How were Hiroshima and Nagasiki bombs filmed? Did the pilots survive?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the filming of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, specifically addressing the safety of the pilots involved and the accuracy of historical representations in documentaries.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Historical

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express concern about the safety of the pilots who dropped the bombs and whether their health was affected by the blasts.
  • One participant recalls that a second plane was involved in the Hiroshima run, which took photographs, and mentions that all crew members survived without reported adverse effects.
  • Another participant references Tibbets' recounting of being instructed to maneuver the plane at a specific angle to avoid the blast effects.
  • There is a claim that only one iconic photograph was captured during the bombing, with a critique of the mixing of footage from later bombings in documentaries, which some participants find historically inaccurate.
  • A participant mentions a specific documentary that incorrectly intermixes footage related to different bomb types, expressing frustration over perceived historical inaccuracies.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the accuracy of historical representations in media and the safety of the pilots, indicating that multiple competing views remain without a consensus on these issues.

Contextual Notes

Some claims about the pilots' safety and the filming process depend on specific recollections and interpretations of historical events, which may not be universally accepted or verified.

tsuwal
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The bomb kills everything around it so i was wondering if the people who shot the bomb where safe or even if the pilots health was affected by the bomb..
 
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tsuwal said:
The bomb kills everything around it so i was wondering if the people who shot the bomb where safe or even if the pilots health was affected by the bomb..

As I recall, there was a second plane on the Hiroshima run and it took the pics. Yes, everyone survived in the planes and there have been no reports of adverse affects on the aircraft crew. They were not THAT near the blast and were not there for long.
 
Yes, Tibbets recounts in the many WW2 documentaries I've watched over the years how he was instructed to make a "hard right" (or left) at a certain angle to avoid the effects of the blast. But it worked.
 
phinds said:
As I recall, there was a second plane on the Hiroshima run and it took the pics. Yes, everyone survived in the planes and there have been no reports of adverse affects on the aircraft crew. They were not THAT near the blast and were not there for long.

They screwed up, though, and only got one pic, the iconic one where the cloud slants to the right (or left) at the top.

They cheat, though, and always intermix footage of later bombings to the Hiroshima one to make it look more dramatic. Drives me nuts, because it's historical inaccuracy, and if there's anything I HATE, it's historical innacuracies.

In fact, I just watched a show yesterday, one of the "Secret war" shows on the military channel called "Hitlers atom bomb" where they said that the allies needed to destroy the plant in Norway making heavy water to prevent Hitler from being able to produce the Plutonium that was needed for an atom bomb. While they were saying that, they were showing animated footage from an entirely different documentary showing the uranium gun bomb used at Hiroshima. I mean, I'm not an expert, but the plutonium model was not the gun type, but that's what it seemed to allude to, so it bugged me. The series, "Sectret war," is great otherwise. Maybe someone can cross check my analysis.
 

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