Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:

Aerophotos writes:

snip

so that makes 3 atomic weapons on Tinain... so the USAAF could of
effectively bombed another target.. but chose not to..

Well no, as pointed out by other posters. But my question is, was
Kyoto the primary target for the 2nd bombing mission that eventually
devastated Nagasaki, as I have read in one report on the internet.

No, Kokura was the primary, they diverted to Nagasaki from Kokura, when the
latter was found to be covered with cloud (the order was to make a visual
drop).

I
always thought Kyoto was not bombed due to the efforts of a certain US
diplomat (?) who IIRC is actually buried in Kyoto.... maybe a myth.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson removed Kyoto from the target list, because
he considered it a cultural city of no military signficance, and bombing it
would be considered an act of barbarism. He'd visited it previously.
Nagasaki replaced it on the list.

From my reading, I thought that Hiroshima was the primary target due
to the concentration of military installations and command
centers. Nagasaki was chosen because of the naval base
installations.

Sort of. For the August 6th mission, weather recon a/c were dispatched to
Hiroshima, Kokura, and Nagasaki. The weather was good over Hiroshima,
allowing it to be bombed.

I don't know how true the allegations are that a city
with modern concrete structures (Hiroshima) vs one with mostly
traditional housing (Nagasaki) were chosen. Please correct my mistaken
impressions!

There was a list of four target cities: Hiroshima, Kokura, Nagasaki, and
Niigata, in order of precedence. Target weather saved Kokura and doomed
Nagasaki on August 9th.

As far as a further mission is concerned, I thought that in the event
of a third mission, not Tokyo but Sapporo was to be targetted. How far
did plans for a third mission go, I did not find out even if there was
enough fissionable material on hand to make another bomb immediately,
or whether that would have taken further weeks or perhaps months.

According to Richard B. Frank in "Downfall," Marshall and Groves had delayed
transport of components for a third bomb because they figured that two would
probably do the job. This meant that the next one couldn't be dropped before
about August 21st.

"General Farrell and Captain Parsons had met with General Twining, Admiral
Nimitz, and General Spaatz, and by the afternoon of August 9th they urged
Washington to review target lists since the 'effects at Trinity and Hiroshima
.. . . [had] far exceeded optimistic expectations.' They 'expressly
recommended' that the next bomb be dropped in the 'region of Tokyo' to
achieve maximum psychological effect. On August 14, Twining submitted a new
list of six targets in order of priority: Sapporo, Hakodate, Oyabu, Yokosuka,
Osaka, and Nagoya."

Later he writes that it was predicted that they'd have produced enough
material for about 7 bombs by October 31st. Marshall was considering holding
on to them and using them tactically for Olympic.

Guy