(gotta pick the nits with WWII. :))

The one plane, one bomb, nature of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki raids was significant, and plays into the survivors recollections. Many heard the plane but dismissed it without a thought -- what damage could one plane do?

If they say they only heard one - then they're wrong. :)

There were 3, plus a weather scout.

The first went a couple hours ahead, and reported on the weather (and other planes were scouting other areas, and then went back. (The plane debated weather to stick around for the "big bang" and decided to get back to a poker game instead).

The Enola Gay was accompanied by 2 other B-29s, carrying instrumentation, and air-dropped instruments to measure and analyze the blast. They broke formation just before the Enola Gay dropped the bomb, so they were further back (in case the shock wave damaged the Enola Gay, etc).

But since there were only 3, the all-clear in Hiroshima was sounding when the bomb did explode.

Addison