| original caption: “Nagasaki, Japan, under atomic bomb attack. Two planes of the 509th Composite Group, part of the 313th Wing of the Twentieth Air Force, participated in this mission: one to carry the bomb, the other to act as an escort.” 1st Lieutenant Charles Levy (October 6, 1918 – November 14, 1997), 393rd Bombardment Squadron, 509th Composite Group, was a bombardier in the original crew of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar,” and participated in the mission to drop the 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Due to a technical issue with the flight equipment, Levy flew in the observation plane Boeing B-29 Superfortress 44-27353 “The Great Artiste,” which provided instrument support during the flight to Nagasaki. It was on this flight that Levy took the photograph of the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki. The photos were taken with Levy’s personal camera since the physicist with the high-speed Fastax camera, Robert Serber (March 14, 1909 – June 1, 1997), who was supposed to capture the explosion from the camera plane, was unable to join the mission due to an accidental loss of his parachute. B-29 Superfortress “Big Stink” 44-27354 took off without him. “We saw this big plume climbing up into the sky,” Levy said later about the moment that the bomb was dropped. Levy’s photograph became 1 of the most defining images of the explosion and serves as a powerful reminder of the devastation caused by the atomic bomb. Levy described what he saw in a 1998 interview, “The first thing that I saw; looking down at this plume — from the top looking down. Look like that there was something alive, like it was breathing, like it was sighing. lt was like all the colors of the rainbow. Red, green, black, purple, orange, every color you could imagine! lt just seemed to be boiling like a pot of coffee, the grounds just boiling away. That color was not alive. That color was death.” Charles Levy was discharged from the United States Army Air Force on November 2, 1945, to return to Philadelphia to take up a job 1st as an insurance salesman and then as an antiques dealer. He became a city fire inspector in Philadelphia until 1979, and died aged 79. Today his name is mainly remembered by photographic and military historians. His iconic photograph remains a chilling symbol of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2288.jpg |
| Image Size | 731.47 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2297 x 3000 |
| Photographer | Charles Levy |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Air Force |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 9, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Nagasaki |
| State or Province | Nagasaki |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 342-FH-3A03572-B58450AC |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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