Hiroshima, Nagasaki & "Baker"

Let this post load for a second or two if you have a slow connection. It contains multiple pics and GIF images.


The following clips and pics are from Peter Kuran's amazing documentary "Trinity and Beyond" They contain the only known (and recently declassified) video of the atomic bomb detonations over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.


This is the view from rear gunner's pod on the B-17 which delivered the atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. It was on August 6, 1945 that the atomic weapon Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima by the crew of the Enola Gay, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people and completely destroying approximately 68% of the city's buildings. In the following months, an estimated 60,000 more people died from injuries or radiation poisoning. Since 1945, several thousand more "hibakusha" have died of illnesses caused by the bomb.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6746/littleboyblastna0.png (http://imageshack.us)



Test explosion:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4526/blast1fullab8.gif (http://imageshack.us)



On 9 August 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the world's second atomic bomb attack at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed and an estimated 39,000 people were killed. According to statistics given at the Nagasaki Peace Park, the dead totalled 73,884, injured 74,909 and diseased 120,820. Most of those who died were civilians.

The "Fat Man" bomb was utilized during the attack.

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/9772/fatmanrolloutmp5.png (http://imageshack.us)


http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/4418/cityofnagasakiwithcaptiwq0.png (http://imageshack.us)


http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/6784/fatmanplumesw6.png (http://imageshack.us)


Test explosion:

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/507/blast2fullra5.gif (http://imageshack.us)



The film also chronicles the next detonation of an atomic weapon by the US government - a 1946 test explosion known as "Shot Baker". It was an underwater test that was so powerful due to the physics of underwater conductivity that the blast lifted entire battleships straight up in the air!


http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7650/bravo1xv4.png (http://imageshack.us)


Footage of Shot Baker from observation ship:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/7425/bakershot1gifrg4.gif (http://imageshack.us)



Footage of Shot Baker from observation plane:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/4158/bakershot2gifum8.gif (http://imageshack.us)



http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7909/bakershipliftwithcaptioak8.png (http://imageshack.us)


http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/4836/bakeroverheadik5.png (http://imageshack.us)


http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/51/bakertileshot2ug9.png (http://imageshack.us)


Whoa.

Ok Im getting worried now, are you trying to tell us something?!?!?!

USA has balls... SWEET!! I just love nukes!!! They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside..?
Lets see an airborn nuke explosion for some real damage. I want to see a 100 ton bad boy...wOOt!!!!
Here is a nice little site showing nuke effects.:hail:

BOOM!!!! (http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/index.shtml)

Ok Im getting worried now, are you trying to tell us something?!?!?!

Nope, I just saw the documentary again today and thought I'd share.

It was way too much info for one post so I broke it down into three posts today.

Some pics I took in Hiroshima at ground zero last year

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/1775/img0999ag8.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5050/img0987sc7.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4960/img0982fm9.jpg

Pile, those pics are great.

I read somewhere that the building with the dome was dirctly underneath the blast and therefore survived. It was said to be precisely at "Ground Zero" and the blast wave didn't destroy it due to principles of physics that I can't quite grasp.

Yes the explosion happened right above the building. The roof and all the floors were destroyed but the walls took the explosion right on the top and thus survived the explosion.

I remember reading in highschool somewhere that these pillars right next to the building were actually driven into the ground from the explosion.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7387/img0989yf2.jpg

You can also see that framework has been added to the building to preserve it.

Great post, thank you. Thank you Pile for posting your pics again.

Great post, thank you. Thank you Pile for posting your pics again.

Thank you very much. It took me about an hour to get the pics and the GIFs made + put together. The film is so amazing that I thought it would be well worth a look on Noobsters.

:nrocks:

Great post....Thanks