Hiroshima pilot's account auctioned

An account of the Hiroshima bombing by one of the US pilots on the operation in which he describes his horror at the attack was being auctioned today.

‘‘My God, what have I done?’’ stunned Captain Robert Lewis wrote in a log book moments after releasing the atomic weapon that killed 100,000 people in the Japanese city on August 6 1945.

The co-pilot of the B29 bomber Enola Gay described in the 11-page book marked ‘‘hold for top secret clearance’’ that immediately after the blast none of the crew knew what to expect.

‘‘The flash was terrific. Fifteen seconds after the flash there were two very distinct slaps - air turbulence. That was all the physical effects we felt.

‘‘We then turned the ship so we could observe results and there was without doubt the greatest explosion man has ever witnessed.

‘‘I am certain the entire crew felt this experience more than any one human had ever thought possible. It just seems impossible to comprehend. Just how many did we kill?’’

He added: ‘‘If I live a hundred years I’ll never quite get those few minutes out of my mind.’’

The entire crew was ‘‘dumbstruck’’ by the size of the mushroom cloud over the ruined city, which was still visible 90 minutes later when they were 400 miles away.

The document, the only first-hand account of the Hiroshima bombing, is expected to sell for up to 300,000 dollars (€342,000) at Christie’s in New York.

Captain Lewis and the rest of the crew had been warned that the plane might be blown apart when the bomb detonated.

The operation’s leader carried cyanide capsules for each man to take if they were shot down.

Fearing the log might be confiscated under the strict security regulations, Captain Lewis disguised it as a letter to his parents, writing ‘‘Dear Mom and Dad,’’ at the front and ending it: ‘‘Love to all, Bud.’’

Captain Lewis sold the log book in 1971, 12 years before his death, for 37,000 dollars (£26,000). It is now being auctioned at Christie’s by a private collector.

More than 200 documents from American history are also being sold at the auction, including a 1946 eulogy by Winston Churchill about US wartime President Franklin D Roosevelt, which is expected to go for up to 25,000 dollars (€28,500).