The Atomic Bomb Essay
On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay, piloted and commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets, was launched approximately six hours flight time away from Japan. At the time of the launch, the weather was good, and the crew and equipment were functioning properly. Then, at nearly 7:45 a.m. in Hiroshima time, the Japanese early warning radar net detected the approach of some American aircraft headed for the southern part of Japan. About fifteen minutes later, the radar operator in Hiroshima determined that the number of planes coming in was very small, probably not more than three. To conserve fuel and aircraft, the Japanese had decided not to intercept small formations, but this time the consequences were catastrophic. At 8:15, the Enola Gay dropped the nuclear bomb called "Little Boy" over the center of Hiroshima. The total number of deaths was an estimated 90,000 people. Oddly enough, there is a connection between the atomic bombs and the state of Washington. But how could this be?
The start of all of this was in 1939. That was the beginning of a small research program which developed into The Manhattan Project. It was originally headquartered in an office in Manhattan, thus it became known as the Manhattan Project, even though the project was based only briefly on Manhattan island. The Manhattan Project was the project to develop the first nuclear weapon or atomic bomb during World War II. It would eventually employ more than 130,000 people and cost a total of nearly $2 billion dollars, amounting to $23 billion in the year 2007. The result was the creation of multiple production and research sites that operated in secret. The three primary research and production sites of the project were the plutonium-production facility at Hanford, Washington, the uranium-enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the weapons research and design laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The connection between the atomic bombs and the state of Washington lies in Hanford. Before...
View Full Essay
