The day was bright and clear as men and women, boys and girls without thinking made themselves ready for school or their day’s work at the ship yards. The Aioi Bridge was a common route essential to many for their commerce in the industrious city. Myriads of bridges connecting the delta city across a maze of seven rivers were flooded with people. As the light of dawn pierced the sky, the coast of southern Japan broke the monotony of the dark ocean below.Īs the same dawning light washed the city of Hiroshima, the metropolis came to life with activity. The crew of the Enola Gay had no concept of what they would soon be unleashing. The payload they carried was the culmination of a $1.8 billion project that employed the best scientific minds and resources produced by the United States. For six hours the planes droned through the stratosphere on a mission that would sear itself into the conscience of modem society and hasten the end of a world at war. Two more B-29s would follow Tibbets’ plane into the still night air. It was early in the predawn hours when the aircraft lumbered off the tarmac at Tinian Island. Paul Tibbets, the 32 year old pilot, with his hand picked crew coaxed the four Pratt and Witney engines to life on the 141 foot wing span B-29 Superfortress.
