B-29 Superfortress of the 9th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force in flight. ©IWM (FRE 11984)
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STORY

B-29 Superfortress: The aircraft that bombed Hiroshima

The B-29 Superfortress is arguably the most important and controversial aircraft in human history.

With the dubious honour of being history’s deadliest bomber and the only aircraft to drop a nuclear weapon in combat, its story is one of ground-breaking innovation, unimaginable destruction and decisions that would dictate the course of the 20th century. 

The development of the new super bomber would become the most expensive project of the entire war, totalling $3 billion, equivalent to $49 billion today. The cost of design and production exceeded even the Manhattan Project by $1 billion.

In this video, curator Hattie Hearn talks us through the world's first super bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. 

 

Devastation caused by the atomic bomb to trees half a mile from ground zero at Nagasaki. ©IWM (MH 2638)
STORY

Why were Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were experiments in a new kind of warfare, whose full implications were not entirely understood at the time. The bombing of these cities in August 1945 brought an end to the Second World War, but at a terrible cost to the Japanese civilian population.
Cockpit photo of IWM's B-17 Flying Fortress ©IWM
STORY

Flying the B-17 Flying Fortress

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress dropped more bombs than any other US aircraft in the Second World War. A lot of these aircraft flew out of bases in England, but what was it like to fly?
BRITISH HYDROGEN BOMB TESTS AT CHRISTMAS ISLAND, 1962 - 1963 ©IWM (CT 284)
STORY

Would you push the nuclear button?

During the Cold War, global super powers dealt with the prospect of devastating nuclear consequences by adopting a strategy of mutually assured destruction. Suggesting that you might be willing to ‘press the nuclear button’ had considerable global consequences
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