This footage was taken from the bomber which dropped the atomic bomb. It shows the moment the atomic bomb exploded, and the growth of the mushroom cloud.
The weather was fine at 11:02am on Thursday August 9, 1945. The bomber flew over the tennis courts at 171 Matsuyama-machi, in Nagasaki City.
The plutonium type atomic bomb was dropped from a height of 9,000m by the American bomber, Bockscar. It exploded approximately 500m above the ground. The enormous energy of the explosion sucked up matter from the earth, and propelled it into the air. This became a mushroom cloud, which was constantly evolving in color and shape as it steadily rose, until it reached a height of 9,000m roughly 8.5 minutes later.
