| The Great Artiste | |
|---|---|
 A B-29 painted to look likeThe Great Artiste (the original plane was scrapped) at theWhiteman Air Force Base | |
| General information | |
| Type | Boeing B-29-40-MO Superfortress |
| Manufacturer | Glenn L. Martin Company,Omaha, Nebraska |
| Serial | 44-27353 |
| History | |
| In service | 1945–1948 |
| Fate | Crashed on take-off atGoose Bay Air Base,Labrador and scrapped |
The Great Artiste was aU.S. Army Air ForcesSilverplateB-29bomber (B-29-40-MO 44-27353,Victor number 89), assigned to the393d Bomb Squadron,509th Composite Group. The aircraft was named for its bombardier,CaptainKermit Beahan, in reference to his bombing talents. It flew 12 training and practice missions in which it bombed Japanese-held Pacific islands and droppedpumpkin bombs on targets in Japan.
After the war ended it returned with the 509th Composite Group toRoswell Army Air Field,New Mexico. It was scrapped in September 1949 after being heavily damaged in an accident atGoose Bay Air Base,Labrador, the year before.
Built at theGlenn L. Martin Aircraft Plant atOmaha, Nebraska,The Great Artiste (B-29-40-MO 44-27353) was aSilverplateB-29 Superfortress bomber. It was accepted by theArmy Air Forces on 20 April 1945, and flown toWendover Army Air Field,Utah, by its assigned crew C-15, commanded byFirst LieutenantCharles D. Albury, in May. It departed Wendover forNorth Field, Tinian on 22 June.[1]
It was originally assigned Victor (unit-assigned identification) number 9, but on 1 August it was given thecircle R tail markings of the6th Bombardment Group as a security measure, and it had its Victor number changed to 89 to avoid misidentification with actual 6th Bombardment Group aircraft. Its nose art was painted after the Nagasaki mission.[1] The name purportedly referred to the talents of the bombardier,CaptainKermit Beahan, with both theNorden bombsight and with women.[2][3]
In addition to its use on the nuclear bomb missions,The Great Artiste was flown by five different crews on 12 training and practice missions. It flew bombing missions againstRota on 4 July,Truk on 8 July, andMarcus on 9 July. It returned to bomb Rota again on 12 and 14 July, and bombedGuguan on 18 and 19 July. It was flown by Albury and crew C-15 on two combat missions, one of which was aborted, and the other in which it used apumpkin bomb to attack the railroad yards atKobe on 24 July. Captain Bob Lewis and crew B-9 flew it to drop a pumpkin bomb on an industrial target inKoriyama on 29 July.[4]
Flown by 393d commander,MajorCharles W. Sweeney, it was assigned to theHiroshima mission on 6 August 1945, as the blast measurement instrumentation aircraft.[1] On themission to bomb Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, it was to have been the aircraft carrying the bomb, but the mission schedule had been moved forward two days because of weather considerations, and the instrumentation had not yet been removed from the aircraft. To avoid delaying the mission, Sweeney traded airplanes with the crew ofBockscar to carry theFat Manatomic bomb toNagasaki. CaptainFrederick C. Bock and his C-13 crew flewThe Great Artiste to Nagasaki on its instrument support mission, and landed with it on Okinawa at the conclusion of the mission.[5] It was the only aircraft to directly participate in both missions.[6]Enola Gay, flown by Captain George Marquardt's Crew B-10, was the weather reconnaissance aircraft for Kokura, the primary target on the Nagasaki flight.Enola Gay reported clear skies over Kokura.[7]
In November 1945 it returned with the 509th Composite Group toRoswell Army Air Field,New Mexico, where it remained for the rest of its flying career, except for a brief period when it was assigned to Task Force 1.5 forOperation Crossroads nuclear tests atBikini Atoll in July 1946. It returned to the 509th, now designated the 509th Bombardment Group, in September.[8][1] On 3 September 1948, during a polar navigation training mission, it developed an engine problem after takeoff fromGoose Bay Air Base,Labrador, and ran off the end of the runway when attempting to land. Heavily damaged, it never flew again, and was eventually scrapped at Goose Bay in September 1949, despite its historical significance.[6][1]
A representation ofThe Great Artiste is on static display at the "Spirit Gate" ofWhiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, now home base of the 509th Operations Group. The aircraft, originally B-29 44-61671, which served as anSB-29 "Super Dumbo" rescue aircraft during the Korean War, was refurbished to depictThe Great Artiste and moved to Whiteman after the closure ofPease Air Force Base in 1991.[9]
Crew C-15 (normally assigned toThe Great Artiste):[10]
Project Alberta observers aboard for Hiroshima mission:[11]
Ground crew:[12]
Crew C-13 (normally assigned toBockscar):[13]
'We named our airplane for him,' [pilot] Sweeney said Thursday. 'We used to call him the Great Artiste. He was so good at his work. He was the sparkplug of our crew. We all loved him.'
