How the atomic bomb destroyed the people and cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 70 years ago.
Little Boy, the first nuclear bomb used in war, was dropped at 08:15 (Hiroshima time). It took 43 seconds to fall from the Enola Gay aircraft flying at 31,060 feet (9,470 m) to the predetermined detonation height about 1,968 feet (600 m) above the city.
The radius of total destruction was about one mile (1.6 km), with resulting fires across 4.4 square miles (11 km2). Americans estimated that 4.7 square miles (12 km2) of the city were destroyed. Japanese officials determined that 69% of Hiroshima’s buildings were destroyed and another 6–7% damaged. Some 70,000–80,000 people, or some 30% of the city’s population, were killed by the blast and resultant firestorm, and another 70,000 injured. Out of those killed, three quarters of them were civilians.
