Posted on 02/03/2005 7:03:49 PM PST by quietolong
With a Little Boy in the back
By Catherine Auer
January/February 2005 pp. 6-8 (vol. 61, no. 01) © 2005
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
n today's security-obsessed, post-9/11 era, one might think that it would be difficult to haul a convincing replica of an atomic bomb across the country. Not so, as John Coster-Mullen inadvertently proved in October 2004.
"We drove a full-scale WMD 800 miles across the United States and no one stopped or questioned us," Coster-Mullen told me. "In fact, it was quite easy!"
In this case, the "weapon of mass destruction" would more appropriately be called a "weapon of mass duplication"--a nearly 600-pound, shiny steel replica of "Little Boy," the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, painstakingly recreated by Coster-Mullen with help from his son Jason.
Last year, the president of the Historic Wendover Airfield Museum in Utah contacted Coster-Mullen and commissioned him to create a Little Boy look-alike for the airfield's modest museum. The 509th Composite Group, which was responsible for "delivering" the atomic bombs to Japan, trained during World War II with B-29 bombers at the isolated Wendover Field.
Building the imitation Little Boy--naturally without the original's inner workings--was a tremendous amount of work, Coster-Mullen said, and it gave him a "whole new appreciation for what those scientists and technicians did almost 60 years ago." With the benefit of modern metal-working tools, it took Coster-Mullen and his son a full week at a metal fabrication shop in Milwaukee to cut all the sheet metal to cover a wooden skeleton. The final assembly took the father-son team another three weeks of 12-18 hour days at what they dubbed the "Los Alamos East-Waukesha Assembly Facility"--otherwise known as the Coster-Mullens' Wisconsin garage.
Building a Little Boy replica is not Coster-Mullen's first "nuclear project"; the historian is also author of Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man (reviewed in the November/December 2004 Bulletin), a book that covers the design and construction of the weapons in exhaustive detail. It's not surprising, then, that he applied the same attention to detail to his museum-bound mock bomb.
"We tried to duplicate everything we saw on the actual bomb," Coster-Mullen said. He enlarged photos of the real Little Boy, taken at different angles, in order to reproduce the finer points--like the correct bolt position on the nose and the location of the pullout wires on top. "We wanted it to look as if it was just ready to be lifted into the Enola Gay," he said. Except for the bomb's antennas, which Coster-Mullen included on his replica; on the real bomb, the antennas weren't installed until after the bomb was lifted into the B-29. He wanted to match everything, right down to the shade of paint--which is harder than one might imagine, Coster-Mullen said, since there is no record of exactly what color the real Little Boy was painted. (He ended up choosing a very dark green.)
When the replica was ready, Coster-Mullen loaded it into a bright yellow Penske moving truck with a forklift. As it rested on a specially made stand, he and Jason put on the finishing touches--lift lugs, safety wires, pullout wires, electrical plugs, and the antennas.
The mock bomb's final destination was Wendover, but before giving his fake Little Boy to the museum, Coster-Mullen drove it to the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas, for a surprise appearance at a 509th Composite Group reunion.
During World War II, Boeing's Wichita plant manufactured hundreds of B-29 Stratofortress bombers--the kind that dropped the atomic bombs. Since 2000, volunteers at Boeing, in conjunction with the U.S. Aviation Museum, have been restoring an original B-29 to flying condition. It was in front of this partly restored bomber, Doc, that many surviving members and widows of the 509th, including Enola Gay crew and one survivor of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, signed the replica.
But before that could happen, Coster-Mullen had to get his fake bomb past Boeing security. "They knew we were coming," Coster-Mullen said. "But here's this atomic bomb inside our truck, and we were like, gulp! Our contact drove up at the right moment and greased the skids for us to get in."
When the reunion attendees saw the replica, "Jaws dropped," Coster-Mullen said. "We were not quite prepared for the response we got."
Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets signed the replica with a silver permanent marker--in the same place he signed the original. Coster-Mullen recounted that upon seeing the bomb, Tibbets said half-jokingly, "I've seen one of these before."
After the signing and speeches in Wichita, Coster-Mullen handed the truck keys to James Petersen, president of the Wendover Airfield Museum. His son, Thomas Petersen, is the museum's historian, who told me that when he saw the replica he thought first about "how such a 'small' thing so greatly changed the course of human history," and then chuckled at the possibility of his father being pulled over while driving the bomb replica to the museum.
The Wendover Airfield Museum will exhibit the Little Boy replica in a limited-access room beginning in late 2004 as part of a special display on the 509th Composite Group. "The bomb represents an important piece of world, national, and Utah history, and we wanted to be able to help the visitors be able to make the connection from this quiet airfield to the rest of the world we live in," Petersen said. "[It's] kind of like being able to see the 'shot heard 'round the world.'"
The Wendover replica is finished, but the "Waukesha Assembly Facility" may have more bomb-making days ahead--Coster-Mullen says two other sites have contacted him about building Little Boy or Fat Man replicas.
Catherine Auer is the Bulletin's managing editor.
January/February 2005 pp. 6-8 (vol. 61, no. 01) © 2005 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Little Boy look-alike in front of a partially restored B-29 bomber at a Boeing hangar in Witchita. (Photo/John Coster-Mullen)
October 8, 2004: Mike Kuryla, survivor of the Indianapolis sinking, signs "For the boys of the Indianapolis" on the replica. (Photo/John Coster-Mullen)
Jason Coster-Mullen grinds a steel section of the fake bomb in the family garage. The fiberglass nose rests on the 300-pound steel tail section at right. (Photo/John Coster-Mullen)
Ordnance Forever!
Association of Aviation Ordnancemen
Enola Gay and the bombing of Hiroshima in World War II(WWII)
The radioactive boy scout: when a teenager attempts to build a breeder reactor
BTTT
****Coster-Mullen loaded it into a bright yellow Penske moving truck with a forklift. ***
I used to have a photo taken of the internet of a forklift that had run off the end of a dock and dropped a bomb on the ground.
I wish I could find it now.
way cool..I wonder if they stopped at any Japanese restaurants along the way.
Some fool will use this to require all vehicles be searched, because you can't be too safe.
Do I win a prize?
Anyone know where that is? That looks like building 999 at Eglin AFB.
When I worked on the docks at Concord Naval Weapons Station, Port Chicago, CA, a fork driver put his forks through 2 500# HE bombs instead of under the pallet.
Fortunately, they only went off 'low-base'. The driver rolled off the rear of the forklift, which protected him from the heat of the fire-ball. IIRC he broke an arm, but was otherwise uninjured.
I was glad it was my day off.
We had T-shirts back when I was in the Navy with “ Made In USA” and over a mushroom cloud on the back “ Tested In Japan”
That's It! Thanks everyone!
""...Made In USA Tested in Japan...""
Years ago, while stationed on Okinawa the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television) had on a series of documentary films about WW11. When the Hiroshima scene appeared the tv screen went blank for about 10 seconds.
I guess they could not "offend" them even then.
"Coming soon to an Arabian Desert town near you!"
MUSHROOMS OVER MECCA
***Coming soon to an Arabian Desert town near you!"***
A story told to me by a fellow AO from another squadron. When there were in Japan. Out on the town consuming Japanese adult beverages.
They walked in to one of the Japanese bars with there hand flying like an airplane(making the flying airplane sound) Mmmmmmm ( hand falling with falling bomb whistle) Phuuu. BOOM! ( hands in blowing up gesture) Hiroshima!
Then once more
Mmmmmm.. Phuuuu... BOOM! Nagasaki! Ha Ha Snicker snicker.
Well they did this in a few more places. When in on place after they did this re-creation. An older Japanese fellow gets up goes over to them and copies them:
Mmmmmm Phuuuu BOOM! Pearl Harbor! ( with appropriate Japanese accent)
Is it true? Don’t know. But a still a good story
Don't try this at home kids . Your parents will get very upset & the neighbors will literally freak out.
I signed up for Aviation Ordnanceman but they wouldn't let me have it because I had been arrested for a curfew/fighting violation as a teenager. Security violation don't you know. Became an Aviation Machinists Mate instead. Go figure.
Your kidding!? when was that?
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