Wendover Army Air Field

I recently went out to Wendover Army Airfield for a historical piece on what is now the Wendover Airport. Just past the border from Utah into Nevada, this military installation was the secret and primary testing ground for the Enola Gay and Bockscar airplanes that dropped the atomic bombs over Japan in WWII. Prototypes (copies of Fat Man & Little Boy) were assembled and loaded, then dropped in the desert just west of the airfield leading up to the mission that changed the world. I scuttled under an old rusty barb wire fence for this first photo. It was the platform where the 10,200 lb (4,630 kg) bombs would be assembled. The walls of the buildling were taken down, but this concrete slab remained. Photographing a deserted historical place is a little tricky. It was very enjoyable to tread the balance of showing what is still there against what the years have taken away. Anyways, for you history folks out there, you might find the story interesting.

TO READ THE PRINTED STORY CLICK HERE.

I did think quite a bit while driving out across the abandoned runways and while walking through empty munitions buildings where enlisted soldiers, younger than I labored and the Army's top scientiests worked hidden by a barren and lifeless desert over 50 years earlier. I started to wonder how I really felt about what eventually happened - the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We chatted a bit about the decision to bomb Japan. The man who was showing us around mentioned that at the time hundreds of soldiers were dying every week in the conflicts in the Pacific Theater and these "missions" did end the war. He mentioned that the other strategic option of the time would have been to invade the Japanese mainland, battles that would have cost even more lives. His answers just opened up more questions for me. Would the invasions and land battles have cost as many civilian casualties as the bombings? Even if the numbers work out in favor of dropping the bombs, was it worth unleashing the beast of atomic warfare to the world? If anyone has some well researched answers or opinions feel free to leave a comment.