Dutch Van Kirk Hiroshima Air Escape Plan Signed Diagram.

VAN KIRK, Theodore J. "Dutch".

Item Number: 139011

Original diagram of the Enola Gay’s air escape plan following the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, drafted and signed by navigator Theodore Jerome “Dutch” Van Kirk. One page, the diagram depicts the escape plan for the Enola Gay bombing run over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, featuring holograph notations indicating shock waves and the routes of both Enola Gay and the instrument plane, The Great Artiste. Signed by Theodore Jerome “Dutch” Van Kirk on the lower right corner of the diagram, “Dutch Van Kirk Navigator – Enola Gay Hiroshima 6 Aug 1945.” Van Kirk remains best known as the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Upon the death of fellow crewman Morris Jeppson on March 30, 2010, Van Kirk became the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew. In fine condition. Rare and desirable.

Named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of pilot and aircraft commander Colonel Paul Tibbets, the Enola Gay became the first aircraft to drop an atomic weapon with the release of "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The bomb resulted in the near complete destruction of the city, causing an estimated 160,000 immediate civilian casualties and thousands of subsequent deaths associated with radiation, starvation, and dehydration. 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 August 9th, 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.