Paul Tibbets and Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk Signed 50th Anniversary First Day Cover.

At 8:15 on the morning of 6th August 1945, the Japanese city of Hiroshima was devastated by the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon of war. The bomb, nicknamed `Little Boy’, was dropped from the USAAF B29 bomber `Enola Gay’ and exploded some 1,800 feet above the city. Delivering the equivalent of around 12.5 kilotons of TNT, the bomb reduced 5 square miles of the city center to ashes and caused the deaths of an estimated 120,000 people within the first four days following the blast. Many were instantly vaporized by the explosion, others died afterwards from the effects of burns and radiation. Three days later, just after 11 on the morning of 9th August, a second atomic bomb nicknamed `Fat Man’ exploded above the city of Nagasaki. Although it was even more powerful than `Little Boy’, the destruction caused by this bomb was less than at Hiroshima due to the nature of the terrain (the original target had been the city of Kokura, but the B29 carrying the bomb had been diverted to Nagasaki because of heavy cloud cover). Nonetheless, over 2 square miles of the city were pulverized and some 73,000 people killed. The two atomic explosions had the effects desired by the Allies. On 10th August the Japanese government indicated its readiness to accept defeat, subject to certain conditions. On 14th August it finally accepted the demand for unconditional surrender. The following day was declared `Victory over Japan’ or VJ Day, although it was not until 2nd September that the final Japanese surrender was signed, thereby bringing the Second World War to a formal close.