How to Drop an Atom Bomb

Saturday Evening Post, June 8, 1946

On June 8, 1946, the Saturday Evening Post published an article by Col. Paul W. Tibbetts, Jr., the pilot of the Enola Gay who dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, as told to Wesley Price, a Post stringer who wrote about aviation.

The feature story follows Col. Tibbetts from the formation of the 509th Composite Group, to practicing extreme maneuvers over the Utah desert out of Wendover (now Historic Wendover Airfield), to Tinian, and to dropping the bomb.

The captivating article provides insight into the 509th from a fresh, first-hand perspective less than a year after the bombing. Further, the secrecy of the mission is repeatedly emphasized, including a poem by an exasperated clerk at the base operations who was frustrated by the lack of information:

NOBODY KNOWS
Into the air the secret rose,
Where they’re going nobody knows;
Tomorrow they’ll return again,
But we’ll never know where they’ve been.
Don’t ask about results or such,
Unless you want to get in Dutch;
But take it from one who is sure of the score,
The 509th is winning the war.

When the other Groups are ready to go,
We have a program of the whole damned show;
And when Halsey’s Fifth shells Nippon’s shore,
Why, shucks, we hear about it the day before;
And MacArthur and Doolittle give it out in advance.
But with this new bunch we haven’t a chance.
We should have been home a month or more,
For the 509th is winning the war.

Tibbetts reflects on how he felt about dropping the bomb, saying, “We’re all living in the Atomic Age together, and the atom bomb was made and dropped for the people of the United States.”

Source: Tibbetts Jr., P. W., & Price, W. (1946). How to Drop an Atom Bomb. Saturday Evening Post, 218(49), 18-136.

Atomic Annie

On May 25, 1953, The US military conducted Shot Grable of Operation Upshot-Knothole at the Nevada Test Site (now the Nevada National Security Site).

Shot Grable was detonated with a yield of 15 kilotons. A 280-mm cannon fired the atomic artillery projectile, which detonated 524 feet above Area 5 (Frenchman Flat). The cannon, later nicknamed “Atomic Annie,” was manufactured at the Watervliet Arsenal in New York.

Shot Grable was not just a test of the cannon. Indeed, the test involved over 650 Department of Defense test group personnel, 2600 exercise troops participating in the Desert Rock V exercises, over 700 observers, about 70 Air Force Special Weapons Center crewmen providing air support, and sheep. (See the DTRA Fact Sheet on Upshot-Knothole.)

Where can you see some of the remaining atomic cannons today?

“Atomic Annie” (M65 atomic cannon) — the original used for the test shot at the Nevada test site — is on display at the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, OK. The cannon was restored in 2010 and also includes the two tractors (prime movers) used for transport.

Although, if you’re driving through Kansas along I-70, you can see one from the freeway at Freedom Park near Junction City (although the park is permanently closed for security reasons due to its proximity to Fort Riley). [picture courtesy Cold War Tourist; Wired article 2008]

Of the 20 M65s produced, seven survive (of which one is the 240-mm prototype) and are on display at various museums. In addition to the two, above, you can also seem them at:

U.S. Army Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen, MD (museum is closed; moving to Fort Lee). Although all museum relics will be moved to Fort Lee’s US Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, the M65 is still at the NW corner of Aberdeen Blvd and Maryland Blvd just off the parking lot. [picture]
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque, NM, has a cannon on exhibit in their Heritage Park.
Rock Island Arsenal Museum, Rock Island, IL, has a cannon at the Memorial Field. [pictures courtesy Tactical-Life]
Virginia War Museum, Newport News, VA (240-mm prototype). You’ll find this located adjacent to the museum in Huntington Park off US 60 (Warwick Blvd) next to the Virginia War Museum sign. [pictures and plaque courtesy Toadman’s Tank Pictures;
Watervliet Arsenal Museum, Watervliet, NY (closed 2013). The arsenal built the tubes and ordnances for the M65.
Yuma Proving Ground, Yuma, AZ, has one on display near the entrance gate. [pictures courtesy Patrick Tillett; Roadside America]

Of course, why go visit them when you can own and build your own 60th Anniversary Reissue by Revell!

Watch Atomic Annie in action in this Department of Energy declassified video.

https://youtu.be/IXCWgqBSH8Q

The Winter Fortress

Had the pleasure of attending the book launch at the Hugo House on May 5, 2016, of Neal Bascomb‘s new book, “The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb.”

This nonfiction narrative tells the story of the Vemork hydroelectric plant nestled on a precipice of a gorge in Nazi-occupied Norway and the daring commando raid by Norwegians and the British Special Operations Executive to destroy it.

Vemork was the sole supplier of the world’s heavy water, a key component of the Nazi’s proposed nuclear reactor, where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons so that they are more likely to react with uranium-235. (Heavy water contains hydrogen atoms each having a neutron and proton [deuterium], whereas common hydrogen’s nucleus simply contains a single proton.)

Neal, who announced that he doesn’t read from his books, instead provided a fascinating account of what he learned, first-hand, from investigating the story through his travels, as well as accounts from the surviving children and grandchildren of the heroes.

Of course, we purchased a copy for our Atomic Tourism library.