Busting out a Shine

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. -- Refurbishments to the B-29 static display at the Spirit Gate are scheduled to be complete Oct. 2. Painting scheduled for Sept. 22-23 will force the closure of the Spirit Gate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m both days. The B-29 Superfortress, the most advanced bomber to see operational service in World War II, was used in the conventional and low-level night incendiary attacks against Japan. The aircraft was also the world’s first nuclear delivery vehicle with B-29’s from the 509th Composite Group dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The original “Great Artiste” which this display aircraft commemorates, was the only aircraft to fly on both atomic bomb missions and was later lost during a crash landing at Goose Air Base, Labrador Canada in 1949. During the atomic bomb missions, it was loaded with scientific equipment designed to measure the effects of the atomic attacks. The B-29 on display is actually SB-29, Serial Number 44-61671, but painted and marked to depict B-29, Serial Number 44-27353, assigned to the 393d Bombardment Squadron of the 509th Composite Group in the Pacific Theater during 1945. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Samuel A. Park)