I used to think bombs caused widespread damage. I thought
all bombs were somewhat like the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
My only real experience with bombs was during my stay in Africa. There was a
border conflict and sometimes aircraft would fly across the border and drop
bombs. We would hear a loud sound and then see smoke rising from a distant
place. I then realized that the usual bombs have an affect only on a limited
area where the bomb falls. Moreover bombs are expensive. Most countries cannot
afford to drop hundreds of bombs. They usually have only a small number of
fighter aircraft which are also very expensive. Bombs are dropped on selected
targets so that they are not wasted. Targets are carefully chosen to avoid
civilians and property owned by friendly countries.
When the border conflict escalated into an all-out war I had
to think of leaving and was staying at a hotel in the capital. One day I
noticed an aircraft circling at high altitude. It was trying to avoid the
anti-aircraft guns on the ground. Soon it flew down dropped a bomb and flew
back up again. We heard a loud sound and saw smoke rising up. I did not know
where the bomb fell. Most people thought the airport was bombed. I was worried
because that would affect my plan to leave the country. I listened to the news
and came to know that it was indeed the airport that was bombed. There were two
sections at the airport. They had bombed the section used by the air force. The
commercial section was not affected. They avoided the commercial section
because there are airlines from several countries operating there and those
countries may respond. I could fly out within a few days.
