Re: Arming Mechanisms Auctioned for $167,500

[john grant <grantjoh@pacbell.net>]

"Richard F. Orthen" wrote:



> >From today's IEM newslaunch.  It's hard to believe that the arming

> mechanisms wouldn't have been curated in a museum.

>

> June 12, 2002 - Associated Press - U.S. Tries to Stop Atomic Bomb Sale -

> Parts from the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima were auctioned for

> $167,500 Tuesday - but the government says the sale is a breach of national

> security and wants to block it. Pending the outcome of litigation by the

> Justice Department, Butterfields Auctioneers Inc. agreed to hold onto the

> arming mechanisms from the bomb dropped from the Enola Gay. The B-29 bomber

> dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, killing

> roughly 140,000 people.



Can someone tell us more about this arming device and why it did not go down

with the bomb?



John Grant



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