranium delivery document, and using recorded dates of target and projectile manufacture, we can determine that the enrichment (U-235 content) of the the projectile was 82%, and the target was 86% for an average of 83.5% U-235 in the total fuel mass.
You are severely underrated. Love all of your videos
Thanks. I was drinking a soda at 3:26 and it went up my nose from laughter.
Thanks for the warning, I'm drinking a cup of coffee and your warning has me prepared to avoid a scorched nasal passage.
Terrific video. Unique detail for public access. Thank you.
Great video, as usual. BTW, the corrected true altitude (17:05) doesn't necessarily mean the altitude recorded in the original log was in error. That was probably pressure altitude above mean sea level, which aircraft normally fly at high altitudes by setting the altimeters with QNE (29.92 in or 1013hPa). True altitude might mean correcting this for the actual local barometric pressure, or could mean actual altitude above ground level. These can both be significantly different than the standard pressure altitude for mean sea level.
Gota' say, this was a great primer for folks.
I knew a lot about the planning and etc, but not to this level of detail.
Fantastic work.
Fascinating. So much detail here about the mission that I have never heard before. Well done. Great video!
The narration content was the best I've ever heard. Good job !!
Another just incredible detailed history lesson . So glad I found your channel.
Nice details and info on the historical documents as well as the missions themselves. Very good presentation.
Another great video. The nuts and bolts approach made possible by the incredible document search is outstanding.
Great video with lots of interesting details!
Thanks for the time and effort. This was very interesting, factual and straight forward with none of the usual garnish.
Well done. Excellent research.
Should we be concerned that he has a picture of actual arming plugs for an atomic device in his hand?
Thank you for your completely factual presentation.
Thanks, you provided new material. I have visited Wendover Field and the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, my library has more than two dozen books on the WW2 atomic bomb missions (including the Smyth Report), and I have several videos on the subject. I've been studying the Hiroshima mission for a half century. I still learned something new from this video.
Excellent description of the mission. Joe Friday would be proud!
I really enjoy your videos. Lots of good information. Please don't stop making videos just because WWII is ending (with a bang). WWII bombers got used a lot after that period. B-29 use immediately after WWII (Russia overflights?), and then the Korea "police action" probably have some interesting history. Did the USAF use B-24s after WWII? I know the USN used PB4Y Privateers way into the '50s, because I saw them flying out of NAS Alameda as a kid. Thank you for putting all this history together and posting for out education and enjoyment.
I would be very interested in a video of the Japanese response of the bombing in a similar fact based manner. Any suggestions or will there be another video addressing that?
The bomb actually detonated at a height of 1986 ft. The actual U235 projectile rings (impactor) travelling at 300m per sec pushed the impacted target rings of U235 onto four Neuton initiators made of pollonium- beryllium which triggered the chain reaction. The Little Boy design was not very efficient and was not used again however 33 of the bombs were produced.
So what happened to the other 32 bombs?
It was planned to detonate at about 600 feet, so what went wrong?
@@crankyoldguy2The fissile material (U-235) is re-fabricated for use in other weapons.
Silverplate was also the code for the Manhattan Engineering District supply requisitioning status. 'Silverplate' could get you anything; it's claissification status was literally 'handed over on a silver platter'
You made a funny, the first I've noted so far in all your videos. Well done!
Only a very small amount of the U235 material of the bomb actually fissioned the rest was 'disassembled' as the bomb exploded.
Yea, I guess only 1,5% detonated.
So it was a "dirty bomb". The gift that keeps on giving. I hadn't realized that.
@@ShiddyFinkelsteinThe U-235 was converted to vapour and blown out to sea (that’s why they didn’t do a ground burst).
The Little Boy design also used ten times as much fissile material as the Fat Man design - but Little Boy was guaranteed to work because it would detonate mechanically on impact with the ground (which also scared the bomb crews).
Very little radioactive material was actually delivered to the ground - the radiation sickness was from the prompt exposure and a low level of induced radiation.
Very interesting.
For those interested in the technical and theoretical aspects of the devices, I'd recommend Scott Manley's series on nuclear history.
Excellent!
Always teach accurate history.
I was unaware that this mission had been preceded by multiple bombing runs.
Wow- I always thought the Silverplates had a wing mainspar that arched over the bombay to put that mass right under the wing. It's relatively minor safety mods, as it turns out
1 silverplate was modified for testing, the 2 bombays were combined into 1 long bombay by modifying the wing spar. After the change to the gun-type device, the original bombays were long enough. The silverplate altered for testing was reverted to its original configuration.
Top notch work my friend!
Here after Oppenheimer! Great video!
When the bomb was released, did the excess fuel in the balance bladders affect the handling of the plane, since the center of gravity was now further aft?
It's only just dawned on me, if Paul Tibbets named Enola Gay after his mother, and the bomb itself was dubbed Little Boy, then there's a very Freudian element to consider.
navigator dutch van kirk said finding their way to hiroshima on time was easy because of all the shoals and islands to follow getting there. was just reading "duty; a father, his son, and the man who won the war." its a good read, i recommend it.
Excellent research. Is there any details on additional training or contingency plans of the Enola Gay mission? Was the tail gunner given any eye or radiation protection? Is there any record of what the crew received in radiation? What procedures were in place if the aircraft ditched? Was another aircraft following the Enola Gay with a conventional bomb load to destroy it if a ditching occurred?
There was a sea plane in case of a ditching.
Sobering video. You added a lot of context, among other things I'd not known so many test bombings were performed.
Historic Wendover airfield museum is a must museum to see.
Well researched. Thank you for this video
Interesting and detailed. At 15:42, the compass points show North and East to its left. Surely that should be West.
If the plane had mechanical problems, what plans where in place? If by some fluke the B-29 crashed on land, did the Japanese have the capability to do anything with a captured bomb?
Japs could have negotiated with russians for exchange of atomic bomb if beyond japs comprehension
That bridge makes a perfect point of aim, both visually and radar image.
Any additional information on the fuel injected engines? Was there suppose to be an increase in performance?
Lots of interesting info I’ve never seen before.
I would have used a higher altitude to demonstrate the difference between indicated and true airspeed.
Absolutely Fantastic!
One erratum: Tibbetts wasn't the mission CO - Parsons was.. but this is an excellent, factual piece. well done indeed.
Great detail as usual.
Fascinating information. I will need to look up super dumbo as did you say a b29 sea plane??
Somehow the hand written flight records really impress that there were people in that bomber.
could you do a video specifically about the silverplate b-29s and their exact modifications from regular b-29s?
Nice detailed report.
Brilliant technical data.
The U-235 isotope enrichment level for the projectile and target rings was not uniform, as not enough 90%+ enriched U-235 was available in time. One can look up the actual range of enrichments used.
Very Well done, sir!
Have you done a video about the bombing of Nagasaki?
One of the crew asked if this was a chemist's nightmare when told no he then said "it must be a physicists nightmare".
Smart young man
Tibbets went to the rear compartment of the Enola Gay to talk to the rear crew at around 4:30AM when they got to Iwo, including the Rear Gunner who had come forward before the aircraft climbed to altitude. That is when the questions about what they were carrying were asked. It was the rear gunner, Bob Caron, who had been flying with Tibbets when they were doing the B-29 service trials and he was asked by Tibbets did he have any idea about what they were carrying. Caron said "no, with all of the Security on the unit , he hadn't wanted to know". Tibbets then said "It’s too late now. We’re on our way. You can guess whatever you want.” It was Caron who said "chemist's nightmare" as they had been hearing rumours about a new British "Super" explosive. The crew had been briefed that the weapon had a yield of thousands of tons of TNT. Tibbets said no, to which Caron then said “Colonel, is this a physicist’s nightmare?”. Tibbets replied “You might call it that.” and after a few more minutes of chatting, Tibbits started to go back towards the front of the aircraft. Caron grabbed his foot as he was leaving and Tibbets came back thinking something was wrong. Caron then asked Tibbits “Are we splitting atoms today, Colonel?” Tibbets he shook his head and said, “Yes!". He then went back to the cockpit and told all of the crew on the intercom that they were carrying an Atomic Bomb.
Caron had actually gone to a high school that specialised in engineering and science and was an avid reader on all things technical. He had actually been reading a physics book at the library at Wendover which covered the nuclear research up to 1940 including the development of the cyclotron Atom Smasher, So he was fully aware of the energy in a atom.
I learned many things here.
Perfect timing. I just saw Oppenheimer.
I just found this channel. Wow. What an outstanding job you did ! Thank you ! 🫡 🇺🇸
I know someone who is the grandchild of a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. She has several genetic defects as a result of the radiation causing mutations in her grandparents. Nothing lethal, but some inconvenient.
She doesn't blame the US, she fully realises (and she is Japanese) that this was a necessary step required to end WW2 without millions more casualties, both US and Japanese.
She doesn't try to sweet talk what the Japanese did, she's not proud of her nation's actions during that period even though she is very proud of her native culture and history overall.
The Silver Plate B-29's also had the wing main spar moved up over the bomb bays to account for the size of the Fat Man bomb
Negative. Only one Silver Plate was modified for tests, BW-42-6259. The “thin man” device’s 17 foot length prevented it from fitting in a single bomb bay. When the gun-type device was changed, it got shorter, hence “Little Boy.” It could then fit in the single bomb bay without modification. “Fat Man” could always fit in either bomb bay, the one Silver Plate modified was reverted to original specifications.
The bomb run map 15+minutes. Is your 'East' is actually West?
Thanks for the correction. I blurred out the east annotation.
"I m" an IDIOT! for 45 plus years of My Life "I did Not" Know the second attack was Not on the Mainland! of Japan? I Had to Watch Twice! and I thought I studied these events Multiple Times! built a perfectly detailed 1:48 B-29 model of These SHIPS in the mid 70's while I studied the First Time.
THANK YOU! Now I get to Look at this Again! Thank you Sr! May I have Another?
These MEN where my Friends, Family, Buddies! R.I.P! Greatest Gen!
Well done.
14:58 If north is to the right then up is west not east, otherwise great stuff
Thanks for the correction. I blurred out the east annotation.
why is east blotted out? 15:30
What R some opinions of the 1950s movie "Above and Beyond." This was abt the Hiroshima mission, starring Robert Taylor as Paul Tibbets.
I enjoyed this movie. Anybody else like it?😊
I'm impressed by some of the details in this video. Always new Zulu time but never saw map indicating the names for the other zones.
Impressive research... but would you be able to post links to your sources?
National Archives, go there
@@NathanDudani Bit hard… I live in Australia… however when write a report on some research I always provide a list of references of either online or hard copy sources I use….
OUTSTANDING! But, I feel it's safe to say this: the Enola Gay and it's crew didn't drop the bomb. The United States government dropped the bomb to end the war. The plane and crew were simply the mechanism used.
The part I find interesting is the don't test the bomb because it will escalate into an arms race. They didn't need to test the uranium bomb, they already knew it would work, they needed to test the plutonium bomb to see if it would work?
One minor error. The engines were fuel injected, not ejected. Otherwise, a stellar presentation as always.
Thanks for the point out. I fixed the chart with the Fuel Injection pointer
Nicely done, especially in reference to the new movie, "Oppenheimer."
Were the bomb doors electric not hydraulic to close quicker for retreat from blast
The description of the blast in leu of the Trinity test footage: "Big bada boom"
Payback for multiple incursions of humanity and civility. That it had to be done is on the military hierarchy of Japan at the time. They can thank the Allies for not dragging their Emperor out of his palace and summarily executing him, on the spot.
More people died in the fire bombing of Tokyo than at the two A bomb sites combined.After 2 A bombs the japanese still refused to surrender and not until thje USSR invaded the Kuril Islands on August 15 did they surrender.The soviets continued to fight the japanese right up to Sept.2 when they officially surrendered.
0:34 Fuel Ejected Engines?! How did they keep running if they ejected all the fuel? 😉
Hmm, yes. I recall that the B29 engines had a habit of spewing oil but fuel? Explains all the fires.
They ejected it into the combustion chambers instead of the atmosphere. Problem solved. 🙂
Fascinating details of a major event! By the way, the You Tube channel for the "Unauthirized History of the Pacific War" podcast had a really good special episode recently that highlighted US Navy support of the atomic bombs. Definitely worth a look at ua-cam.com/video/ervx9O3IFTc/v-deo.html One of the major points to come out on that presentation was that CPT William Parsons, USN was not just the "weaponeer" but had a lot to do with the actual design of the weapon and other systems. Most histories treat him like he was just an extra man who happened to arm the bomb, but he was actually the mission commander, while Tibbets was aircraft commander.
Yep. Parsons was a naval gun expert and helped design the gun that fired the U-235 projectile and its target cup. It was quite complicated. But I don't think ANYONE was going to override Paul Tibbetts commands on that mission.
So it was bombardier Thomas Ferebee who actually pressed the button to release The Bomb?
Yes.
Enola gay made exceptionally accurate bombing from 30+k feet
I’m hoping you would like this, because it is history and the only way to stop it from repeating itself is that everyone is educated about it. I love you honey.
Everybody forgets this fact. The Japanese R not citizens, they R subjects.
For any country that has a monarch, the people pledge their loyalty 2 the monarch, not 2A Constitution, or another form of gov't.
They didn't forget it. They never knew it because they were busy learning woke facts about "our democracy" and how to feel.
The Enola Gay got its' name from the B-29's pilot, Col. Paul Tibbets and those names were were the first and second names of his mother, I wonder how she felt about her son naming his bomber after her?
William Parsons had final say on this flight so in many respects he was the senior commander.
Oh no, Tibbets was absolutely in charge of the mission, Parsons was in charge of the bomb itself and gave the thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not it was ready to go and whether or not it could be released but it was 100% Tibbets' mission and had been from day one months before when he was selected to run the program.
Even though he says in this video that Lewis was actually the pilot and Tibbets was the mission commander when they were taking off Tibbets was flying the plane with his hands on the controls and the throttles, when they were rolling down the runway as per standard procedure for taking off in a B29 Lewis put his hands on the controls and Tibbets barked "Get your hands off the controls, this is my aircraft!!!".
Likewise he was flying the plane during the bomb run, after taking off and getting the bomb armed Tibbets took a nap from having been awake for something like 36 hours straight before take off because of everything he had to look after, when they got to a certain point they woke him back up and he took over the controls again for the actual bomb run, it's release and the escape turn and dive they'd practiced to get away from the bombs blast, onboard sensors registered something like 2.2 g's when the first shock wave hit the plane.
You can hear him talk about the mission in great detail in an interview he did with Kermit Weeks that's on his channel, after listening to it you'll have no doubt that he was 100% in charge of that mission in every regard except for the arming of the bomb, whether they dropped on the primary or would have proceeded to the secondary and every other decision was all on him.
I understand that they turned away from the bomb after its release to maximize their distance from the blast out of concerns for radiation safety, which is a good idea since they were flying about 3 miles per minute and the bomb took 43 secs. to fall, and they had an altitude of over 5 miles ). It so happens that for the people on the ground who were at 3 Km from the hypocentre, the open air dose they received was about 2mSv, which is taken to be the annual background dose at sea level.
They had to get away from the blast point because of the shock wave.They need to be at least 5 to 6 miles away otherwise the shock wave would crush the plane.The radiation would not matter.
Something to be considered is that WWII was staggeringly expensive to the US. The US was just about broke by mid 1945.
It is questionable whether or not the USA could have afforded six more months of full scale combat operations without resorting to measures that would have crippled the post war economy. The money was already spent to develop atom bombs, so the decision to use them was not difficult. Remember, people of that time did not have the horror of radiation and nuclear fallout that modern people do. To the 1945 decision makers it was a case of "You've made a bomb big enough to take out a whole city? Brilliant! Lets drop a few on Japan and wrap this war up a few months early, before we go bankrupt!"
Wondering about the relationship between the secret mission to produce and deliver the a-bomb, and the decision to invade Iwo Jima. Some describe an almost dart-thrown-at-the-map approach to the Iwo Jima decision, others cite the abysmal statistics consuming the B-29 force in the effort to conventionally bomb Japan; but surely the decision to invade Iwo was influenced at high levels of command by the closely kept knowledge, not admitted due to secrecy, of the upcoming likelihood of an a-bomb in order to remove the possibility of intercepting the a-bomb missions by fighters stationed at Iwo Jima.
peanut butter spread 😊
“Fuel ejected engines” 😂
Must be a millennial. 🙂 Any traditional All-American guy would know about fuel injection. Darned soy anyway.
"Japanese Submarine slammed two Torpedoes into our side, Chief. We were coming back from the Island of Tinian Del-ay. We'd just delivered the Bomb. The Hiroshima Bomb."
"I'll never wear a life jacket again"
Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into her side, Chief. We was comin’ back from the island of Tinian to Leyte. We’d just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb
@@bottomshot4546
"...anyways, we delivered the bomb".
Did you know that the USS Indianapolis didn't actually deliver the bomb like Quint said and most people think, it actually delivered the uranium fuel or some other component, the actual bomb itself was delivered by another means, or the bomb was delivered by the USS Indianapolis and the uranium was delivered by another means, I believe it was because they didn't want an accident to happen and figured they should keep the vital parts as far away from each other as they can.
But the main part, and the fuel weren't all delivered together so the USS Indianapolis didn't actually deliver the complete bomb just a component.
@@dukecraig2402 yes they carried the core or "gun" assembly for the Little Boy. The bomb itself was to be fully assembled on the island. I would love to see what was in John Milius' 10 page speech, he's no doubt capable of such detail.
@@dukecraig2402 Life jacket. Not to be picky.
To think we almost could have associated nuclear bombing with "Big Stink". Such a missed opportunity.