Chapter 990 Nuclear Explosion (1)

Time passed day by day, crossing Christmas of 1942 and entering the spring of 1943.

In the season of revival of all things, military bases in Europe also began to get busy.

On March 1, three B-52 bombers flew over San Antonio, Texas, dropping a large number of leaflets.

The content of the leaflets was that the German army would drop a "super bomb" into the city in 48 hours, which was powerful enough to destroy the entire city. The people in the city were expected to evacuate in time to avoid unnecessary casualties.

The residents of San Antonio who saw the leaflets were all shocked and terrified!

"Oh my God! Destroy a city with one bomb? Are these damn Germans kidding?!" Today is not April Fool's Day, and even if it is April Fool's Day, this joke is too exaggerated! !

"No matter how he did it, just run!" The development of the German army's weapons and equipment is changing with each passing day. If they can destroy a city today, they may be able to destroy the entire United States tomorrow.

"Yes, run quickly, the farther the better!" Even if today is April Fool's Day, it is better to believe this; after all, there are many cities that have been destroyed by the German army.

People hurriedly ran back to their homes, packed their bags and dragged their families, scrambling to escape from the city that was about to be destroyed.

In addition to leaflets, the Germans also used radio to "notify" in a loop.

The news quickly reached Washington.

"'Super bomb'? It seems that the Germans are ready to use their nuclear weapons." The atmosphere in the conference room was extremely depressing, and everyone had a sad face, but they were completely helpless about it.

The secretary continued to report. "San Antonio is in chaos. The governor of Texas has sent the National Guard to maintain order. Two days should be enough for all residents to evacuate the city."

"..." Vice President Truman's face was a little ugly. Why did it sound like the Germans were kind enough to let the people escape.

On the second day, most of the people in San Antonio had fled the city; on the morning of the third day, the entire city had become empty, like a ghost town.

At noon, three B-52 bombers flew over the city as scheduled, two of which circled along the edge of the city, and one flew to the center of the city.

"It's incredible that such a bomb can destroy a city." On the bomber, the bombardier in protective clothing checked the atomic egg in the bomb bay for the last time and sighed. "Will it really not affect us if we just drop it like this? I heard that the mushroom cloud of the experimental bomb with an explosive equivalent of 50,000 tons of TNT in the last test went straight to 20,000 meters. I don't want to die gloriously on the eve of victory." This time, the explosive equivalent is as much as 200,000 tons of TNT.

An important problem faced by the United States in the original time and space when it was preparing to drop atomic eggs on the island country was how to escape after the plane dropped the atomic eggs? During training in the United States, scientists came to a key conclusion: after the atomic egg explodes, the bomber must keep a distance of more than 13 kilometers from the explosion center to ensure that it can escape unscathed.

When the bomber drops the bomb, due to inertia problems, the atomic egg that leaves the bomb bay does not fall vertically, but will maintain a certain forward speed. When it falls to an altitude of 500 to 600 meters and explodes, the bomber is just above it, and it is very likely to be affected by the huge explosion energy, resulting in the destruction of the aircraft and the death of people. Therefore, after dropping the atomic egg, the bomber must make a large turn of 155° at full speed to stay away from the bomb that is about to explode.

As for why it must be air-blasted at high altitude, it is not necessarily necessary to air-blast. It can also hit the ground and explode like an ordinary aerial bomb. It's just that the killing power of the nuclear egg on different targets has a huge impact on its explosion height. For example, for exposed personnel on the ground and unprotected buildings, the effect of air-blast will be better. This is like when an ordinary aerial bomb explodes on the ground, maybe the personnel who lie down in time 10 meters away can escape a disaster, but if it explodes in the air at a height of several meters, the personnel 20 meters away will also be doomed.

Most of the early atomic eggs of various countries had an equivalent of about 20,000 tons. Under this equivalent, the killing radius of exposed personnel by ground explosion is 45 kilometers, while it can be expanded to 85 kilometers by air explosion; if it is changed to the concept of area, it can be expanded by nearly 63%, which is obviously a considerable additional benefit. Why not? Therefore, the American bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Little Boy, was selected to be detonated at an altitude of 600 meters, considering that the main targets were exposed personnel and simple buildings.

But air explosion is not always more powerful. If the target to be hit is a solid underground permanent fortification, then air explosion is definitely not as effective as ground explosion. The best situation is to drill into the ground and then explode, so that the energy can be converted into strong seismic waves to destroy hard targets without any waste. Similarly, the data of 20,000 tons of TNT equivalent mentioned above, if the target is changed to personnel in heavy shelters, the killing radius of ground explosion is 31 kilometers, while it is only 22 kilometers when air explosion.

Therefore, the bomber must choose the one with the most outstanding comprehensive performance. At that time, the entire island nation's air defense system had long been rendered useless under the continuous bombing by the United States, but in order to successfully complete this mission, the US military still had to choose the bombers with the best performance to ensure that the pilots could escape from the danger zone as quickly as possible after completing the mission.

The B-29 was the largest bomber in the U.S. Air Force at the time, with a decent load capacity. It was also the fastest among the U.S. bombers (574 km/h) and was called the Flying Fortress at the time. But even this, the best bomber at the time, was still affected by the air waves from the explosion when it flew away at full speed after dropping the atomic eggs, causing the plane to turbulence violently.

the bomber pilot joked. "Hey, when did you become so cowardly? With our flying speed, we can easily escape the explosion range and won't kill you."

The bombardier has no airway. "This is not called cowardice, this is called awe, okay? We are about to release a power comparable to the power of God, so we have to have a sense of awe."

The driver said disapprovingly. "I am an atheist. I only fear the power of science, not those illusory gods."

"Tch." The bombardier ignored him and returned to his seat, staring at the radar screen. "You think all the residents below should have fled, right?"

the co-pilot replied. "We have warned them through radio and leaflets that if they remain in the city, they are simply seeking death."

As he spoke, the bombers were about to arrive over the city center.

"Ready to drop the bomb!" The bombardier pressed the button next to him, and the bomb bay door slowly opened. After a few seconds, he pressed the bomb button, and the atomic egg detached from the pylon and fell downwards.

shouted the bombardier. "Quick, quick, quick! Get out of here!!"

The bomber made a sharp turn and fled at a top speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.

45 seconds later, a ball of light that was more dazzling than the sun appeared over the city.