WI: Enola Gay Crashes In Japan

What if instead of reaching its target of Hiroshima with the first atomic bomb, the Enola Gay is either shot down or experiences technical trouble causing it to crash on the Japanese mainland?
 
What if instead of reaching its target of Hiroshima with the first atomic bomb, the Enola Gay is either shot down or experiences technical trouble causing it to crash on the Japanese mainland?

Then Little Boy goes off at the crash site, assuming it remained intact prior to impact.
 
Then Little Boy goes off at the crash site, assuming it remained intact prior to impact.

Unless there was a difference in Little Boy compared to today's nukes, no it doesn't. A nuclear chain reaction needs specific circumstance and a conventional airplane crash will not detonate a bomb into a nuclear explosion. If someone with more technical expertise can correct me, I would appreciate the reasoning as to how it does (or doesn't if I'm correct). I'm only versed in nuclear reactors in civilian use and not in an actual nuclear warhead.
 
Unless there was a difference in Little Boy compared to today's nukes, no it doesn't. A nuclear chain reaction needs specific circumstance and a conventional airplane crash will not detonate a bomb into a nuclear explosion. If someone with more technical expertise can correct me, I would appreciate the reasoning as to how it does (or doesn't if I'm correct). I'm only versed in nuclear reactors in civilian use and not in an actual nuclear warhead.

Little Boy was a gun type bomb, not a implosion type like Fat Man, and significantly less safe, since you're just jamming two pieces of subcritical mass together at high speed, instead of using explosive lens which HAVE to go off at precisely the right times to work properly. There's a reason no one builds them anymore.
 
Little Boy was a gun type bomb, not a implosion type like Fat Man, and significantly less safe, since you're just jamming two pieces of subcritical mass together at high speed, instead of using explosive lens which HAVE to go off at precisely the right times to work properly. There's a reason no one builds them anymore.

Thank you! If you learn something new every day then every day is an adventure!
 
If you really wanted to mess with things then have the Enola Gay crash when taking off from Tinian, IIRC on the morning of the mission one of the lead scientists watched three regular bombers in a row crash whilst attempting to take off from the island. Considering how small Tinian was and how many bombers they had crammed onto it if the bomb were to accidentally detonate then that would throw one hell of a monkey wrench into the American air bombardment of Japan.
 
What if instead of crashing the nuke just prematurely detonates close enough to Hiroshima for a visible light show, but far enough away to do little to no damage (and since it's an airburst, no fallout).
 
To elaborate a bit. There were several triggers on the Little Boy device. First was a timer, set by Parsons (the weapon officer) before the drop and activated when the bomb was released. Second was a barometric trigger, set to activate the detonation sequence when air density reached a level corresponding to the optimal detonation altitude. IIRC all the triggers had identical duplicates also running as back ups. All the triggers were 'set' or turned on by Parsons when the aircraft approached the target.

To clarify Parsons was a USN ordnance officer specializing in detonators. He had been the lead engineer/designer for the triggers, detonators, and conventional explosive components of both bomb designs. He rode along on both missions & handled the final setting of the triggers/detonators of both bombs.

There are a number of books that go into more detail on the detonators, triggers, and explosive components. 'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' by Rhoades is one good source.

Unlike the Fat Man device the Little Boy was fairly sturdy, being litteraly a gun tube. The tube had to be strong enough to hold the moving slug in proper alignment when the propelling charge activated. In theory the Little Boy could have survived a crash relatively intact had the triggers not activated. The Japanese salvaging it it problematic & depends on how much shock damage to the parts other than the tube casing there would be, and if the Japanese recognized what they were looking at.

Conversely the Fat Man was fairly delicate. It lacked a overbuilt metal case, & more important the shaped charges had to be perfectly aligned. Any flaw in their position, or in the function of the detonators on each charge and the Plutonium would only melt and splatter across several thousand square meters.
 
The bomb was not armed until after the plane was in the air, so a crash on take off would spread the radioactive material where the bomb came apart. Sure the explosive charge of the gun design might be set off by a fire in the crash, but by then the bomb will be sufficiently distorted that the conditions for explosion won't happen. Once the bomb is armed AND the fuzes set, then an explosion with a crash is possible.
 
next to those safety feature were Two or more redundant radar altimeters
and the Atomic bomb was incased in armored Steel hull
 
Unlike the Fat Man device the Little Boy was fairly sturdy, being litteraly a gun tube. The tube had to be strong enough to hold the moving slug in proper alignment when the propelling charge activated.

Plus had a 2.5 ton Tungsten Carbide cap on the end, a neutron reflector.

It would penetrate deep from 30,000 feet. The USA used such gun style bombs for hardened penetrators for Soviet command bunkers till hydrogen bombs could strengthened to do that.

If deep enough to be below the water table to where water floods into the bomb, a bad thing happens.

You get a low order fission reaction, like that 'natural' reactor at Oklo, Gabon

That water is flashed boiled to highly radioactive steam, that repeats as soon as enough water leaks back in. And it would do that until there was no more water, or bomb recovered, or the U-235 burns out in 100,000 years or so.
 
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