Kermit Beahan

Lt. Col. Kermit Beahan United States Air Force
Nickname	the Great Artiste
Born	July 9, 1918(1918-07-09) Joplin, Missouri
Died	March 10, 1989(1989-03-10) (aged 70) Clear Lake City, Texas
Allegiance	USA
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	509th Bomb Wing
Awards	Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Clusters Air Medal with 7 clusters Purple Hearts (2)

Kermit K. Beahan (July 9, 1918 – March 10, 1989) was the bombardier on the American B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, and was the one who, on August 9, 1945, targeted Nagasaki, Japan, in order to drop an atomic bomb onto it. It was his 27th birthday on the same day. He flew on the earlier Hiroshima mission in The Great Artiste which was named after him, purportedly because he could hit a pickle barrel with a bomb from 30,000 feet, or he was "good with the fairer sex". Beahan attended Rice University on a football scholarship during the 1930s. He was part of the famous 97th and took part in the 1st including the first B-17 raids in Europe. He flew 12 missions over Europe and 19 missions over North Africa. He was shot down and crash landed twice in Europe and twice in North Africa. He returned to the United States as a bombing instructor in Midland Texas. In the summer of 1944, he was recruited by Colonel Paul Tibbets to be part of the 509th Composite Group which was formed to deliver the atomic bomb. Following the Japanese surrender, he returned to the United States as a crewman in the record-breaking 1945 Japan–Washington flight under Lieutenant General Barney M. Giles. He remained in the Air Force until 1964. After he retired from the Air Force, he worked as a technical writer for the engineering and construction firm Brown & Root through 1985.

In 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, Beahan said he would never apologize for the bombing, and that he had been thanked for his role by a group of 25 Japanese. He said the bombing was the "best way out of a hell of a mess." Beahan hoped that he would forever remain the last man to have dropped an atomic bomb.

Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/11/obituaries/kermit-beahan-70-bombardier-on-plane-that-dropped-a-bomb.html

See also

• Thomas Ferebee