Photos: On this day – August 6, 1945 – World’s first atomic weapon is used

Posted Aug 06, 2012

1945 – World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb “Little Boy” is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.(AP, Wikipedia)

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One of the U. S. Air Force?s most famous war Planes, the Boeing B29 Super fortress ?Enola Gay? lands at its Tinian Base after the historic atomic bombing mission against the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. (AP Photo)
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The Hiroshima explosion, recorded at 8:15am, August 6, 1945, is seen on the remains of a wristwatch found in the ruins in this 1945 United Nations photo. The shadow of the small hand on the eight was burned in from the blast, making it appear to be the big hand. (AP Photo/United Nations)
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A tall column of smoke billows 20,000 feet above Hiroshima, Japan, after the first atomic bomb strike by American forces on Aug. 6, 1945. A cloud of smoke 10,000 feet in diameter covers much of the city at the base of the column. This picture was made by Bob Caron, tail gunner of the Enola Gay, the B-29 aircraft that dropped the bomb. (AP Photo/USAF)
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In this undated handout picture from the U.S. Air Force, the ground crew of the B-29 "Enola Gay" which bombed Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945 with the "Little Boy" nuclear bomb, stands with pilot Col. Paul W. Tibbets, center, in the Marianas Islands. It was the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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Col Paul W. Tibbets Jr. 31 of Orlando, Fla stands beside his famous B-29 superfortress "Enola Gay", which he named for his mother, and which he piloted over Hiroshima last August 6, 1945 to drop the historic atomic bomb, destroying most of the city. Co. 1 Tibberts, with three others of the original crew, brings the "Enola Gay" to New York on a mission for the U.S. Army Recruiting Service. The plane will remain on public exhibition for several days, and the crew will participate in the Army Day parade down Fifth Avenue on Saturday, October 6, 1945. (AP Photo)
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Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, waves from the cockpit before takeoff on August 6, 1945. (AP Photo)
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This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force made from the town of Yoshiura on the other side of the mountain north of Hiroshima, Japan, shows the smoke rising from the explosion of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945. It was picked up from an Australian engineer at Kure, Japan. Note the radiation spots on the negative caused by the explosion of the A-bomb, almost ruining the film. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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A view of Hachobori Street in Hiroshima, some time after the atomic bomb was dropped on this Japanese city, date unknown. (AP Photo/ Hiroshima A-Bomb Museum)
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Twisted metal and rubble marks what once was Hiroshima, Japan's most industrialized city, seen some time after the atom bomb was dropped here. (AP Photo)
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The shell of an apartment building 2,600 feet from ground zero in Hiroshima is all that is left following the dropping of the atom bomb on this Japanese city in 1945. (AP Photo)
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This is the scene after the U.S. used the first atomic bomb in warfare over the city of Hiroshima in 1945. This general view is from the Red Cross Hospital building located about one mile from where the bomb exploded in the center of the city. The uranium A-bomb, known as "Little Boy," was dropped Aug. 6. (AP Photo)
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An aerial view of Hiroshima, some time after the atom bomb was dropped on this Japanese city. (AP Photo)
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An aerial view of Hiroshima, showing the total destruction resulting from the detonation of the first atom bomb during wartime. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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All but a few scattered structures in this section of Hiroshima, Japan, have virtually disappeared in this aerial view after the August 6 atomic bomb was dropped on the city. This is the first original aerial view of the damage done by the nuclear bomb, released Sept. 1, 1945. (AP Photo/US Air Force)
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Rubble was all that was left after the explosion of an atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the first use of this nuclear weapon, which contained more power than 20,000 tons of TNT, to hasten Japan's surrender and end World War II. Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945. The atomic bomb was hailed as one of the most destructive forces in history and among the greatest achievements of science. (AP Photo)
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This is the remains of the Protestant Church Nagarekawa in Hiroshima in 1945 after the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. (AP Photo)
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White smoke rises from detonation of the atom bomb over Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945. Photo was made from 25,000 feet after the bomb hit its target. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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Here is a view of the total destruction of Hiroshima, the result of the first atomic bomb dropped in wartime, August 6, 1945. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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Hiroshima, first enemy city to feel the American atomic bomb, in this reconnaissance view made before the attack on August 6, 19456. The city of 318,000 populations is on the south-western end of Honshu, one of the main Jap home islands. Large guns, tanks, machine and aircraft parts were reported manufactured there. (AP Photo)
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Japanese victims wait to receive first aid in the southern part of Hiroshima, Japan, a few hours after the U.S. atomic bomb exploded in the heart of the city on Aug. 6, 1945. The explosion of the first A-bomb, known as "Little Boy," instantly killed 66,000 people and injured another 69,000 people. (AP Photo)
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About one month after the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, an allied correspondent examines the landscape of destruction at Hiroshima, Japan. (AP Photo)
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Dr. Vannevar Bush, as director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, was in charge of the development of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 which has more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. President Harry S. Truman announced on August 6 that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, a Japanese army base. (AP Photo)
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A pall of smoke lingers over this scene of destruction in Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 7, 1945, a day after the explosion of the atomic bomb. (AP Photo)
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Japanese uniformed personnel aide civilians after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Aug. 8, 1945. (AP Photo)
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The shell of a building stands amid acres of rubble in this view of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Aug. 8, 1945. (AP Photo/Mitsugi Kishida)
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This is an aerial view of Hiroshima about a month after the atomic bomb was detonated over this Japanese city. (AP Photo)
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This is a view of Hiroshima, Sept. 3, 1945, showing total destruction resulting from the dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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This desolated area, with only some buildings standing here and there is what was left of Hiroshima, Japan, Sept. 3, 1945 after the first atomic bomb was dropped. (AP Photo)
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This is an aerial view of the remains of the city of Hiroshima, Japan, Sept. 5, 1945, one month after the atomic bomb was dropped on it. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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This is an aerial view of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Sept. 5, 1945, one month after the atomic bomb was dropped. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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The skeleton of a Catholic Church, foreground, and an unidentified building, centre, are all that remaining the blast centre area after the atomic bomb of Hiroshima, Japan on August 5. This is the first ground picture of atomic bomb damage in Hiroshima, on Sept. 5, 1945. (AP Photo)
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Aerial views of Hiroshima, Sept. 5, 1945, after the atomic bomb was dropped over this Japanese city on Aug. 6. (AP Photo/Pool/Max Desfor)
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This is a general view at the burn-razed cityscape of Hiroshima, on September 5, 1945, one month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. over the Japanese city. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)
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A victim of the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare is seen in September 1945, at the Ujina Branch of the First Army Hospital in Hiroshima. The thermic rays emitted by the explosion burned the pattern of this woman's kimono upon her back. (AP Photo)
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A man looks through two pillars -- all that remain of a once luxurious house in Hiroshima, Sept. 7, 1945. (AP Photo/ACME/Stanley Troutman)
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An unidentified man stands next to a tiled fireplace where a house once stood in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sept. 7, 1945. The vast ruin is a result of "Little Boy," the uranium atomic bomb detonated on Aug. 6 by the U.S., leading to the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Stanley Troutman)
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Skeletons of trees dominate the landscape in Hiroshima, Sept. 8, 1945, left in ruins after the world's first atomic bomb attack. Domei News agency reported today that 126,000 were killed in the attack on this once industrial city. (AP Photo
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Only a handful of buildings remain standing amid the wasteland of Hiroshima, Sept. 8, 1945, the Japanese city reduced to rubble following the first atomic bomb to be dropped in warfare. (AP Photo)
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The atomic bomb attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, left this mass of twisted steel and this gutted building standing in acres of desolation, Sept. 8, 1945. (AP Photo
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New buildings rise out of the ruins of Hiroshima, March 11, 1946. Hiroshima was first Japanese city hit by the atomic bomb. These single story homes built along a hard-surfaced highway are part of the program by the Japanese government to rebuild devastated sections of the country. At left background are damaged buildings whose masonry withstood bomb effects. (AP Photo/Charles Gorry)
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This photo shows the total destruction of the city of Hiroshima, Japan, on April 1, 1946. The atomic bomb known as "Little Boy" was dropped over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 during World War II from the U.S. AAF Superfortress bomber plane called "Enola Gay." (AP Photo)
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The Hiroshima Auditorium and Municipal Building show heavy structural damage nearly a year after the atomic bombing of this Japanese city, seen June 26, 1946. (AP Photo)
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An allied correspondent examines the remains of what was once a barber shop in Hiroshima, Sept. 8, 1945, a little over a month after the atomic bomb was dropped over this Japanese city. Tiled sink is all that remains to identify the destroyed business. (AP Photo)
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A man looks over the caved in ruins of what was an air raid shelter in atom bomb-ravaged Hiroshima, Sept. 7, 1945. (AP Photo)
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Two people walk on a cleared path through the destruction resulting from the Aug. 6 detonation of the first atomic bomb, Sept. 8, 1945. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
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A destroyed streetcar sits on the tracks as people walk and bicycle past at the Kamiyacho intersection in Hiroshima, Japan, some time after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city. (AP Photo/Hiroshima A-Bomb Museum)
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A survivor of the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, Jinpe Teravama retains scars after healing of burns from the bomb explosion, Hiroshima, in June 1947. (AP Photo)
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Ikimi Kikkawa shows keloid scars following the healing of burns caused by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the second World War. She was seen at the Red Cross hospital there, June 5, 1947. (AP Photo)
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Akira Yamaguchi shows his heavy scars, June 5, 1947, a result of the healing of burns sustained from the atomic bomb attack of Hiroshima. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)
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Sachio Tsuboto shows keloid scars, June 5, 1947, caused by healing burns from the atomic blast that decimated Hiroshima. (AP Photo/U.S. Signal Corps)
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The Emperor saw from the roof of the City Hall in Hiroshima on Dec. 5, 1947, showing the atom-bombed city and its new construction slowly arising from the ruins of two years ago. (AP Photo)
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The Emperor saw from the roof of the City Hall in Hiroshima on Dec. 5, 1947, showing the atom-bombed city and its new construction slowly arising from the ruins of two years ago. (AP Photo)