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| Atomic Mushroom filmed from the B-29 which drop the bomb on Nagasaki |
1944
Sep. 18 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agree at a meeting in Hyde Park that the atomic bomb should be used against Japan.
Dec. 17 - The 20th Air Force 509th Mixed Air force Battalion is organized to prepare for the use of the atomic bomb against Japan.
Dec. 30 - Brig. General Leslie R. Groves suggests that the atomic bomb will be ready for use by August 1, 1945.
1945
Apr. 1 - Beginning of the Okinawa invasion by allies troops
Apr. 27 - At the first meeting of the target committee, the following 17 Japanese cities are selected as candidates for the atomic bombings: Tokyo Bay, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kure, Yahata, Kokura, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Sasebo.
May 7 - Germany surrenders unconditionally
May 10 - At the second meeting of the target committee, four cities are selected as candidates for the atomic bombing: Kyoto, Hiroshima, Yokohama and Kokura Arsenal.
May 28 - At the third meeting of the TC, three cities are selected as candidates for the atomic bombing: Kyoto, Hiroshima and Niigata.
May 30 - Kyoto is deleted from the list of targets on the advice of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson.
May 31 - The Interim Committee studying the various issues related to the atomic bombings agrees that the bombs should be used against Japan without any prior warning.
June 11 - The Franck Committee submits a report warning about the danger of a postwar nuclear arms race.
July 16 - The world’s first atomic bomb is successfully exploded on the desert at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
July 17 - The Potsdam Conference begins. In a letter addressed to President Harry S. Truman and signed by 69 scientists, Leo Szilard protests the use of the atomic bomb against Japan without warning and emphasizes the moral responsibility involved in the use of weapons of mass destruction.
July 18 - Japan submits a request for peace arbitration to the Soviet Union.
July 20 - From this day onward, bombing practice using “Pumpkin bombs”* is carried out on cities near Hiroshima, Kokura, Kyoto and Niigata.
July 23 - Hiroshima, Kokura and Niigata are mentioned as atomic bomb targets in a telegram from Georges L. Harrison to Henry L. Stimson.
July 24 - Nagasaki is added to the list of targets in Brig. General Grove’s order for the atomic bombing. President Truman informs Joseph Stalin about the development of a “new weapon.”
July 25 - President Truman approves the order for the atomic bombing.
July 26 - The Potsdam Declaration is issued.
July 31 - An atomic bomb is assembled on Tinian Island.
Air Force Headquarters in Guam reports the presence of a prisoner-of-war camp in Nagasaki, but no change is made to the directive.
Aug. 2 - A strategic order is issued for an atomic bombing on august 6, with Hiroshima as the primary target.
Aug 6 at 1:45 a.m. the Enola Gay leaves Tinian Island carrying an atomic bomb.
At 8:15 the atomic bomb (uranium) explodes over Hiroshima.
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| Loading the bomb in Timian Island |
Aug 8 - the second atomic bomb is loaded on a B-29 bomber.
The 20th Air Force Headquarters on Guam issues Field Order No.17.
The primary target is “Kokura Arsenal and city,” and the secondary target is the “Nagasaki urban area.”
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
Aug 9, 2:49 a.m. The Bockscar leaves Tinian Island carrying the atomic bomb (Major Charles Sweeney is captain and Lieutenant Colonel Fred Ashworth is weapons commander).
The bomber circles over Kokura three times but changes course for Nagasaki because of smoke cover.
10:58 a.m. Visibility is also poor over Nagasaki due to clouds; the crew considers returning to base because of dwindling fuel.
11:02 a.m. The clouds break, briefly and the atomic (plutonium) bomb is released over the city.
* Pumpkin bombs were conventional aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II. The pumpkin bomb was a close replication of the Fat Man plutonium bomb with the same ballistic and handling characteristics, but used non-nuclear conventional high explosives. It was mainly used for testing and training purposes, which included combat missions flown with pumpkin bombs by the 509th Composite Group. The name "pumpkin bomb", which was the actual reference term used in official documents, resulted from the large, fat ellipsoidal shape of the munition casing, meant to enclose the Fat Man's spherical "physics package" (the plutonium implosion nuclear weapon core), instead of the more usual cylindrical shape of other bombs. Wikipedia.
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