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Zoom Meetings, the Manhattan Project a Film, Titled “The Moment in Time the Manhattan Thursday Luncheons, - Project,” Was Shown at the Meeting of August 3Rd

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Zoom Meetings, the Manhattan Project a Film, Titled “The Moment in Time the Manhattan Thursday Luncheons, - Project,” Was Shown at the Meeting of August 3Rd WINGS NEWS Volume 7 Number 09 Established May 2014 September 1, 2020 Ed Reynolds Publisher Email Wings News at [email protected] Ed Reynolds Editor Settling into the COVID-19 norm Wings Over Wendy’s The Moment in Time: Monday Zoom meetings, The Manhattan Project A film, titled “The Moment in Time The Manhattan Thursday luncheons, - Project,” was shown at the meeting of August 3rd. The film follows the creation of the atomic bomb in the United we still see each other States. Passing each other shopping, at the hospital, at a In the late 1930s and early 1940s, atomic energy had stoplight, or on the sidewalk, we are settling into a new been discovered and studied in Germany. Due to Hitler’s normal lifestyle, still staying in touch on Zoom and phone nature and desire for war, there was fear that the newly calls. Many members meet for dinners practicing social discovered atomic energy would be used to create a very distancing. The important thing is we are still there to powerful explosive for the Nazis. This idea came from Leo support each other in this unusual time. We care, friends for Szilard, a refugee physicist, who informed President the remaining years of our life. Franklin Roosevelt about this possibility. It was known that if Germany developed this bomb, Hitler would win the war. The U.S. government went to work, creating the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was solely August 2020 dedicated to researching atomic bombs. General Leslie Groves was appointed as the head of this project. Development carried on, with lots of help coming from Meetings Robert Oppenheimer. Los Alamos, also known as Site Y, was a top-secret area created in the New Mexico desert. Almost all production was moved to Los Alamos. Those August 3, 2020 that worked on the building of the bomb would live in Los Alamos with their families. In 1945, the surrender of the Nazis occurred. The U.S. no longer needed to beat Germany in creating an atomic bomb. When the allies invaded Germany, the search was on to find out if an atomic bomb was ever built. However, no progress was found. But, production continued. The first iteration of the bomb was finally complete in July of 1945. 210 miles south of Los Alamos, a testing zone was determined in the Jornada del Muerto, also known as Trinity Site. On July 16, 1945, at 5:30 AM, the bomb was first tested. Despite the thoughts of many workers, the bomb worked extremely well. (Continued page 2) Photo from Video September 2020 - Page 1 of 14 Now, the ideas of how to weaponize the bomb would bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. begin. Leo Szilard thought that it should not be used. There Beginning in 1941, the development of atomic bombs was lots of controversy about if the bomb should be used. started with the Manhattan Project. The first bomb they But, the military decided to use it in Japan. designed was the Thin Man, a 17-foot long atomic bomb in Eventually, the Little Boy atomic bomb was dropped the shape of a skinny cylinder. Production of the Thin Man on Hiroshima by a B-29 on August 6, 1945. Then, the Fat was canceled due to its awkward size, bad aerodynamics, Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. and the possibility of pre-detonation. That led to the surrender of the Japanese weeks later and The Little Boy was a revised version of the Thin Man the end of World War II. in a smaller size, with only a slight loss in power. The size made it possible for B-29s to carry it on board. The Silverplate Project was in charge of the attacks August 10, 2020 using these bombs. Colonel Paul Tibbets commanded the 509th composite group, which would be the flying unit for these operations. Early testing with B-29s began at the Wendover Field in Utah. When full-fledged training was about to begin, operations moved to Tinian. During all of this, efforts were made to keep the operation top secret. Even the pilots did not know the full details of the operation. Photo from Zoom Recording Little Boy Atomic Bomb When training was complete, the major bombings would begin. On August 6, 1945, the Little Boy bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The bomb would take 45 seconds to drop, giving the pilots just enough time to fly away from the zone of impact. The explosion was enormous. Even 400 miles away, smoke would linger in the air. Photo from Zoom Recording Dr. Robert (Bob) Eisenhart Silverplate Project: Photo from Zoom Recording Weaponization of the Fat Man Plutonium Bomb Three days later, on August 9, 1945, another B-29 was Atomic Bomb sent to Kokura with the Fat Man bomb. However, clouds On August 10, 2020, Bob Eisenhart gave a covered most of the land, obstructing their view. presentation on the preparation and execution of the (Continued page 3) September 2020 - Page 2 of 14 They decided to redirect to Nagasaki, where they A Top Secret unit of slightly modified Lancaster would drop the Fat Man in an opening in the clouds. They Bombers were formed and trained from a remote end of an missed the target by about two miles, and they did not RAF base at Enstone Airfield in central England. Their inflict as much damage as planned. After many years of story has only recently been unclassified. planning, the bombs were ultimately successful. Silverplate did its job, under tremendous time pressure and complex conditions. The U.S. was very happy with the result, and it led to the surrender of Japan and the end of the war in September. August 17, 2020 Photo by from Video Enstone Airfield However, the Lancaster was a British plane, which did not please Leslie Groves because he wanted American aircraft to be used. Photo by from Video The British kept practicing and planning. They planned to fly from Burma, which was out of range for the Lancaster’s to reach the Japanese Mainland and land at an Hiroshima 1945 Allied airfield. The British had perfected a form of air refueling before The British Atomic the war and started to practice the technique between Lancaster Bombers in the event they would be needed to Attack drop the atomic bomb on Japan. The plan was to base the Lancaster’s in Burma. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th of 1945 were missions that required lots of tedious work to complete. Although it is thought that the development and weaponization of the atomic bomb was almost all American-run, the British were secretly involved. As the atomic bombs were being finalized, it was apparent that they would be very large, and no United States aircraft could carry either of the atomic bombs. The Boeing B-29 was also in the designing phase for Japanese bombing missions, but the B-29 was designed with two bomb bays with the idea that two bombs would be dropped simultaneously. Neither of the bomb bays were big enough to carry the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs that the United States developed. Therefore, the B-29 was not ideal at first, so other aircraft needed to be considered in the case that the B-29 could not be modified and used in the Photo by from Zoom bombings. Lancaster Air Refueling One plane, the Avro Lancaster, proved a good fit for the missions. The atom bomb could fit in the plane’s bomb In the end, the American B-29 bomb bay size was bay with only a few modifications. The Lancaster had been modified and used to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima dropping the largest bombs in the war called the “Grand and Nagasaki, using the Lancaster sling to cradle the bombs Slam” or earthquake bomb that weighed 22,000 pounds. in the B-29s. So the British did contribute to the effort. September 2020 - Page 3 of 14 Ester also shared her experience on a BBC program named “We’ll Meet Again.” Ester was invited to be on the show because she was part of a party thrown for the young children after the Japanese invasion on the HMS Belfast, which was the focus of the program. Courtesy of Ester Shifren Photo from Zoom Ester Benjamin Shifren August 24, 2020 Shanghai and Internment in a WWII POW Camp Ancestors and History of our Life in China Ester Shifren was the featured speaker at the August 17th meeting. Ester is the author of the book Hiding in a Cave of Trunks. Her presentation today was about her ancestry and her own experience growing up during World War II. In the 1830s and 40’s, Ester’s great-great-grandparents Photo from Zoom were living in India. Her great-great-grandfather was a ship captain, moving goods from India to China. After the WE’LL MEET AGAIN Treaty of Nanking in 1842, ending the opium wars, the shipping industry was in an awkward spot. Because of this, her great-great-grandparents decided to move to China, BBC ONE - 2005 Ester Shifren returned on August 24th to complete settling in Shanghai. showing a full version of the BBC ONE show she had Ester’s mother was raised in Shanghai and continued started the previous week. In the show, she was shown to live there, where she met her husband. During the talking about her memories of the HMS Belfast evacuation Japanese invasion of China in 1937, she needed to evacuate from China.
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