The logbook belonging to Captain Robert A. Lewis, the co-pilot of Enola Gay, is to auction at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, with a starting bid of $100,000.
The logbook is the only inflight account of the Little Boy atomic bomb mission to Hiroshima, Japan.
Image: Heritage Auctions
The Enola Gay, named after pilot Paul Tibbett’s mother, was a B-29 bomber that dropped the Little Boy bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, killing at least 100,000 people as the city was levelled to the ground, and ultimately leading to Japan’s surrender on September 2nd 1945.
Captain Lewis’s logbook documents the bombing of Hiroshima resulting in his quote “My God what have we done”.
The 11 logbook measures 9” x 6” and on the rear cover Captain Lewis has drawn a pencil sketch of the mushroom cloud caused by the nuclear explosion..
In the logbook Captain Lewis writes "For the next minute no one knew what to expect, the bombardier and the right seat jockey or Pilot both forgot to put on their dark glasses and therefore witnessed the flash which was terrific,"
"15 seconds after the flash there were two very distinct slaps on the ship. Then that was all the physical effects we felt. We then turned the ship so we could observe results, and there in front of our eyes was without a doubt !!! the greatest explosion man has ever witnessed."
"I am certain the entire crew felt this experience was more than any one human had ever thought possible. It just seems impossible to comprehend. Just how many did we kill? I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say My God what have we done. If I live a hundred years I'll never quite get those few minutes out of my mind..."
The notebook previously belonged to Malcolm Forbes and was last seen in 2002 at the auction of his historical documents at Christies on March 26th 2002 when it sold for $391,000.
Full details at Heritage Auctions.