How to Drop a Nuclear Bomb | SideQuest Animated History

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Dive into the untold story of nuclear bomber pilots in this gripping SideQuest episode! Join us as we explore the forgotten heroes behind history's most dreadful weapon - the nuclear bomb.
In this riveting narrative, discover the incredible journey from skepticism to success, as the iconic B-29 Superfortress emerged to carry the weight of the nuclear bomb. Follow the meticulously detailed account of Paul Tibbets and the 509th Composite Group, unveiling their training, preparations, and the fateful mission that altered history forever. Then learn of the changes and innovations that shifted nuclear paradigms during the Cold War!
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Have a fancy historical idea you'd like me to cover? Drop a comment and let me know!
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Michael Casolary, dancingvulture, Adrien Maillet, Ethan McCosby, semchapeu, Alex Newman, Titus Proctor, Clark Teeple, Stoeoef, Dominic Tarro, D Meredith, Mark Mills, Petru Cotarcea, Quan Van, SerialConvert, Gary M Trentman, Ryan Smock, Jamesie112, Santos, Klaus, Oliver McKowen, Jonathan Horn, William DeLoach, Esbjörn Rundberg, Alex, Jackie, Efertone, JT96, Alex Schwyn, Diogo Freitas, Viddax, Jordan Camilletti, Jean Herrera, Monkey, Matty Manziel, Jan Tobias Biedermann, AirToxic mist, Ethan Stine, Luka Gudič
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0:00 - Juicy Historical Context!
4:27 - War Thunder
5:31 - Dropping the First Nuclear Bomb
8:54 - The Cold War
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Further Reading:
“The Enola Gay” by Norman Polmar - www.google.com/books/edition/...

[@SideQuestYT]

A big shoutout to the folks over at War Thunder! Play War Thunder now for free and get a 7-day premium account, multiple premium vehicles and the Eagle of Valor decoration by following this link: playwt.link/sidequest

[@HelloimthisguyYT]

Could you do a vid on how to become caliph

[@masterofmetaphors]

You speak too quickly friend, there’s still 1 1/3 months + 48 hours to go

[@yanxd6480]

timu have a better deal tho.

[@stefancelmuk]

Great tutorial to put in practice

[@jimbobur]

My nuclear bomber aircraft just arrived from wish. Thanks to SideQuest I'm now off on my first trip over the eastern bloc. Wish me luck!

[@motomify]

Nah, they've had enough. But if you glide that sucker a bit you might be able to hit the three gorges dam.

[@neonwhitea.1548]

Your bomber is hungry, feed it three gorges dam

[@Makem12]

Good luck my guy

[@priceymemes7699]

I think you’ve been under a rock for a little bit. The eastern block fell back in 1991.

[@jimbobur]

@@priceymemes7699 I wish I had the confidence you must have to predict things happening decades in the future with such certainty. I suppose we won't have a US moon base by the end of this decade either?

[@user-xq5og9lt8p]

The fact one of the planes was named necesssry evil is both hillarious and terrifying to me

[@vladutzuli]

War is war, and it's safe to assume the people of the time knew that, even more than us. They knew what they were doing, weren't happy about it, but also weren't confused about who the enemy was.

[@sd-ch2cq]

​@@vladutzuliyup, the enemy was their biggest competitor in the game of colonialism. Nothing like those just wars we like to have today.

[@RazorsharpLT]

Eh, to be fair - the US spent more money than it gained from either Iraq, which was a "success", or from Afghanistan, which was a massive failure. So you tell me. @@sd-ch2cq

[@sirhenrymorgan1187]

​​@@sd-ch2cqAre you suggesting that WW2 was unjust? I dunno about you, but I think dismantling the fascists responsible for the Holocaust and Nanking is the single justmost war one could fight.

[@ThatPianoNoob]

@@sirhenrymorgan1187 for eastern europe the outcome sucked either way. But yea WW2 is usually not controversial lol

[@brodymanandts]

My grandfather was either the pilot or the copilot for the spare plane for little boy (or fat man he told my father and uncle but they can’t remember which one it was. My father says little boy and my uncle says fat man). He told my father that the mission was so secretive that he still didn’t know the mission until after the Enola gay dropped the bomb. He does know that he picked up a package from Los Alamos that could have been the bomb a few days before the mission went off. After the soviets got the bomb he was amazed to find out that some one gave it to them. He said “How the hell did anyone have enough information to give them anything. We didn’t know that it was a bomb until we were about to drop it.”

[@PROVOCATEURSK]

USA was cheap to their scientists and they allowed many crimigrants in (working for others).

[@GayFurryFromSS]

Because it weren't military who gave them secrets on how to make them, rather than scientists who made them. They did it so no country would've been able to make a atomic bomb, much faster than others. They sometimes exchanged info through scientific channels and made sure that athe end of the war one country wouldn't have like 10 of them or even mass produce 'em. Even Annenerbe leaked info. I don't think ppl who made a-bomb were fanatics, most of them regreted it afterwards, some were forced to do so, and etc. Oppenheimer and Sakharov both were very unhappy by what have they created and how it shaped the world in the end

[@prw56]

Events like that are what make the red scare and McCarthyism a little more understandable, they were able to put a spy in pretty much the most top secret program we had. I think its for the best that they got the bomb quickly though, I think we would have used the bomb more otherwise. And if we used it more, when they inevitably got it they'd be much more inclined to use it.

[@Dan_Ben_Michael]

That’s very interesting. I’m quite interested in Military History and researching my own family’s involvement in conflicts of the last 120 years or so. I hope I can help you with getting more information as I have run into similar issues where family members only had vague recollections of what they had been told. You can actually look up the crews of all the planes used in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Look up the Wikipedia page* for the missions and click on the individual names of the planes used as they list in the articles on each plane the crew used in both missions. I would list them myself but it’s quite long as there were 13 planes in total (7 Hiroshima, 6 Nagasaki). The package your grandfather picked up from Los Alamos may have been the bomb itself or one of the test bombs for the training runs as the uranium and components for Little Boy was transported by the USS Indianapolis (which was subsequently sunk in the Philippines and the story of the survivors is immortalised in Jaws). *there are other sources to verify them if you’ve got any doubts on the veracity of the source material but I find for a quick search Wikipedia will suffice. Good luck finding out more about your grandfather mate.

[@Oroberus]

Oh congratulations, you got an actual war criminal in your family tree!

[@shaider1982]

To illustrate how good the b29 was: it can fly faster than the Zero while being able to carry heavy loads.

[@aurorajones8481]

9:31 Its a u2 SPY plane not stealth. There was nothing stealthy about that thing. The RUssians always knew about it. They just didn't have the missile tech to snipe it down until they did. But it was never stealth.

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

The only stealth plane available during the cold war was the SR71 Blackbird and that was after U2 incident. If I recall correctly, it's radar cross-section was the size of a bird or flock of birds. For a good while, the Soviets weren't sure if it was a radar glitch or not. But the US flew enough missions that the Soviets figured out that it wasn't birds nor glitches. At that point, the SAMs they had could reach the plane's altitude, but the SR71 could fly at mach 3, outrunning any missile.

[@user-ho3cy8mc5f]

@@ketsuekikumori9145SR71 i think, SR72 is the one rumoured to be in development

[@Shilka22]

​@@ketsuekikumori9145 *SR-71

[@roguefox4308]

Thank you... That was a painfully incorrect error

[@Viking355th]

@@ketsuekikumori9145 SR-71 was not stealthy at all, you’re thinking of the B-2 - except for the Mach 3 thing, that actually was the SR-71.

[@flavi9692]

Thanks for the Tutorial it really helped me👍

[@Aaryq]

Instructions were unclear. I was sanctioned

[@flavi9692]

@@Aaryq skill issue

[@cavemann_]

Helped you? ☠️☠️☠️

[@ankokunokayoubi]

Instruction unclear. I was dragged to International Court of Justice instead

[@matthewbanta3240]

Everyone knows that when you drop a nuclear bomb via a plane it is customary for one of the crew to sit on the bomb and then ride it to the ground while waving his hat like a cowboy riding a bronco at a rodeo.

[@joshuabessire9169]

I've been to one World's fair, a picnic, and a rodeo and that has to be the stupidest custom I've ever heard!

[@KhoaTran-md5ou]

@@joshuabessire9169 you clearly lacking in the movie history department. That trope was even used in Despicable Me 2 -_- with the bomb shark kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6SYpmirnd6WbNU

What I would have loved to know is the reaction of those crew who thought they were being pranked when they finally saw the power of the real pumpkin.

[@haydonlee]

they were probably shitting their pants trying to get out of blast radius.

[@jeffbenton6183]

I think the pilot informed them soon after the drop (while still airborne) somethign along the lines of: "gentlemen, you have just dropped the first atom bomb in history).

[@Suojeluninja]

I like how you specified that nuclear war hasn't happened by 2023 as if generations living in a post-nuclear war world might happen to watch this video.

[@musicalaviator]

Russia says hi

[@taylorgletscher]

And yet, I do hope that he didn't spoke too soon, since we still have almost 2 months utill the end of the year.

[@graceneilitz7661]

⁠@@musicalaviator For the most part, the most likely countries to use nukes are Pakistan and India. That is because those two countries have had many conflicts in the past, and as neither country has many, both countries are likely to be somewhat intact after a nuclear exchange without outside intervention. Currently, Israel might if there is another major war that they feel that they cannot win. That is why I think people seem to have a death wish (at least for people in the Middle East’s major cities) when they suggest a larger war in Israel. But, I don’t think we will have to worry about that. Based on the war victory record of Israel, all that is going to happen is the Arab countries losing yet another war. Russia might use nukes on Ukraine if Ukraine is stupid enough to actually invade (in force) Russia proper. I believe (and hope) that the Ukrainians are not stupid and suicidal to do that.

[@nothanks9503]

@@taylorgletscherwe have until next November they won’t do anything until the election

[@nothanks9503]

@@graceneilitz7661Russian nukes may fail to land on Ukraine then what

[@KuldarJ]

Thank you Sir for this amazing tutorial, I shall put my new knowledge to good use!

[@ThatPianoNoob]

yea my neighbour has been pissing me off lately so this might come in very handy.

[@fireaza]

I visited Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bombing this year. While I knew the Peace Museum had been left unrepaired, one thing I wasn't expecting was all the small bits of rubble inside it had been left where it was. I dunno, it made it feel a bit more chilling to know that this building was practically frozen in time exactly as it was.

[@desertdude8274]

I honestly wasn't feeling good about visiting it. I have the viewpoint that war is war and that the Atomic Bomb usage was probably justfied. But I appreciate what the Peace museum is supposed to represent. I saw a class of Japanese kids go through the Museum being super rowdy and fun and it put me at ease. We should appreciate that we never will witness Nuclear Armageddon or at least I hope.

[@desertdude8274]

Also I visited the one in Nagasaki. I didn't go there for the peace Museum. I visited to have fun. The city was pretty great and I never once felt unwelcomed there. There are a few bars that don't like forginers but thats in any city with a more traditional district.

[@Oroberus]

This visit should be mandatory, especially for american students, to remind them of probably the biggest war crimes their nation ever commited, although with those hundreds of war crimes over the 250 years and how those are glorified in us folklore, they're probably too blinded too aknowledge it anyways

[@desertdude8274]

@@Oroberus Ok when Japanese visit China we can make them walk through war memorials from that time. If it's the U.S we make them visit the U.S.S Arizona. Just because of where you from doesn't mean you are suddenly supposed to be treated like the enemy.

[@desertdude8274]

@@Oroberus We haven't even talked about P.O.W camps.

[@alexandramclean9041]

The end of this sounds like a video you'd watch in a Fallout game XD " As of this year, nuclear war has not happened!"

[@SrNixAlot]

This is the most underrated channel on KZbin by a huge margin. So happy to see a new video!

[@danielrobinson2991]

Sad, they didn’t mention the “Black Lancasters”, Lancaster bombers they had modified in reserve incase the Stratofortress wasn’t ready in time

[@alexandermain5102]

Something interesting that you didn't mention is the officers were so worried about the bomb detonating during liftoff that it had to be assembled on the plane after they reached their altitude.

[@skorpysk]

you could've also talked about the Tsar Bomba pilots, because that's also a pretty interesting story

[@shaider1982]

9:30 uhh, U-2 isn't a stealth plane. Lower RCS than a B52 but can still be detected. What it discredited is that flying high can help evade missiles: the SA-2 can down it, hence a B52 will be helpless if it tried to fly high.

[@77Beneboy]

great video! little tidbit: the word Flak is actually the german abbreviation for FlugAbwehrKanone, which means air defense cannon - so no need to say the cannon after flab!

[@DasIllu]

I just read that comment on a LCD Display 😀

[@average_peanut_fan3059]

@@DasIllu gahhhhhh

[@user-xq5og9lt8p]

More like little *Tibbets* , heh

[@ArdentFrog]

I just read this comment while standing in line for the ATM machine

[@musicalaviator]

Air defense cannon cannon

[@YeloPartyHat]

How to be a nuclear bomber pilot: Be an accomplished pilot in WWII

[@malegria9641]

I’ve just set off for KZbin headquarters, thank you SideQuest!

[@marco_plebani]

"50% certified safeish" would make a great sticker and/or pin.

[@DallingerM]

I’m looking in the library like you said and I can find anything on this, so it’s good I get enough information from watching your videos, well done! Keep it up man 👍🏽

[@Shinzon23]

"And after you've turned a city to ash, we leave it up to you to live with the PTSD!"

[@SentinelGhost]

Me enjoying the latest side quest when suddenly. "Was that the Firefly Serenity?"

[@AmandaNotTheCow]

Huge improvement in balancing the sponsor with the content! Love this channel!

[@that.chill.speedsofter1445]

Thanks for making these videos, one of my favorite channels on KZbin ever

[@stalker14071a]

Amazing video, Sidequest, thanks as always!

[@absilabadi5121]

Thanks I needed this 🙏

[@oliversherman2414]

The fact that one of the planes was called "Necessary Evil" is pretty fitting

[@PROVOCATEURSK]

Only fanatical christians would name that. No evil is necessary if god existed.

[@oliversherman2414]

@@PROVOCATEURSK I'm not religious

[@Wanderer628]

Fun fact, because of the technical issues that plagued the B-29, they were unsure it would be able to deliver the bomb. The only other bomber powerful enough to deliver the Atom bomb was the British Lancaster bomber so the British modified a Lancaster to take it just in case. In the end it wasn't needed but if the B-29 hadn't been readied in time, it would have a British bomber and crew delivering the Atom bomb.

[@Unwashed_Chicken]

the years not over yet

[@thecrazymoon6578]

That's a good sneaky drawing of Oppenheimer 0:20

[@Erik_Arnqvist]

Very useful guide, fun for the whole family for about 0.2 seconds

[@alqasemgda180]

Thanks for the tutorial, it worked!

[@thewilltheway]

Thanks for posting. I’ve been looking for a tutorial for this. Most of the ones that I know of are above my security clearance.

[@hamedahmadi9291]

Finally after a long time side quest is back🎉

[@judegaming3673]

Can't wait for another great video!

[@donaldpetersen2382]

@7:52 "at the flick of a switch" shows a lever lol

[@Cenfeno]

Thanks for the tutorial!

[@carlsoll]

Woahhh that’s pretty neat. A 3rd Bomber 🥉 ‘Necessary Evil’ Came with, too photograph it all O.O

[@History-And-Stuff]

Thanks needed this tutorial

[@timothypavlick76]

Now this is what I call REALLY useful

[@williamprice2186]

How to drop a nuclear bomb: Step 1: pick up a nuclear bomb Step 2: oops

[@danielating1316]

"Enough to bomb the USSR into the Stone age". That line was brutal.

[@AmericaIsACountry]

It takes less firepower than you think

[@welvaardsbuik]

I love these vids so much

[@user-zb3jc3ls7y]

Just the tutorial I needed ❤. Thank you kind English gentleman. :💂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@soco2020]

The aircraft shown at 3:30 is a B-50 not a B-29.

[@captainspongeboy]

Starbug! Nice work sir

[@Technobabylon]

My grandfather was a navigator on Britain's V-Bombers, whose job would be to retaliate against the USSR if WW3 broke out. Fortunately that never happened, so they spent most of their time smuggling things across the Atlantic on their patrols. They shared a lot of the same patrol zones in the North Sea as the Soviet bombers, and often ended up hanging around in the air together

[@lloyd494vlogs3]

thanks i needed this for my job interview tommorow😇😇

[@user-gi8pk9uc7q]

The most dangerous pumpkin in history!

[@aldgate]

Finally, some actually useful information.

[@Dabayaba7273]

Thanks! Really needed this! France here I come!

[@gnoscyde]

Hey, you got us worried for a bit there, been a while since your last upload

[@alexfedak3653]

thanks man now i know what to do when im bored😄

[@ilikecheese4518]

thanks for the tutorial, i am now en route to the 3 gorges dam

[@Sajmonko1270]

Great video 👍👏

[@danielbickford3458]

According to my father, the pilots were given a mere street map for their target and when asked for something more specific the officers in charge didn't clarify much. And again according to my father, come the second bomb the pilots nearly missed their Target because they were so scared of being caught in the explosion

[@Donglehut]

Alr but can you teach me on how to *B U I L D* a nuclear bomb

[@tykell4010]

Bet Amazon has a bomber on Amazon I’m getting same day shipping thanks for the tutorial

[@danibogo]

It has been an honour being put on list with everyone here

[@user-gi8pk9uc7q]

No arguments from me, Mr. Side quest!

[@Vinny__212]

Your videos are always so well-scripted & witty. But I want to definitely shout out the audio in this video, the music was really on point & helped establish mood well. Edit: Also shouldn’t the video be titled “how to drop an atomic bomb?”

[@skylerbowerbank5847]

SIDEQUEST IS BACK 😁😁😁

[@meghatas]

@SideQuestYT i believe, they did a 90° turn after releasing the bomb, as this manoeuvre gave them the greatest distance from the detonation in the given time.

[@lief3414]

I got a simple trick. Step 1: try to hold the nuclear bomb. Step 2: fail.

[@thomasthetanderloin]

4:06 That man had no idea.

[@arthuruppiano3211]

2:12. You can't sneak a Firefly reference past me.

[@MrPramzzz]

Thanks for the tutorial 💀

[@pbdye1607]

9:30: U-2 "Stealth" plane?

[@daveballard8673]

Given the subject matter and the fact the length is 11:11, this video should have been posted 3 days ago.

[@dimosthenistserikis5901]

We’ve missed you!

[@lmcg9904]

Im pretty sure the U2 isn't stealth. Ive seen some of your videos and its the first inaccuracy i can think of. Not bad.

[@cheriefsadeksadek2108]

Can You Please Tell Me the Name Of The Music Playing In the Background Of Your Video Named "Where Did Pirates Repair Their Ships"

[@Packless1]

3:25 ...that's a B-50, an improved version of the B-29 with more powerful engines, a bigger tailfin and other modifications... 6:05 ...the 'Trinity'-test was a Plutonium-Bomb, like 'Fat-Man', the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki - the intended target Kobe was changed, because of bad weather... ...'Little-Boy' o.t.o.h. used U-235 - and was comletely untested...! There wasn't enough fisionable Uranium for a test-run, but the team of Robert Oppenheimer was sure it would work... ...and it did...! ☠☠☠

[@Soujirou13]

This knowledge will be absorbed into the greater mass. :D

[@MuriKakari]

New SideQuest! If only I could have gotten the First Achievement

[@TheClintonio]

Watching this from my office in Japan, I'm feeling bold today.

[@THB1945]

In war thunder, you simply stare at enemy airfield and commit spawn camping. I bet it also works in real life.

[@AmericaIsACountry]

Think those are called "war crimes" The mods added that feature in not too long after the dropping of the bombs tho

[@christaylor6654]

Christmas came early

[@MichaelUnderwood3507]

Just what I needed!

[@studiograham]

I wish Starbug 1 was used

[@chriswaldrip2739]

The Firefly class was obviously not a good choice for the B-29 program. 😂

[@AboutHreinzi]

What a nice cheerful video.

[@tomatoheadfd]

So when exactly was the bulk of the crew made aware of their true mission? When they reached the staging Island?

[@JaykPuten]

Step one, eat taco bell, or white castle Step two. Await orders, they will srrive when least expected Step three, stay vigilant airmen, greater men have flown off cours, and violated the Geneva convention, and hit civilian areas

[@SirEcuadorian]

But where do i get the enriched uranium or plutonium? And primer and missile and missile guidance system and a mach 3 bomber plane?

[@TheRedKnight101]

Have you checked Walmart?

[@danielanson3882]

U2 wasn’t a stealth plane, it was just a high altitude spy plane, we didn’t have a stealth aircraft until the F117

[@kill-quest]

Another insane element to this story is the USS Indianapolis which got torpedoed after delivering the bomb and sunk. Due to the secrecy of the mission it wasn't reported missing, it took 4 days for a plane flying over to spot the ship. During this time the surviving crew had to endure the worst shark attack in history with as many as 150 killed by sharks. Of the crew of 1195, only 316 survived. I can't imagine being covered in oil in the beating hot sun of the day and freezing in the ocean at night with nothing to eat or drink for four days, watching your friends around you picked apart by sharks

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

I did not know there were that many bombers!

[@FusingSeven479]

There is still more than a month left with 2023…

[@Martcapt]

Great. You jinxed it.

[@BiggestCorvid]

2:00 fuck yeah Scherezade slaps Rimsky Korsikov ftw

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

Hold on Profeesor, the FBI is at the door.

[@pop5678eye]

6:41 The weather reconnaissance planes led, not followed the bomber group. What would be the point of knowing the weather after the bomb?

[@notthefbi7932]

Good old innovation driven by war 😬

[@CodytheDeer]

Am I entirely off the mark here? Or is the part about fair weather straight up incorrect? Im fairly sure the original targets were different cities within Japan, but the bombing run moved to different targets since cloud cover blocked visual target confirmation

[@Hortifox_the_gardener]

"Hmmm how do I go about this War Thunder sponsorship? Which topic would work to cater to the sponsor the best?"

[@reddijoon]

“war is all hell.”