SEEN FROM AIRCRAFT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24640, 9 August 1945, Page 5

SEEN FROM AIRCRAFT

Photographs taken four hours after the bombing of Hiroshima showed smoke rising 40,000 feet, obscuring the city. photographs showed clearly that the heart of Hiroshima was wiped out as by a giant bulldozer. Only a few concrete structures, believed to be airraid shelters, remained standing, but even they had been burned inside. Seven streams and several manmade firebreaks, including one three blocks wide, which was among the best seen in Japan, failed to stop the flames.

The lower part of Hiroshima, with the harbour and dock facilities, appears barely touched by the concuslion.

An expert said: “There is no comparison between a normal conflagration and the fire caused by the atomic bomb." He recalled that when Yokohama burned it looked £S if smokepots were burning throughout the city, whereas an immense smoke and dust mushroom plumed over Hiroshima. Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Superfortress which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, had been especially trained for the mission. He was accompanied on it by Captain William Parsons, a Navy ordnance expert. Colonel Tibbets was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Spaatz as he stepped from his plane General Spaatz said that more Superfortresses from the Marianas were ready to follow the first with atomic bombs He added that a leaflet campaign would inform the Japanese people that they were to be attacked with atomic bombs, and that they could exnect more in the future. However, he believed that it was unlikely that specific targets would be named, as with the incendiary raids.

Correspondents report that there were many secrets about the flight and the bombing, including the reason for the selection of the target. It is believed probable that Hiroshima was not chosen only for its great importance, but partly because the weather was clear there, permitting a close view of the explosion. A special unit was organised many months ago for special work

Captain Parsons said he had been assigned by the Navy to work on the weapon with a view to making it safe to handle. He carried a number of atomic bomb facsimiles in the practice at the Alamagordo bombing range in New Mexico.

Captain Parsons said: "We dropped the bomb at 9.15 a.m. and turned the plane broadside to get the best view. We then made as much distance from the ball of fire as we could. We were at least 10 miles away when we braced ourselves for the shock. It was just like a close blast of flak. The crew said: ‘My God, we can’t belfeve what has happened.’

“A mountain of smoke mushroomed up with the stem pointing down. There was white smoke at the top, but swirling. boiling dust up to 1000 feet from the ground. Soon afterwards, small fires sprang up at the edge of the town, but the town was entirely obscured We stayed for two or three minutes By that time, the smoke had risen 40.000 feet. As we watched, the top of the white cloud of smoke broke off. but another soon formed.”

Asked if the atomic bomb could be used by the fleet, one officer said it was essentially an air weapon. Another expressed the opinion that the effect would be disappointingly slight on shipping.