Thursday, August 2, 2012

Trinity

Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm  151 pp.

This is a very well done, if abridged history of the development of the first atomic bomb and the events that led up to the bombs being dropped on Japan in 1945. As I read it I was thinking that it would be useful for a high school history class. I do have a couple quibbles with details in the book. The first was Oppenheimer saying in June 1945 "We could detonate it [a test bomb] on a deserted island, perhaps even in front of delegates from the United Nations." To me that sounded like he meant the United Nations which didn't come into existence until October of that year instead of what FDR referred to as the United Nations in 1942 i.e. the countries battling the Axis. The other minor thing that bothered me refers to the B-29s used to drop the bombs. Fetter-Vorm makes it seem that those were just a couple planes that were pulled from the fleet commanded by Gen. Curtis Lemay on Tinian. In fact, the Enola Gay and Bockscar were "Silverplate" B-29s, specially modified for carrying the bombs by the Martin Company and Army Air Corp mechanics (including my father) at Wendover Air Field, Utah. Granted, that's not something most people would generally know about. As I said, they are minor faults in an otherwise excellent book.

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