Yet, this was not enough to persuade the Japanese leadership to surrender. After the war, Supreme Allied Headquarters estimated that 129,558 were killed, wounded or missing as a result of the blast. Tibbets and his crew looked back to behold an ominous mushroom-shaped cloud boiling into the upper atmosphere. A blast of blinding light engulfed the crew as the plane made a radical turn to escape the explosion. At 8:16 the bomb was released and detonated a few thousand feet above ground. The Enola Gay arrived over the city at 7:25 a.m. The remainder of the trip to their target was unmarred by any Japanese opposition as the bomb was armed and prepared for release. Their objective was a city of approximately 350,000 located on the southwestern portion of Japan's largest island and as yet untouched by the massive bombing raids carried on by US forces.
Tibbets announced to his specially trained crew that they carried the world's first atomic bomb and that their target was Hiroshima. Approximately four hours into the flight, Col. In the early morning darkness of Augthe B-29 'Enola Gay' piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets lifted off the runway at Tinian Island and flew into history.
