As they fly wing to wing over a vital spot in the development of the atomic bomb, a native of Japan and a former US military officer hope their friendship outshines the horror of the blasts that took place 80 years ago.
On Wednesday, pilots Adrian Eichhorn, 69, and Shinji Maeda, 46, will board their 60-year-old Beechcraft Bonanzas and fly in close formation over historic Wendover Field in Utah on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.
“It is history forgotten,” said Eichhorn. “If this helps renew that interest to thank all the people involved in the war effort, that’s important.”
Working alongside scientists from Los Alamos, the Wendover base’s 20,000 personnel became significant to the success of the Manhattan Project. The nearby salt flats are where B-29 crews tested “pumpkin bombs” bulbous enough to fit atomic warheads. It’s also where the crews of Enola Gay and Bockscar would depart the United States to start their journeys to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
At least 100,000 people died as a direct result of the bombings on August 6 and August 9, 1945, according to the National Archives. The Japanese surrender days later effectively ended World War II.
