This Air Force Museum bomber is the most devastating in the building: Here’s what you should know about it

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Local News
By Ty Greenlees
Aug 9, 2017
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On Aug. 9, 1945, the second and final nuclear weapon ever used during wartime was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. It happened three days after the first nuclear bomb ever used was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

Exact numbers of those killed by the incinerating weapons will never be known, but estimates from the time of detonation in August and after affects into December range from 129,000-226,000 dead.

The bomber that dropped the weapon, Bockscar, is part of the collection at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It is part of the World War II gallery.

» INTERACTIVE: Explore the fighting planes of the Air Force Museum’s World War II gallery

Called Bockscar, the National Museum of the United States Air Force’s B-29, famously dropped the “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on Aug. 9, 1945. An estimated 50,000 people died, according to the BBC. About 40,000 people died instantly As many as 135,000 people died as the result of the atomic attack against Hiroshima three days earlier. CONTRIBUTED

Credit: U.S. Air Force

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Credit: U.S. Air Force

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The bombs that were dropped on Japan came in the final stages of World War II, three months after Nazi Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.

The Allies had planned an invasion of the Japanese mainland, which was expected result in as many as 250,000 U.S. casualties and 46,000 deaths. The Japanese predicted the death of 20 million of their troops and civilians if the Allies invaded.

PHOTOS: 14 insider images of the famous bomber Bockscar

The Japanese rejected the demands of unconditional surrender in the Pottsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945 by ignoring the warning: “The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

Modified B-29 Superfortress bombers from the United States Army Air Forces, including Bockscar, began the nuclear bombing missions from Tinian Island 12 days later. The Enola Gay hit Hiroshima on August 6, and Bockscar hit Nagasaki on Aug. 9 as an alternative target because of smoke and cloud cover over the city of Kokura.

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The bombs dropped were code named Little Boy and Fat Man, both derived from novel and film characters, but also resembling their actual shapes. The names also reflect the type of bomb detonation chosen to create the atomic blast.

Little boy had a gun-type design with a long, thin shape. Fat Man was an implosion-type with a more bulbous look. These weapons were developed through the secret Manhattan Project from 1942-1946 and cost the U.S. about $2 billion (approximately $27 billion in 2016 dollars).

The Mk I bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," was the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. It was delivered by the B-29 Enola Gay (on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum), it detonated at an altitude of 1,800 feet over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. The result of the Manhattan Project, begun in June 1942, "Little Boy" was a gun-type weapon, which detonated by firing one mass of uranium down a cylinder into another mass to create a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Weighing about 9,000 pounds, it produced an explosive force equal to 20,000 tons of TNT. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

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A "Fat Man" bomb was dropped over Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945, near the end of World War II. Released by the B-29 Bockscar, the 10,000-pound weapon was detonated at an altitude of approximately 1,800 feet over the city. The bomb had an explosive force (yield) of about 20,000 tons of TNT, about the same as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Because of Nagasaki's hilly terrain, however, the damage was somewhat less extensive than of the relatively flat Hiroshima.. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

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The Enola Gay is on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington, D.C.

B-29 Superfortress nicknamed Bockscar. Bockscar dropped atomic bomb Fat Boy on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

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About the Author

Ty Greenlees