Mock-up of the Little Boy. (Department of Defense photo)
The manufacturing of “Little Boy,” the name of atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan 70 year ago, has roots in Michigan.
Shelby Jouppi reports for WDET that components of the bomb were built in:
- The Naval Gun Factory in Washington, DC
- Expert Die & Tool in Hamtramck, Michigan
- The Naval Ordnance Plant in Centerline, Michigan.
The station reports that the bomb was split strategically among three locations so no one would have the complete design. Workers knew it was for the war effort, but didn't realize it would be the bomb for what would be known as Little Boy.
The bomb was dropped Aug. 6, 1945.
“Los Alamos was filled with scientists, a few engineers, but no one who could produce anything,” Roger Meade, a retired archivist historian for Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the bomb was designed, tells WDET. ”And so they looked at Detroit for two reasons, one it was a huge labor pool for skilled labor particularly machinists and draftsman … and some of it was just the capacity to work on large pieces of steel.”
