Offered here is an 8 x 10 inch photograph of the atom bomb detonating over the Japanese city of Hiroshima that has been signed by Dutch Van Kirk, a crewmember on the Enola Gay bombing mission that levelled much of Hiroshima. Van Kirk has added a lengthy inscription that reads “We dropped the first atom bomb at 8:15am Taiwan time, on August 6, 1945, from an altitude of 31,000 feet. It detonated 43 second later, 1850 feet above the city of Hiroshima. We immediately made a 180 turn to the light, lost altitude to build up speed, and then applied full speed. On detonation we saw a bright flash in the plane, seen thru our welders goggles. And shortly thereafter we felt two shockwaves from the bomb – measured at 3.0 to 3.5 G’s. The plane survived both. When clear we timed to fly in the S.E. quadrant. We saw the multi-colored cloud well above our altitude, but the city was covered in soot and debris making our usual visual observation impossible.” Van Kirk signed his name as “Major ‘Dutch’ Van Kirk”, adding the short epitaph “Navigator – Enola Gay 6 Aug. 1945 Hiroshima, Japan”. The signature and inscriptions have been written in black marker. This item comes with a COA from Beckett Authentication Services.

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