# Did the Japanese realise what hit Hiroshima + misc. questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142 "2015-08-06T09:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/41 "2015-08-09T14:22:34Z")
> [@dr\_zippermeyer](#): > > That´s a fair point. Probably that´s why they didn´t use parachutes. Bombers still had enough time to escape but just barely. I remember reading Bockscar only narrowly missed a mushroom cloud and Enola Gay was hit so hard by shockwave that both pilots instinctively shouted “flak!”. In reading about it, the plane would make a very hard turn after dropping the bomb. The bomb still having forward motion, this was the best way to get clear of the blast. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/42 "2015-08-09T16:15:52Z")
As an aside. there was one Japanese gentleman that was on a business trip and survived the first nuke attack. He eventually made his way home only to get nuked a 2nd time and survived that one. I believe he lived to a ripe old age despite all that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/43 "2015-08-09T21:42:36Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Except that Klaus Fuchs was spying for the Russians. Well, they were our Allies at the time. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/44 "2015-08-09T22:14:04Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, they were our Allies at the time. Sure, but the U.S. didn’t want that ally to know what it was up to. That’s not unusual. And allies spy on each other all the time. Remember Jonathan Pollard? ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/45 "2015-08-09T22:18:39Z")
Was just at the Udvar Hazy Smithsonian Air & Space Museum at Dulles yesterday, had a load of fun looking at all the exhibits. [The](http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg596/2gigch1/Kids%20Trips%202015/DSC_0095_zpskl6f0pwn.jpg) [Enola](http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg596/2gigch1/Kids%20Trips%202015/DSC_0121_zpsory3gujp.jpg) [Gay](http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg596/2gigch1/Kids%20Trips%202015/DSC_0129_zpsembvtebd.jpg) has both some plexiglass shielding near a walkway and is the only one on floor level [jacked up on stilts](http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg596/2gigch1/Kids%20Trips%202015/DSC_0094_zpsvthen7k0.jpg) [for it’s protection](http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg596/2gigch1/Kids%20Trips%202015/DSC_0092_zps2cemuqud.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/46 "2015-08-09T22:37:39Z")
Long story short. I knew a Jersey transplant to the south. He went on a flight to Japan. Apparently during the flight he encountered what he considered rude Japanese people who were pretending to not understand basic English so as to continue being dicks. At some point he loudly proclaimed: Shit like this is why I am glad we dropped the fucking bomb. After that the plane got very quite so apparently more people understood English than were letting on. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/47 "2015-08-09T23:33:01Z")
> [@dr\_zippermeyer](#): > > And thank you for other answers as well. I still would really like to know what happened to the recorder and how other crews experienced the mission. The Nagasaki mission airplane was the _Bockscar_ and Lt. Olivi has written about his experiences. Possibly others as well. That should be enough to get you started on looking for such accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/48 "2015-08-09T23:40:48Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > In reading about it, the plane would make a very hard turn after dropping the bomb. The bomb still having forward motion, this was the best way to get clear of the blast. We’ve analyzed that before. > **[Terminal velocity of Little Boy, and Enola Gay's speed, August 6, 1945.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=642176)** > > I recently saw a documentary featuring Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B29 (Enola Gay) which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Paul Tibbets (Gen, USAF Ret.) stated he dropped the bomb and immediately turned, exiting the area as quickly as he... ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/49 "2015-08-10T10:20:52Z")
As an interesting note, there was actually [a letter attached](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/12/this-rain-of-atomic-bombs-will-increase.html) to the sensor packages parachuted over Nagasaki addressed to Professor Ryokichi Sagane from Los Alamos physicists who’d worked with him before the war, basically saying “we know you must know what this weapon was, and what it can do; we have the capability to make more, please try and convince your leaders of this.” IIRC, the letter didn’t actually get to him until after Japan had surrendered, though. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/50 "2015-08-10T18:45:35Z")
My great-uncle, a Navy airman in WWII, served aboard one of the planes escorting the Enola Gay. He told my mother that when they saw the giant explosion, they all just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/51 "2015-08-10T19:44:48Z")
Obviously SOME Japanese officials knew or suspected what had happened. But the US had been engaged in fire-bombing of major Japanese cities for quite some time before the first atom bomb was dropped, so the attack at Hiroshima might have seemed, at first, like the result of a massive fire bombing. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/52 "2015-08-11T04:59:47Z")
Again years ago, I read a first-hand account of the bombing of Hiroshima by a survivor. One of the rumors that circulated amongst the wounded as to what had happened was that the Americans had used aircraft to disperse a mist of gasoline over the entire city and then ignited it. Obviously this wouldn’t really work, but given the effects it made sense. Most who witnessed the bombing from the ground do not remember hearing a blast, as with normal bombing raids. Just an intense flash and searing heat. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/53 "2015-08-11T05:22:28Z")
I recall reading in some book about the bombing - when their top Japanese physicist went to survey the damage at Hiroshima, he looked at the side of the trunk of a tree far out at the airport and knew immediately what the cause of the blast was, and even a ballpark estimate of its power. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/54 "2015-08-11T06:08:18Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Again years ago, I read a first-hand account of the bombing of Hiroshima by a survivor. One of the rumors that circulated amongst the wounded as to what had happened was that the Americans had used aircraft to disperse a mist of gasoline over the entire city and then ignited it. Obviously this wouldn’t really work, but given the effects it made sense. Most who witnessed the bombing from the ground do not remember hearing a blast, as with normal bombing raids. Just an intense flash and searing heat. That was one of the things mentioned in [Hiroshima](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima) by John Hershey, a detailed article which appeared in the August 31, 1946 _New Yorker_. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142/55 "2015-08-11T06:31:57Z")
> [@dr\_zippermeyer](#): > > He was one of the few witnessing the dawn of a completely new era then. I wonder who happened to be closest to the explosion by accident. Maybe some farmer or hunter? Must have been scary sight, even though they couldn´t have been really close. Albuquerque and El Paso are both a little more than 100 miles from the Trinity site. Roswell is about the same. Alamogordo is much closer (it may have been a military town at the time). The closest town currently of any size is Tularosa, at about 40 some miles away, across the plain, but it probably was not much in '45. The Trinity site is in a desert basin in central New Mexico, the major population centers in the area would have all been shielded by mountains. Still, there probably would have been a fair number of people up and about early that morning. Interestingly, that central New Mexico basin was historically known as _El Jornada del Muerte_, long before the bomb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-japanese-realise-what-hit-hiroshima-misc-questions/727142.md?page=2)