Nagasaki Was Target No. 2 : Kermit Beahan; U.S. Flier Who Dropped A-Bomb

Kermit Beahan, the bombardier who dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and then said he wanted the distinction of being the last man ever to use that devastation on humans, has died after suffering cardiac arrest. He was 70.

Beahan died Thursday, a day after he underwent prostate surgery in a hospital in Nassau Bay, Tex., near his home in suburban Clear Lake.

Beahan flew on both the missions that unleashed atomic weapons on Japan forcing its surrender. He was aboard The Great Artiste, a B-29 bomber that bore his nickname--a sobriquet he was given because of his bombing skill--when it was an escort for the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.

Drops ‘Fat Man’ Bomb

Three days later, Beahan dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. It was his 27th birthday.

In interviews over the years and as recently as 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the bombing, he said he would never apologize for the bombing, adding that 25 Japanese sought him out a few years ago and told him the two drops were the “best way out of a hell of a mess.”

But he said he hoped to be the last man ever to drop such a bomb on people.

Five days after the Nagasaki bombing, which killed an estimated 73,000 people, Japan surrendered. The Hiroshima bomb had killed about 71,000.

Beahan was attending Rice University on a football scholarship when World War II intervened.

Hoped to Be Pilot

He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, hoping to be a pilot, but became a bombardier after “washing out” of pilot training.

He took part in 40 missions over Europe, including the first B-17 raids. His B-17 unit was commanded by Paul W. Tibbets, who later assembled the team that dropped the two atom bombs on Japan.

Beahan recalled the Nagasaki bombing in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.

“I saw a mushroom cloud bubbling and flashing orange, red and green,” Beahan said. “It looked like a picture of hell. The ground itself was covered by a rolling black smoke. I was told the area would be destroyed, but I didn’t know the meaning of an atomic bomb.”

Beahan retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1963 and worked for Brown & Root Inc. as a technical writer until he retired in 1985.