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From a recent trip to Dayton, OH,

"Fatman" type plutonium implosion bomb.

 

Leica ME Summilux 50mm 1.4

 

 

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Paul,

 

This is actually a high ISO, indoor shot using ambient lighting and WB correction at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The bombs were a yellow color of a chromate primer with black sealant on the section joints.The device is tucked under the wing of a Silverplate series B-29 named "Bockscar" which dropped this type bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, literally ending WW2.

 

Since plutonium 239 (and the uranium tamper), are radioactive, it for a certainty did not contain a physics core or high explosives. Whether or not it was a practice bomb called a "pumpkin" or a casing meant to hold a physics package was something I tried to ascertain. The practice bombs usually had their sections welded together and not bolted. As far as I could tell, this was a casing that either was made to take an active mechanism or a casing that had not gotten to the stage where it was modified by welding the three sections together.

Edited by Karl G
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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice capture. There is something about the subject matter that gets to me. Walking inside Enola Gay as I was able to when Air & Space on the Mall had it exhibited in 1995 was a very eerie experience and looking at your shot takes me right back (even if the aircraft dropped "Little Boy").

 

Carl

 

PS: Like the title, its been a long time since I read Clancy's novel.

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Carl,

 

Thank you. I did not see the 95 exhibit but am very aware of the controversy it caused with the subsequent resignation of the museum director.

 

I have seen the completely restored Enola Gay which is on display at the Smithsonian Langly facility. Bocks Car is not as well known and doesn't attract the attention.

 

Regarding Sum Of All Fears, the title popped into my head because of recent training for a possible terrorist event involving a vehicle carrying a Little Boy type 10KT uranium device to a site like the National Mall in D.C.

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