The mushroom cloud from the atomic explosion over Nagasaki.
Nagasaki, a city located on the island of Kyushu, in Japan, was the target of the second and last atomic bomb attack ever.
Atom Bomb mission[]
The mission was carried out by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named "Bockscar". On August 9,1945, This aircraft, assigned to the 393rd Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group, and named after the plane's commander, Frederick C. Bock, dropped the plutonium-sore atomic bomb "Fat Man" on the strategic city of Nagasaki by radar, due to very poor weather conditions. Interestingly, the mission was not carried out by the regular crew of "Bockscar" but by the crew of the B-29 ""The Great Artiste" and was piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney.[N 1] "Fat Man" was dropped at 11:01 AM and exploded forty-three seconds later at an altitude of 1,650 feet (503 metres) above ground, approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 km) northwest of the planned aiming point with a blast yield equivalent to twenty-one kilotons of TNT.[2]Over 60% of Nagasaki was destroyed and about 70,000 people were killed in the explosion. Six days later, Japan announced its surrender. Contrary to popular belief, "Bockscar" was the aircraft that ended World War II, not "Enola Gay". However, there were less casualties caused by "Fat Man" than by uranium-core "Little Boy".[N 2] Today "Bockscar" is on static display at the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio as one of its featured exhibits.