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50 free Hiroshima and Nagasaki trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Hiroshima and Nagasaki trivia quiz covers the atomic bombings of 6 and 9 August 1945, the only uses of nuclear weapons in war. The early questions deal with the Manhattan Project, the two bomb designs, the 509th Composite Group and its Silverplate B-29s on Tinian, the Target Committee, why Kyoto was spared, the Trinity test, the Potsdam Declaration and the orders issued on 25 July. The middle section follows the missions: the Enola Gay named for a pilot's mother, the bomb armed in flight, the aiming point at the Aioi Bridge, the 44-second fall, the yield in kilotons, the troops on the castle parade ground, then Bockscar's faulty fuel pump, the clouds over Kokura, the break in the sky above the Urakami Valley, the letter dropped to a Japanese physicist and the unannounced landing on Okinawa. The last questions cover the aftermath: the death tolls, the Emperor's broadcast, the surrender, the hibakusha and the man who survived both bombs, Sadako Sasaki and her cranes, the Genbaku Dome's World Heritage listing, and where the two aircraft are displayed today. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the bombings, the bombs, the aircraft, the memorials and the survivors.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many Japanese cities had conventional bombing already devastated before the atomic attacks?
64
The campaign included the great Tokyo raid; the atomic bombings remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in war.
Q 02What was the code name of the uranium gun-type bomb dropped on Hiroshima?
Little Boy
Fat Man, the Nagasaki bomb, was a plutonium implosion weapon; Thin Man was an abandoned plutonium gun-type design.
Q 03Roughly how much did the Manhattan Project cost, in the dollars of the day?
Over $2 billion
It employed more than 125,000 people at its peak, with bomb design carried out at Oppenheimer's Los Alamos Laboratory.
Q 04Which US Army Air Forces unit under Colonel Paul Tibbets was created to deliver the bombs?
The 509th Composite Group
It was activated in December 1944 at Wendover Field, Utah, and flew specially modified 'Silverplate' B-29 Superfortresses.
Q 05From which island in the Marianas did the atomic missions take off?
Tinian
North Field on the island was about six hours' flying time from Japan.
Q 06Which city did Secretary of War Henry Stimson remove from the target list for its cultural significance?
Kyoto
Groves objected that it had military value; the story that Stimson had honeymooned there is a myth.
Q 07The 25 July 1945 order named four possible targets: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and which two other cities?
Kokura and Niigata
The Quebec Agreement of 1943 required British consent, which was obtained, before the weapons could be used.
Q 08Which test on 16 July 1945 proved the plutonium bomb design in the New Mexico desert?
Trinity
Ten days later the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration threatening 'prompt and utter destruction'.
Q 09What does 'mokusatsu', Suzuki's response to the Potsdam Declaration, mean?
Kill by silence
He called the declaration a rehash of the Cairo Declaration and said Japan would fight to the end.
Q 10Roughly how many warning leaflets had the US dropped on Japanese cities before the atomic bombings?
More than 63 million
The Interim Committee's scientific panel decided against a demonstration bomb and against a special leaflet warning for the atomic attack itself.
Q 11The B-29 Enola Gay was named after whom?
The pilot's mother
Colonel Paul Tibbets both named and flew the aircraft.
Q 12Why did weaponeer William Parsons wait until the Enola Gay was airborne to arm the Hiroshima bomb?
Fear of an accidental detonation on takeoff
He loaded the four cordite bags into the gun breech in flight.
Q 13At what local time was the bomb released over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945?
08:15
It fell for 44.4 seconds from about 9,400 metres and detonated some 580 metres above the city.
Q 21Which aircraft dropped the Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki?
Bockscar
It was flown by Major Charles Sweeney's crew, and early press reports confused it with The Great Artiste.
Q 22Which city was the primary target on 9 August, escaping when it was obscured by cloud and smoke?
Kokura
Smoke was drifting from a firebombing raid on nearby Yahata the day before; Nagasaki was the secondary target.
Q 23What fault left the Nagasaki aircraft unable to use 640 gallons in a reserve tank on 9 August?
An inoperative transfer pump
The fuel still had to be carried as dead weight, and after the delays the plane could barely reach Okinawa.
Q 14What was the aiming point for the Hiroshima bomb, which it missed by about 240 metres?
The Aioi Bridge
Crosswind carried it to detonate directly over the Shima Surgical Clinic.
Q 15The Hiroshima bomb released energy equivalent to roughly how many kilotons of TNT?
15–16
That was four times the tonnage of conventional bombs that had destroyed Dresden.
Q 16Who was the Enola Gay's bombardier, who took control for the bomb run over Hiroshima?
Thomas Ferebee
Tibbets handed him control at 08:09; Kermit Beahan was the bombardier over Nagasaki three days later.
Q 17How many Japanese troops were killed on Hiroshima Castle's parade ground, 820 m from the hypocenter?
3,243
Most of the Second General Army headquarters was doing physical training there; the city's garrison was about 24,000 strong.
Q 18Which two other B-29s accompanied the Enola Gay to Hiroshima?
The Great Artiste and Necessary Evil
One carried instruments and the other cameras; Straight Flush had flown ahead as the weather plane.
Q 19How many American airmen were being held prisoner in Hiroshima about 400 metres from the hypocenter?
Twelve
Most died instantly; two were reportedly executed by their captors and two badly injured were later killed.
Q 20What percentage of Hiroshima's buildings did Japanese officials determine had been destroyed?
69 per cent
US surveys estimated 12 square kilometres of the city were destroyed; another 6–7 per cent of buildings were damaged.
Q 24Why was the second bombing moved forward from 11 August to 9 August?
To avoid five days of forecast bad weather
Responsibility for the timing had been delegated to Tibbets.
Q 25How much plutonium was in the core of the Fat Man bomb?
About 5 kg
The Hiroshima bomb by contrast carried about 64 kg of uranium-235.
Q 26At what time did the Nagasaki bomb explode?
11:02
It burst about 503 metres up, above a tennis court, nearly 3 km from the planned hypocenter.
Q 27What was the yield of the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki?
21 kt
Though more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, its effects were confined by hillsides to the narrow Urakami Valley.
Q 28The Great Artiste's instruments over Nagasaki carried an unsigned letter to which Japanese physicist?
Ryōkichi Sagane
He had studied at Berkeley with three of the bomb's scientists, who urged him to tell the public about the weapon's danger.
Q 29Where did the Nagasaki bomber land after the mission, arriving unannounced with fuel for one approach?
Okinawa
Sweeney could not raise the control tower and had to fire flares to clear the runway.
Q 30Of 7,500 employees inside the Mitsubishi Munitions plant at Nagasaki, how many were killed?
6,200
The valley setting concentrated the blast; the radius of total destruction was about 1.6 km.