Fission
“Y-3, Q-3, B-2, C-1” is the code that Claude Eatherly, pilot of the B-29 ‘Straight Flush’, sent to pilot Paul Warfield Tibbets of the B-29 ‘Enola Gay’ while flying over Hiroshima in the morning of 6 August 1945. The meaning of the code: “Cloud cover less than three-tenths all altitudes. Advice: bomb primary target.” An hour later, at 8.15 a.m. local time, the ‘Enola Gay’ reached its designated position above Hiroshima and dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in combat. After the war, Eatherly developed crushing feelings of guilt over his role in the bombing. He was judged insane multiple times, both in court and in the media. He received heavy electroshock therapy in 1953, at his own request. Tibbets, on the other hand, maintained that he stood behind his actions as a military man and signed the aerial photograph of the devastated city, which had been taken on 7 August 1945. The photograph has a text overlay, which consists of four columns that provide different historical perspectives. From left to right, the columns portray the roles of Claude Eatherly, Paul Warfield Tibbets, the U.S. government, and the effects of the bomb.
Detail Y-3, Q-3, B-2, C-1
Detail Y-3, Q-3, B-2, C-1
Paul Tibbets, Pilot, B 29 Enola Gay, Hiroshima, 6 August 1945
Charles Sweeney, Pilot, B 29 Bocks Car, Nagasaki, 9 August 1945
Charles Sweeney, Pilot, B 29 Bocks Car, Nagasaki, 9 August 1945 & Paul Tibbets, Pilot, B 29 Enola Gay, Hiroshima, 6 August 1945 at the exhibition POSITIONS, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam
Charles Sweeney, Pilot, B 29 Bocks Car, Nagasaki, 9 August 1945 & Paul Tibbets, Pilot, B 29 Enola Gay, Hiroshima, 6 August 1945 at the exhibition 'To the Arts, Citizens!' at Fundacao de Seralves, Porto