Talk:The Great Artiste

National Museum of the USAF (formerly US Air Force Museum)
The main URL for the US Air Force Museum has changed. It would appear that the museum itself is now called the "National Museum of the USAF". Updated the link to what seems to be the same entry on Bockscar by comparing with the Internet Archive's Wayback machine. --EarthPerson 15:12, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Was The Great Artiste REALLY scrapped in 1949??
I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN I saw a B-29 with nose markings identifying it as The Great Artiste at Pease AFB, NH in the spring of 1988 (in a historical display, sitting on a grassy field between a B-52 and a B-47)...I recall calling my companions over & explaining that "this was the only plane at both atomic bombings."

Anyone have an explanation? Uncle Cosmo 01:01, 30 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The 509th Bomb Wing now has that B-29 on display at Whiteman AFB.  It is another B-29 that was painted to "commemorate" The Great Artiste.  See http://www.whiteman.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123067835  208.29.184.143 (talk) 23:54, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Group Captain Cheshire - was he aboard The Great Artiste or not?
There seems to be a question on which airplane Group Captain Leonard Cheshire actually flew. I believe it was The Great Artiste, and the same is also specified in Cheshire's Wiki biography. However, there seem to be other opinions as well. Could anyone please provide credible information on this subject? Regards, ViennaUK 17:39, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

The British observers Cheshire & Penney were on Big Stink not The Great Artiste according to “Cheshire” the biography by Richard Morris (2000). Hopkins was meant to link up with the others at Yakushima, but he kept at 39,000 feet instead of the agreed height (30,000 feet?). He tried to justify this by the need to keep the VIP passengers out of danger. Cheshire thought Hopkins (in charge of Big Stink) was “overwrought” according to Morris. The appointment of Hopkins was “strange”; as the operations officer he had no regular crew. Cheshire was with Penney, and in Hopkins’ plane so I will amend accordingly. Hugo999 06:46, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Wasn't the journalist William L. Laurence on The Great Artiste?
According to another wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Laurence

as well as a transcription of his story about the Nagasaki mission:

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hiroshima/Nagasaki.shtml

it seems clear that he was on The Great Artiste. (He identifies the plane carrying the bomb as The Great Artiste, but the crew he listed clearly identifies his plane as The Great Artiste and the bomb-carrying plane as Bock's Car. The confusion is understandable considering that Bock was piloting his plane and apparently the switch of strike and observation planes was made very late in the mission planning.)

The bottom line is, on this page, shouldn't the journalist William L. Laurence be added to the crew of The Great Artiste? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobodobo (talk • contribs) 04:01, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

NOT the only aircraft on both atomic missions
I suggest changing the reference to Great Artiste as the only aircraft to participate in both atomic bomb missions. The key word is "participate". The Wiki page on the 509th Composite Group lists the aircraft on each mission, and The Great Artiste was used for blast measurement both times. But the Enola Gay was used for weather reconnaisance over Kokura during the Nagasaki mission, and Full House was used for weather recon over Nagasaki during the Hiroshima mission, and as a "strike spare on Iwo Jima" during the Nagasaki mission. If that means Full House never even took to the air the second time, that still leaves Enola Gay as a "participant" during the Nagasaki mission. How do we define "participate"? Should we clarify that Great Artiste was the only aircraft to be at the target site both times? Elsquared (talk) 23:02, 19 June 2013 (UTC)