re: 75 years ago right now....The city of Hiroshima disappeared from the face of the earth....

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This is understandable at the time, but it almost seems sadistic in hindsight.

Had to be done though, there is no argument there.

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The photographic planes were there because nobody had any idea what the effects would be on a city. There was no prior evidence of something on this scale from which to draw predictions.

In the case of the Hiroshima bomb, it had literally never been tested. The scientists were so sure of Little Boy's design that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was the first time it was ever tested with nuclear material in its core. The Trinity test that came before it tested the design of the Fat Man device that was dropped over Nagasaki.

The photoreconnaissance planes were quite frankly there because we had no idea what was going to happen and needed some data to calibrate future designs and devices.