Minute by minute, play by play. This is what happened on August 6, 1945 as recorded by a passenger on the Enola Gay Plane.
This is a direct record and tracking of the journey of the bomb from lift-off to touching back down on the base. [Time is written in Tinian time unless noted otherwise. Hiroshima is one hour behind Tinian.]
0000: The Pilot of the Enola Gay, Paul Tibbets, gives a final briefing on the mission and the official bombing location: Hiroshima.
Seven B-29 planes would fly this mission, but there would be three main planes. The Enola Gay with the weapon [flown by Paul Tibbetes, pilot, and Robert Lewis, co-pilot] and The Great Ariste and Necessary Evil were observation planes that carried cameras and scientific equipment.
0015: Chaplain William Downey invites the crew to all bow their head as he reads a prayer he wrote specifically for this mission.
0112: The crew for the observation planes get picked up by trucks to drive to the hanger, where the planes are being kept.
0115: The crew for the Enola Gay get picked up by trucks to drive to the hanger, where the plane and bomb are being kept.
The crew of the Enola Gay are: Paul Tibbetes, Capitan William "Deak" Parsons, Dutch Van Kirk, Thomas Ferebee, Robert Lewis, Jacob Beser, Morris Jeppson, Bob Caron, Robert Shumard, Joseph Stiborik, and Richard Nelson. They wear pale green combat overalls and their identification dog tags.
0137: The three weather planes, Straight Flush, Jabit III, and Full House, take off to assess the weather conditions of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, and Nagasaki.
0220: the final Enola Gay photo is taken and Tibbets says to his crew, "Okay, let's go to work."
0235: Enola Gay arrives at her take off position on the runway.
0245: Enola Gay begins takeoff procedures and Colonel Tibbets pushes all of the throttles forward. The hefty Enola Gay lifts slowly into the night sky, after using all of the runway.
0247: The Great Artiste takes off.
0249: Necessary Evil takes off.
0255: Ten minutes after takeoff, Dutch Van Kirk logs his first entry in the navigator’s log.
(pictured above).
0300: Capt. William "Deak" Parsons informs Tibbets that they [himself and Morris Jeppson] were going to start arming Little Boy [the atomic bomb]. Parsons and Jeppson, climb into the bomb bay and begin to set the charge.
0310: To arm the bomb Parsons inserts the gunpowder and places the detonator inside Little Boy.
0320: Parsons and Jeppson complete setting the charge in Little Boy, and climb out of the bomb bay.
0420: Van Kirk provides an estimated time of arrival over Iwo Jima [the rendezvous point] to be around 5:52am.
0600: The B-29s rendezvous over Iwo Jima, climb to an altitude of 9,300 feet, and set their course for Japan.
0715: Jeppson goes back down into the bomb bay and removes Little Boy's safety devices, then by changing from green plugs to red plugs he sets the arming device.
0730: Tibbets breaks his silence and informs the crew that: "We are carrying the world's first atomic bomb."
He pressurizes the Enola Gay and begins his climb to 32,700 feet.
The crew puts on their parachutes and flak suits. [body armor made of overlapping steel plates in a padded cover and worn by aircrewman to protect them from shrapnel.]
0809: The weather planes fly over the possible target cities. In Hiroshima, an air raid alert is triggered and communicated.
0824: The pilot of the Straight Flush weather plane sends Tibbets a coded message that states: “Cloud cover less than 3/10ths at all altitudes. Advice: bomb primary."
Tibbets then announces over the plane’s intercom, “It’s Hiroshima.”
After hearing this, Richard Nelson sends the word “Primary” to William L. Uanna, squadron security chief on Iwo Jima.
0850: Enola Gay crosses Shikoku due east of Hiroshima at 31,000 ft in the air.
Bombing conditions are good, target easily visible.
0905: The Enola Gay is crusing at an altitude of 31,060 feet with an air speed of 200 miles an hour when the City of Hiroshima first comes into view.
0912: Bombardier, Thomas Ferebee, is given control of the Enola Gay for the bomb run to begin.
A Radio operator in Hiroshima reports that three planes have been spotted.
0914: Tibbets readys the crew and reminds them to all put on their protective glasses.
0914:17 (0814:17 Hiroshima time): Ferebee's aiming point, the T-shaped Aioi Bridge, is in clear range.
Luis Alvarez, a senior scientist of the Manhattan Project, aboard The Great Artiste, releases two pressure gauges on the parachutes in Little Boy.
People on the ground, looking at the single bomber six miles above, observe the small object as it floats down.
0915:15 (8:15:15 Hiroshima time): The bomb bay doors snap open, and Little Boy drops clear of its restraining hook and Ferebee declares, "Bomb away."
Tibbets immediately pulls the Enola Gay into a sharp 155 degree turn to the right. Ferebee watches the bomb as it picks up speed and falls away.
On the ground, a second air raid alert is called for. The Enola Gay continues to flies north as the bomb drops toward its target. When the pre-programmed detonation altitude is reached, Little Boy explodes over the city of Hiroshima. The Enola Gay is already eleven and a half miles away at the time of the explosion. The only crew member facing Hiroshima at the time of detonation is Bob Caron, who was the tail gunner for the plane. He sees a shimmer in the atmosphere coming towards the plane. Three consecutive shockwaves hit the Enola Gay and crew.
0916:02 (8:16:02 AM Hiroshima time): After falling nearly six miles in forty-three seconds, Little Boy explodes 1,968 feet above the Dr. Shima’s Clinic, 550 feet away from the aiming point of the Aioi Bridge.
.1 seconds: The explosion has expanded to one hundred feet in diameter combined with a temperature of 500,000°F. The ionizing radiation from the explosion is the thing responsible for causing the majority of damage to all exposed humans, animals and other biological organisms.
.15 seconds: A woman sitting on steps on the bank of the Ota river, a half a mile away from ground zero, instantly vaporizes.
0.2-0.3 seconds: Intense infrared energy is released and instantly burns exposed skin for miles in every direction. Roof tiles fuse together, wooden telephone poles carbonize and become charcoal-like. The fiery shockwave expands outwardly at 7,200 miles per hour.
1.0 second and beyond: The wave of death and destruction reaches its maximum size.[ 900 feet in diameter] The blast wave slows to approximately the speed of sound (768 miles per hour). The temperature at ground zero reaches 7,000° F.
The mushroom cloud begins to form.
The blast wave spreads fire outward in all directions at 984 miles per hour and tears and scorches the clothing off every person in its path. The blast wave rebounds off the mountains surrounding Hiroshima.
Approximately 60,000 out of the city's 90,000 buildings are demolished by the intense wind and firestorm.
The mushroom cloud reaches a height of approximately 2,500 feet. Shards of glass from shattered windows are embedded everywhere.
Nuclear shadows appear for the first time as a result of the extreme thermal radiation.
Nuclear shadows are outlines of humans and objects that blocked the thermal radiation. Examples are the woman who was sitting on the stairs near the bank of the Ota River. Only the shadow of where she sat remains in the concrete. The shadow of a man pulling a cart across the street is all that remains in the asphalt.
A coded message drafted by Parsons is sent to General Thomas Farrell at Tinian. It stated: “Clear cut, successful in all aspects. Visible effects greater than Alamogordo. Conditions normal in airplane following delivery. Proceeding to base."
Enola Gay circles Hiroshima a total of three times before heading for home. It was 368 miles from Hiroshima before Caron reported that the mushroom cloud was no longer visible.
0930 (0830 Hiroshima time): The Kure Navy Depot sends a message to Tokyo that a bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima.
1055 (0955 Hiroshima time): The US intercepts a message from the Japanese 12th Air Division reporting “a violent, large special-type bomb, giving the appearance of magnesium.”
1100 (1000 Hiroshima time): A message from Hiroshima to the Army Ministry references information about a new American bomb and reports that “this must be it.”
1458: Enola Gay lands in Tinian Island at the North Field. The bombing mission lasted twelve hours and thirteen minutes.
1500 (1400 Tokyo time): The Domei News Agency in Tokyo reports an attack on Hiroshima, but not the magnitude of the destruction. Evening: A senior Japanese government administrator reports enormous destruction in Hiroshima.
“Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing Timeline,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2016, https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-bombing-timeline.