Part 28 (1/2)
Ferebee nodded, the others standing silently, still staring out to where the B-29 had erupted into fire. More of the crews gathered, and one of the others, the tail gunner, Caron, said, ”Fuel ignited. Something had to bust up a fuel line, maybe in the wing. If the prop came off ...”
Ferebee interrupted him.
”Nope. That kind of fire came from the bomb load. Incendiaries. I heard about the mission. It was just like last night. That's mostly all they're using now. General LeMay likes his bonfires.”
Tibbets didn't like the talk, felt the gloom, the edginess spreading through all of them.
”Leave it be. That's not us, and it's not our problem. Those birds are old and beat to h.e.l.l. We don't have that problem. Remember that.”
In the darkness, another voice, familiar, the newest member of the crew to arrive on Tinian.
”That's right. Don't give it a second thought. As many hours as those planes have logged, it's a wonder more of 'em don't come apart. But we won't have anything to worry about.”
Tibbets moved closer to the man, said, ”Not now, Deak. Save it for the briefing.”
To the others, Tibbets knew it was one more hint of mystery, this new man arriving along with the C-54s that brought part of the special cargo that sat now under intensely heavy security nearby. Tibbets put his hand on the man's shoulder, said, ”My quarters. Let's have a chat.”
They moved through darkness, away from the others, and Tibbets glanced out toward the guards, ever present, silhouetted against the lights from the distant runways. The sirens had grown quiet, little for any rescue worker to do, the wrecked B-29 likely no more than a pile of ash, along with its crew. The crashes were too common, and he knew that Ferebee was right, that the incendiary bombs meant that a plane's failure, whether from a fuel leak or impact with the ground, could produce a spectacular disaster. The crashes were common during the day as well, but those were the return flights, the planes wounded by anti-aircraft fire, or more likely, mechanical failure. Some of those never made it at all, adding to the casualty counts of those flight crews lost at sea, or the fortunate, rescued by the navy's flying boats or submarines. Some were more fortunate still, finding the landing strips on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
He led the new man into the Quonset hut, to his own office, then past, to his quarters, where the pipe tobacco waited, along with a bottle of bourbon, a gift from General LeMay. The door was locked, and Tibbets pulled the key from his pocket, pulled it open, allowed the man to move inside, then closed the door behind both of them. Tibbets locked the door again, motioned to a small metal chair.
”Take a seat.”
Captain Deak Parsons had been involved with the Manhattan Project from its earliest days, and some had said he was more qualified than General Groves to run the entire affair. He had spent most of the past month at Los Alamos, had witnessed the test explosion of the first bomb, but his role on the primary mission was something brand-new. The bomb's largest mechanism, the cannon that would drive the two pieces of the uranium together, the very act that would produce the atomic explosion, had to rely on the simplest of devices. The cannon was, after all, a cannon, and cannons were no more sophisticated than the explosive charges that made them fire a projectile, any projectile. Every artillery piece required a loader, even if that piece was centered inside the casing of the atomic bomb. Here the man who would load the cannon had been given the official t.i.tle of Weaponeer and Ordnance Officer. Unlike the rest of Tibbets's crew, the man chosen for this job was navy, a captain, William Parsons. Everyone who knew him well knew him as Deak. And those who knew the hierarchy of the crew a.s.sembled at Tinian knew that Parsons was also Commander of the Bomb. If there was any doubt what that meant, no one had asked.
Parsons was forty-four, older than Tibbets by nearly fifteen years, and was one of the first men involved with the Manhattan Project that Tibbets actually met face-to-face. Whatever technical questions Tibbets or anyone else had about the bomb, Parsons knew the answers. With most of the physicists remaining stateside, Parsons was the one man Tibbets would need close to him throughout the entire mission. That meant that Deak Parsons would be aboard the B-29 when the actual mission began.
”Anything wrong, Paul?”
Tibbets poured from the bottle, handed one shot gla.s.s to Parsons, sat back in his own chair.
”I hate the crashes.” He paused. ”Well, h.e.l.l, everybody hates crashes. But, dammit, every time my crews see a bird go up in flames, it has to dig their doubts a little deeper. I don't need any little speeches from you explaining all the technical reasons a B-29 can come apart. When the time comes, I'll have enough to keep me busy without my crew sweating out the takeoff.”
”I've got news for you, Paul. I'm sweating out the takeoff right now. Anyone with a brain ought to be sweating it out. You know what will happen if we don't clear the ground?”
”Yeah. The mission is scrubbed.”
”The whole d.a.m.n island will be scrubbed. Every tree, every building, every B-29, every crewman. General Groves and I have been debating something for weeks now, and he's sticking to his guns. But I'm sticking to mine. Groves says that most of the physicists want the bomb a.s.sembled completely before it goes into the belly of your plane. They're concerned that every little bow should be tied, every screw tightened, before the bomb is handed off to air jockeys. General Groves has to listen to that, but I don't.” Parsons lowered his head, said slowly, ”I'll mention this in detail at the briefing if you want me to. The flight crew has to know exactly what I'll be doing to the bomb. Once the secret's out, there's no reason to keep anything quiet.”
”Agreed. That will only happen when we're airborne.”
”I understand that, Paul. But first, we have to get airborne. You know d.a.m.n well that if we go down on takeoff, there are a number of things that can happen, none of them good. But the only way the bomb will ignite is if the two halves of the uranium collide. A crash won't guarantee that. But even without a crash, there are other possible problems. The bomb is going to be wired with two dozen circuits, every kind of sensor, monitoring every electrical signal, every battery ... well, h.e.l.l, you know all that. Point is, there's one system I'm not too happy with.”
Tibbets leaned forward, the bourbon forgotten.
”What system?”
”The charges that fire the cannon. We've built in a duplication, two separate cordite charges. Obviously, if the cannon fails, so does the bomb. The redundancy is designed to cut the odds of the cannon's failure in half, obviously.”
”Obviously.”
”But if there is a short circuit, or the bomb jostles in some unexpected way, if turbulence on takeoff tosses the thing back and forth, any of that ... there's always the chance that one of those cordite charges could be fired accidentally. If we crash-land, a fire in any one of the electrical circuits could ignite the cordite and fire the cannon. If that happens, we will be the least of anyone's worries. But I can't see the sense in risking this whole d.a.m.n island, and several thousand men.”
”What do you suggest?”
”Arm the cannon on the plane, once it's airborne, and clear of the island. If there's an accident, the only ... um ... issue will be how much dust is left of us. But ... just us.”
Tibbets sat back again, could see the perfect logic in Parsons's reasoning.
”Groves doesn't like this idea?”
”Groves is listening to the physicists who insist it will be too difficult to insert the cordite into the bomb once the plane is in the air. Mind you, not one of those boys has ever flown in a B-29, most likely. All it involves is a little ... maneuvering. Can't say I've ever thought of being a contortionist, but that's what I'll have to do. Once we're clear of the island, I'll climb down into the bomb bay and insert both drums of explosives ... on the fly, so to speak.”
”Have you tried doing that before now?”
”Paul, no one's tried any of this before now. I'll work on it on the ground, practice the technique. It has to be this way.”
”What about Groves?”
”He'll need to be briefed, I understand that. But you make sure he's briefed so close to takeoff, he won't have time to respond.”
Tibbets tried to imagine the scene, Parsons sliding down into the bomb bay, perched on the bomb.
”You'll have to sit on the d.a.m.n thing.”
”Yep. Straddle it.”
”Like it's a horse.”
”Or a torpedo. Done that a couple times in training. One thing about becoming an engineer, you get to do things most people think are completely nuts.”
Tibbets downed the bourbon, looked at Parsons, saw no smile, the man completely serious.
”This qualifies, Deak. But it's your call.”
Parsons sipped at the bourbon, then downed it in one quick gulp. He shook his head, seemed to fight off the burn, said, ”Ride 'em cowboy.”
The choice of target came from LeMay's office. There had been considerable discussion between everyone who had the authority, communications between LeMay and Groves, Hap Arnold and George Marshall. The meetings had continued on both Tinian and Guam, the discussions involving LeMay and Tibbets, along with Parsons, Ferebee, and LeMay's own high-ranking staff, including the much-humbled Butch Blanchard. The list of potential targets had been narrowed to three cities, but the final choice could only be made en route, once the weather conditions over each city were determined. Once Kyoto had been eliminated by the president, the most favored site had become Hiros.h.i.+ma. There were several reasons, but Tibbets understood that militarily that city held a number of important targets, installations and barracks for j.a.panese troops, as well as a network of smaller factories and plants that continued to provide a.s.sistance to the j.a.panese war effort. But there was one more reason why Hiros.h.i.+ma seemed ideal. The city was situated in something of a valley, mountains framing one edge, so that the blast would be contained, and not allowed to dissipate over a wider, flatter area. Though no one was certain just what the bomb would do, the geography of the city suggested that the blast would be more compact, and thus more effective.