(19)Is it true that parachutes were attached to the atomic bomb?

Parachutes were used, but they were attached to measuring instruments dropped at the same time.

Atomic bomb survivors have also reported seeing parachutes. So what is the truth behind their use?

"Parachutes were attached to the measuring instruments, not to the atomic bomb," confirmed Hironobu Ochiba, 30, a curator at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. "These instruments were dropped at the same time in order to record the air pressure and other effects of the blast." According to Kenichi Harada, 62, a Hiroshima Peace Volunteer, the reason a parachute was not attached to the atomic bomb, too, was that it might have been blown by the wind, preventing the bomb from hitting its target.

Still, until the 1990 version of the document "Summary of Relief for A-bomb Survivors", published by the Hiroshima city government, reference was made to the "parachutes exploding". In the text of the 1991 version, though, this passage was modified to indicate that the parachutes were used separately from the bomb. Misuzu Fukuoka, Director of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Department at Hiroshima City Hall, assumes that, "It was corrected to match the historical facts."

According to U.S. Army documents, the B29 bomber "The Enola Gay", carrying the atomic bomb, flew to Hiroshima with two other planes, one for conducting scientific observation and one for taking photographs. The observation plane dropped three measuring instruments to transmit data by radio. Yozo Kudo, a professor at Tokuyama College Technology, has examined the U.S. Army's reports on the bombing and noted that the instruments were used to check such phenomena as "the maximum air pressure" and "the interval between the initial blast and its reverberation from the ground".

Temple priest Jiun Akitsu displaying part of the parachute and its rope.

So what became of the parachutes and the measuring instruments? I discovered the answer to this question in writings made by a local resident who lived north of the city center. Apparently, about an hour after the bomb exploded, the parachutes and the instruments landed in the rice fields and mountains about 15 kilometers northeast of the hypocenter.

The late Senshu Takakura, a Buddhist priest, wrote about the panic among local residents when one of the instruments fell near his temple. It seems they began shouting such things as "The American soldiers are attacking!" and "Maybe it's a time bomb!" When someone urged that they immerse the object in water, in case it was a bomb, he poured water into a field to dunk the device. The residents were clearly alarmed at the discovery they had made.

One of these measuring instruments, and part of its parachute, was preserved and they can be seen at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

These artifacts were donated by the late Masao Kurihara. According to his son, Takayuki, 74, the parachute was cut into pieces and shared among the residents. Because they suffered a shortage of daily goods at that time, cloth was valuable. In fact, part of the parachute was used to make a shirt for his younger sister. Another Buddhist priest, Jiun Akitsu, 75, recalls that someone also used the parachute material to make cushions.

In the mountains northeast of the city, there is a stone marker which indicates where one of the instruments, and its parachute, fell. It stands alongside a small temple dedicated to Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. They were erected in 1990 by the late Kakuyu Yasumitsu, who owned the property and lost his eldest son in the bombing. Every year on August 6th, local residents hold a memorial service at this site for victims of the atomic bomb. (Takashi Kenda, staff writer)