Page 2 of 2

RE: Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing.

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:04 pm
by ultradave
ORIGINAL: HalfLifeExpert


The Mark 3 isn't a carbon copy of Fat Man, but rather an improvement on the design that is doable for mass production enough for a serious atomic arsenal that can lay waste to the Soviet Population centers. It is very much true that once Japan surrendered, the only targets anyone had in mind for Atomic Bombs were Soviet cities.

Right, an "improved" or production version but the Nagasaki weapon had an estimated yield of 21KT and the Mark 3 in the database is listed as 20KT. The weapon is, however, the same design.

RE: Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing.

Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:31 pm
by Owllord
ORIGINAL: KitsuneKojima
ORIGINAL: Owllord

Mh, seems like you cannot add it via Lua either. If you filter all possible weapons records by ID, 811 (Mark-1) simply doesn't display. Maybe you should post about this in the CWDB thread. Sorry that I couldn't be of more help.

No problem. Thank you for your time!

EDIT: Can you tell me where is this CWDB thread?

tm.asp?m=3436158&mpage=21

Here you go!

RE: Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing.

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 4:34 pm
by Ping Jockey
Although the Hiroshima mission went pretty much according to plan, the mission on August 9th was a Charlie Foxtrot.

The strike aircraft ("Bock's Car") was supposed to rendezvous with two other B-29 observation planes over Iwo Jima. One plane was there, but the other was a no-show. They waited for over an hour, then gave-up and proceeded to the target.

The primary target was the Kokura Arsenal, on the northern tip of Kyushu. When they got there, the target was obscured by smoke. They could see the target on radar, but were under strict orders to bomb using the visual sight. They made several passes (3, I think), but could not get a visual. Meanwhile, flak was starting to find their altitude and the radio picked-up activity on the Japanese fighter frequency. The mission commander decided to proceed to the alternate target - Nagasaki.

By this time, the fuel situation was getting critical, and they were looking at the possibility of having to jettison the bomb over water. They had enough fuel for only one run over Nagasaki, but when they got there the city was under clouds. The bombardier saided he saw a hole in the clouds, and used that bit of the city (a sports stadium) as his target. Some claimed he actually disobeyed orders and dropped using radar. Either way, this is why the bomb landed several miles from downtown.

Bock's Car no longer had fuel to return to Tinian, so the commander headed for Okinawa. He disregarded instructions from the tower and went straight in for an emergency landing. after touching down, his engines quit - he didn't have fuel to taxi off the runway.

I don't know if any of this can be modeled in CMANO, but it is an interesting insight on real-world mission execution.

RE: Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing.

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 5:14 pm
by HalfLifeExpert
I knew that Nagasaki was the alternate target, and that it was at least partially obscured by clouds, but I didn't know the rest, pretty interesting.

RE: Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing.

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:21 pm
by Ping Jockey
At Okinawa, the 8th Air Force had just arrived from Europe after re-equipping with B-29, and was setting up shop. The 3-star commander of the 8th AF was pissed-off about these strangers landing unannounced, and drove out to give 'em hell.

The misunderstanding was quickly resolved. The general knew a thing or two about bombing Japan while low on fuel. He was a guy by the name of James Doolittle.