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Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
On the morning of August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, pictured here right before takeoff, piloted the Boeing B-29 Enola Gay over Japan, escorted by two other B-29s. At 9:15 a.m., Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in war, called ‘Little Boy.’ Seconds later, the bomb exploded over Hiroshima, destroying more than 80 percent of its buildings and killing more than 70,000 people instantly. Three days later, the second and last atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. Tibbets said years later that using the bomb ‘helped hasten the end of World War II. It also demonstrated the specter of atomic destruction, such that those weapons have never again been used in anger.’