The Wilmington morning star., 1945-08-08
HIROSHIMA CITY
HIT DEAD CENTER
fContinued from Page One)


ing up in a mushroom with the
stem coming down. At the top was
white smoke but up to LOCO feet
from the ground there was swirl
ing. boiling dust. Soon afterWard
small fires sprang up on the edge
of town but the town was entire
ly obscured. We stayed around two
or three minutes and by that time
the smoke had risen to 10000 feet.
GAS we watched the top OF the
white cloud broke off and another
soon formed"
Details of the bombing were dis
closed at a press conference at
tended by Gen. Carl Spaatz who
termed the new bomb the most
revolutionary development in the
history of the world"
"Spaatz was obviously highly
elated at the new bombing weapon.
He said if he had had it in Eu-
rope ""it would have shortened the
war six to eight months" Maj. Gen.
Curtis Lemay said that if this bomb
had been available there would
have been mo need to have had
D-Day in Europe"
Just what damage was done TO
Hiroshima was not known. PHOTO
graphs taken at the time OF bomb
ing showed only smoke. Photo
graphs taken four hours later show
ed smoke still obscuring the city
and rising to. 10000 feet.
The superfortresses which car
ried the bomb took off from a
Marianas base and only three men
knew what they carried-Col. lib
bets, Capt. Parsons ana the oomo-
ardier, Maj. Thomas W. Fereoee'
Mocksville, N. c. Other creWmen
knew only that it was a highly
secret, important mission.
Tibbets had been trained special
" for this mission, which Gen.
Spaatz considered so vital ne
awarded Tibbets the Distinguished
Service Cross as he stepped from
his plane after the flight. The
plane was named "Enola Gay
after Tibbets' mother in Miami.
There were many secrets about
the flight and the bombing which
followed. One secret was the selec-
tion of Hiroshima as the target.
It was believed probable, however,
that it was selected not because
of its great importance but parity
because the weather was clear
there and visibility was such as
to permit a close watch OF the
bomb explosion.
Many months ago, a special unit
was organized to do this special
work.
"When we went out we had the
best of facilities made available
to u.s. Tibbets said.
Speaking matter-of-factly, ne
said, "the bomb run up to the tar
get was uneventful and there were
no disturbing elements in the bomb
run when the release was made.
''We saw a flash, felt the con-
cussions and it reminded me OF a
close burst of flax. We stayed IN
the target area looking at the scene
below and the towering column OF
smoke. have never seen anything
like it.
Capt. Parsons said he had been
assigned by the Navy to work on
this weapon with the view to max
ing it safe to handle. When one OF
the correspondents asked "if there
was danger in handling this thing"
General Spaatz interrupted him
with what do you think:''
Parsons had carried number
of atomic bomb facsimiles in prac-
tice at the Alamagordo bombing
range in New Mexico. This was
just like carrying another facslm-
lie in this raid, he said. Asked
what he thought about dropping
such a lethal weapon in the midst
of a big city, he said there was
no reaction.
Discussion of the size or other
features of the atomic bomb wasn't
permitted, but it is carried by a
single Superfortress.
Spaatz, Lemay and other general
officers discussed guardedly the
possible effectiveness of the new
bomb which was described as CIV
ing off intense heat for some dis
lance around it. In experiments in
New Mexico, the heat was said to
have been felt 20 miles away.
One officer described it as eS-
sentially an air weapon when ask
ed if it would be possible to be
used by the fleet. Parsons was ask
ed whether bomb was capable of
starting a tidal wave. He said if
it were dropped in the sea, there
would be lot of waves and high
geysers but expressed doubt that
1t would start a tidal wave.
Another officer said that Its ef-
feet would be disappointingly slight
on shipping"
Spaatz only smiled when he was
asked if the bomb would be drop
ped again in the near future. He
wouldn't comment on what would
happen if SOC Superforts-a normal
size raid-all carried the new atom
ic bomb against Japan.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS