The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
, designed by
Consolidated Aircraft
The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 in aviation, 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the ...
of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.
At its inception, the B-24 was a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio
Davis wing
The Davis wing is a World War II-era aircraft wing design that was used by Consolidated Aircraft on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, as well as other models. The airfoil had a lower drag coefficient than most contemporary designs, which allowed ...
. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
and the ability to carry a heavy
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
load. Early
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries, the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low-speed performance; it also had a lower
ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...
and was less robust than the
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
. While
aircrew
Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose.
Commercial aviation
Flight deck positions ...
s tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24 and procured it in huge numbers for a wide variety of roles. At approximately 18,500 units – including 8,685 manufactured by
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
– it holds records as the world's
most produced bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history.
The B-24 was used extensively in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It served in every branch of the American armed forces as well as several
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
air forces and navies. It saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US
strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...
campaign in the
Western European
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, including the bombing of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Long-range
anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the
Mid-Atlantic gap
The Mid-Atlantic gap is a geographical term applied to an undefended area beyond the reach of land-based RAF Coastal Command antisubmarine (A/S) aircraft during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. It is frequently known as The Bla ...
in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
. The
C-87 transport derivative served as a longer range, higher capacity counterpart to the
Douglas C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...
.
By the end of World War II, the technological breakthroughs of the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
and other modern types had surpassed the bombers that served from the start of the war. The B-24 was rapidly phased out of U.S. service, although the
PB4Y-2 Privateer
The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Lib ...
maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008
Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities.
Maritime patrol refers to ac ...
derivative carried on in service with the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
Design and development
Initial specifications
The Liberator originated from a
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
(USAAC) request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license. After company executives including President
Reuben Fleet
Reuben Hollis Fleet (March 6, 1887 – October 29, 1975) was an American aviation pioneer, industrialist and army officer. Fleet founded and led several corporations, including Consolidated Aircraft.
Birth and early career
Fleet was born on Ma ...
visited the
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
factory in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, Consolidated decided instead to submit a more modern design of its own.
The new Model 32 combined designer
David R. Davis's wing, a high-efficiency
airfoil
An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine.
...
design created by unorthodox means, with the
twin tail
A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...
design from the
Consolidated Model 31 flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
, together on a new fuselage. This new fuselage was intentionally designed around twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17 bomb bays.
In January 1939, the USAAC, under Specification C-212, formally invited Consolidated
[Baugher, Joe]
"The Consolidated XB-24."
''USAAC/USAAF/USAF Bombers: The Consolidated B-24 Liberator'', 8 August 1999. Retrieved: 15 June 2010. to submit a design study for a bomber with longer range, higher speed and greater
ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...
than the B-17. The specification was written such that the Model 32 would automatically be the winning design. The program was run under the umbrella group, "Project A", an Air Corps requirement for an intercontinental bomber that had been conceived in the mid-1930s. Although the B-24 did not meet Project A goals, it was a step in that direction. Project A led to the development of the
Boeing B-29
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 F ...
and Consolidated's own
B-32 and
B-36
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...
.
Design
The B-24 had a shoulder-mounted high aspect ratio
Davis wing
The Davis wing is a World War II-era aircraft wing design that was used by Consolidated Aircraft on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, as well as other models. The airfoil had a lower drag coefficient than most contemporary designs, which allowed ...
. This wing was highly efficient allowing a relatively high airspeed and long range. Compared to the B-17, it had a 6-foot larger wingspan but a lower wing area. This gave the B-24 a 35-percent higher wing loading. The relatively thick wing held the promise of increased tankage while delivering increased lift and speed, but it became unpleasant to fly when committed to heavier loadings as experienced at high altitude and in bad weather. The Davis wing was also more susceptible to ice formation than contemporary designs, causing distortions of the aerofoil section and resulting in the loss of lift, with unpleasant experiences drawing such comments as, "The Davis wing won't hold enough ice to chill your drink".
The wing was also more susceptible to damage than the B-17's wing, making the aircraft less able to absorb battle damage.
The wing carried four
supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 Twin Wasp engines mounted in cowlings borrowed from the
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
(similar except for being oval in cross-section allowing for oil coolers mounted on each side of the engine) that turned 3-bladed
variable-pitch propellers.
The tailplane featured two large oval vertical stabilizers mounted at the ends of a rectangular horizontal stabilizer. As early as 1942, it was recognized that the Liberator's handling and stability could be improved by the use of a single vertical fin. The single fin was tested by Ford on a single B-24ST variant and an experimental XB-24K: it was found to improve handling. However, all Liberators were produced with twin oval fins, with the exception of eight preproduction B-24N aircraft. The B-24N was intended as a major production variant featuring a single tail. Over 5000 orders for this version were placed in 1945, but they were cancelled due to the end of the war. The single fin did appear in production on the
PB4Y Privateer
The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Lib ...
derivative.
The B-24's spacious, slab-sided fuselage (which earned the aircraft the nickname "Flying
Boxcar
A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
")
[Allan, Chuck]
"A Brief History of the 44th Bomb Group."
'chuckallan.com''. Retrieved: 15 June 2010. was built around two central bomb bays that could accommodate up to of ordnance in each compartment (but rarely did, as this decreased range and altitude). The forward and aft bomb bay compartments were further split longitudinally with a centerline ventral catwalk just nine inches (23 cm) wide, which also functioned as the fuselage's structural keel beam.
An unusual four-panel set of all-metal, tambour-panel "roller-type" bomb bay doors, which operated very much like the movable enclosure of a
rolltop desk
A rolltop desk is a 19th-century reworking of the pedestal desk with, in addition, a series of stacked compartments, shelves, drawers and nooks in front of the user, much like the bureau à gradin or the Carlton House desk. In contrast to these, t ...
, retracted into the fuselage. These type of doors created a minimum of aerodynamic drag to keep speed high over the target area; they also allowed the bomb bays to be opened while on the ground since the low ground clearance prevented the use of normal bomb bay doors. The occasional need during a mission for crewmen to move from fore to aft within the B-24's fuselage over the narrow catwalk was a drawback shared with other bomber designs.
The Liberator carried a crew of up to ten. The pilot and co-pilot sat alongside each other in a well-glazed cockpit. The navigator and bombardier — who could also double as a nose or ''wiggly ear'' gunners (guns mounted in the sides of the aircraft nose) — sat in the nose, fronted on the pre-B-24H models with a well-framed "greenhouse" nose with some two dozen glazed panels and with two flexible ball-mounts built into it for forward defensive firepower using
.30 caliber (7.62 mm) Browning M1919
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and ...
machine guns. (Later versions were fitted with a powered twin-.50 caliber (12.7 mm)
M2 Browning machine gun
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...
nose
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
.) The radio/radar operator sat behind the pilots, facing sideways and sometimes doubled as a waist gunner. The flight engineer sat adjacent to the radio operator behind the pilots; he operated the upper gun turret (when fitted), located just behind the cockpit and in front of the wing.
Up to four crew members could be located in the waist, operating waist guns, a retractable lower
ball turret
A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing.
It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets ...
gun, and a
tail gun turret matching the nose turret. The waist gun hatches were provided with doors. The ball turret was required to be retractable for ground clearance when preparing to land as well as for greater aerodynamic efficiency. The tail gunner's powered twin-gun turret was located at the end of the tail, behind the tailplane.
The B-24 featured a tricycle undercarriage, the first American bomber to do so,
with the main gear extending out of the wing on long, single-oleo strut legs. It used differential braking and differential thrust for ground steering, which made taxiing difficult.
Armament
The defensive armament of the B-24 varied from transport variants, which were usually unarmed, to bombers armed with up to ten .50 caliber (12.7 mm)
M2 Browning machine gun
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...
s located in
turrets and waist gun positions.
Early model Liberators were fitted with a top-mounted turret, a tail turret and single machine guns located in the waist and in the glazed nose. The B-24D initially featured upper, belly and tail turrets, plus swiveling single guns in the waist and on either side of the nose. The belly turret was a periscopically sighted Bendix model. The turret proved unsatisfactory and was soon replaced by a tunnel gun, which was itself omitted. Later D models were fitted with the retractable Sperry
ball turret
A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing.
It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets ...
.
The B-24H saw the replacement of the glazed 'green house' nose with a nose turret, which reduced the B-24s vulnerability to head-on attacks. The bombsight was located below the turret.
Long-range naval patrol versions often carried a light defensive armament. Being on long-distance patrols, they generally flew outside the range of enemy fighters. Also, the necessity of range increased the importance of weight and aerodynamic efficiency. Thus naval patrol often omitted top, belly and nose turrets. Some were fitted with a belly pack containing fixed, forward-facing cannon.
Prototypes and service evaluation
The U.S. Army Air Corps awarded a contract for the prototype XB-24 in March 1939, with the requirement that one example should be ready before the end of the year. Consolidated finished the prototype and had it ready for its first flight two days before the end of 1939. The design was simple in concept but, nevertheless, advanced for its time.
Consolidated incorporated innovative features such as a tricycle landing gear and Davis wing.
Compared to the B-17, the proposed Model 32 had a shorter fuselage and 25% less wing area, but had a greater
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
and a substantially larger carrying capacity, as well as a distinctive
twin tail
A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...
. Whereas the B-17 used 9-cylinder
Wright R-1820
The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Uni ...
Cyclone engines, the Consolidated design used twin-row, 14-cylinder
Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radials of . The maximum takeoff weight was one of the highest of the period.
The new design would be the first American heavy bomber in production to use
tricycle landing gear
Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...
– the
North American B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...
medium bomber's predecessor, the NA-40 introduced this feature in January 1939 – with the Consolidated Model 32 having long, thin wings with the efficient "
Davis
Davis may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Davis (Antarctica)
* Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago)
* Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land
Canada
* Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community
* Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
" high
aspect ratio design (also used on the projected
Model 31 twin-engined commercial
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
) promising to provide maximum
fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, wh ...
. Wind tunnel testing and experimental programs using an existing Consolidated Model 31 provided extensive data on the flight characteristics of the Davis airfoil.
Early orders, placed before the XB-24 had flown, included 36 for the USAAC, 120 for the
French Air Force
The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
and 164 for the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF). The name "Liberator" was originally given to it
by the RAF, and subsequently adopted by the
USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
as the official name for the Model 24.
[Taylor 1968, p. 463.] When France fell in 1940, their aircraft were re-directed to the RAF. One outcome of the
British and French purchasing commissions was a backlog of orders amounting to $680m, of which $400m was foreign orders, US official statistics indicating tooling, plant and expansion advanced the previously anticipated volume of US aircraft production by up to a year. A consequence of the British orders went beyond requests for specific modifications: as the RAF accepted some designs while rejecting others, American production was – to some extent – re-directed along specific lines that accorded with British doctrine, the B-24's capacious bomb bay and ability to carry 8,000 lb ordnance a case in point.
After initial testing, the XB-24 was found to be deficient in several areas. One major failure of the prototype was that it failed to meet the top speed requirements specified in the contract. As built, the XB-24 top speed was only 273 mph instead of the specified 311 mph. As a result, the
mechanically supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33s were replaced with the
turbo-supercharged R-1830s. Additionally, the tail span was widened by and the
pitot-static probes were relocated from the wings to the
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
. The XB-24 was then re-designated XB-24B—these changes became standard on all B-24s built starting with the B-24C model.
![YB-24](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/YB-24.jpg)
In April 1939, the USAAC initially ordered seven YB-24 under
CAC
CAC may refer to:
Arts
* California Arts Council, an agency for advancing California through the arts and creativity
* Campbelltown Arts Centre, multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre south-west of Sydney, Australia
* Comics Arts Conference, ...
contract # 12464. The US policy at the time, despite neutrality, was that American requirements could be deferred while its Allies could immediately put US production into the war effort. The added advantage was the American types could be assessed in the European war zone earlier. Thus the first six YB-24 were released for direct purchase under CAC contract # F-677 on 9 November 1940. These aircraft were redesignated LB-30A. The seventh aircraft was used by Consolidated and the USAAC to test
armor
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
installations as well as
self-sealing fuel tank
A self-sealing fuel tank is a type of fuel tank, typically used in aircraft fuel tanks or fuel bladders, that prevents them from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged.
Typical self-sealing tanks have multiple layers of rubber and reinforc ...
s. Initially, these aircraft were to be given USAAC serials 39–681 to 39-687. Due to deferments of the US requirements, the US purchase was twice postponed, and the serial numbers were changed to 40–696 to 40-702. When the RAF purchased the first six YB-24 aircraft, the serial numbers were reassigned to an early batch of B-24D funded by the deferment.
Flying the B-24
Lindell Hendrix, later a test pilot for
Republic Aviation
The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island, New York, Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and produc ...
, flew B-24s for the Eighth Air force. Hendrix preferred the B-24 to the B-17. In Eighth Air force combat configuration, the aircraft carried 8000 lb (3600 kg) of bombs. It could manage an altitude of no more than 25,000 ft (7600m), three or four thousand feet less than a B-17, but it flew 10-15 mph (16-24kph) faster. Its lower altitude made it more vulnerable to flak. Hendrix figured that Germans understood it was easier to hit, and that it carried more bombs.
It was necessary when flying the B-24, to get "on step". This meant climbing to about 500 ft (150m) above cruise altitude, levelling off, achieving a cruise speed of 165-170 mph (265-275kph), then descending to assigned altitude. Failing to do this meant that the B-24 flew slightly nose high, and it used more fuel. The Davis wing made the B-24 sensitive to weight distribution. Hendrix claimed that a lightly loaded B-24 could out-turn a P-38 Lightning. A heavily loaded B-24 was difficult to fly at speeds of less than 160 mph (260kph). The B-24's controls were heavy, especially if the control rigging was not properly tensioned.
B-24s leaked fuel. Crews flew with the bomb bay doors slightly open to dissipate potentially explosive fumes. Hendrix did not permit smoking on his B-24, even though he was a smoker. Chain smoker
"Tex" Thornton, then in command of the US Army Air Corps' Statistical Control, flew across the Atlantic in a B-24, and was not permitted to smoke. Thornton's Statistical Control group demonstrated that Eighth Air force B-24s were taking lower casualties than B-17s because they were being given shorter, safer missions. The B-17s actually delivered more bombs to the target than B-24s.
Operational history
RAF
![LB-30 Ferry Command](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/LB-30_Ferry_Command.jpg)
The first British Liberators had been ordered by the
Anglo-French Purchasing Board in 1940. After the
Fall of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
the French orders were in most cases transferred to the United Kingdom. The RAF found, as did the US, that global war increased the need for air transports and early-type bombers and seaplanes were converted or completed as cargo carriers and transports. LB-30As were assigned to
transatlantic flight
A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing air ...
s by
RAF Ferry Command
RAF Ferry Command was the secretive Royal Air Force command formed on 20 July 1941 to ferry urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in the United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Af ...
, between Canada and
Prestwick
Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...
, Scotland. The first Liberators in British service were ex-USAAF YB-24s converted to
Liberator GR Is (USAAF designation: LB-30A). The aircraft were all modified for logistic use in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. Changes included the removal of all armament, provision for passenger seating, a revised cabin
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
and
heating system. Ferry Command's Atlantic Return Ferry Service flew civilian ferry pilots, who had delivered aircraft to the UK, back to North America. The most important role, however, for the first batch of the Liberator GR Is was in service with
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
on anti-submarine patrols in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
.
[March 1998, p. 63.]
![B 24 in raf service 23 03 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/B_24_in_raf_service_23_03_05.jpg)
Later in 1941, the first Liberators entered RAF service. This model introduced
self-sealing fuel tank
A self-sealing fuel tank is a type of fuel tank, typically used in aircraft fuel tanks or fuel bladders, that prevents them from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged.
Typical self-sealing tanks have multiple layers of rubber and reinforc ...
s, a plug in the forward fuselage to create more space for crew members and, more vitally, ever more equipment such as
ASV Mark II radar
Radar, Air-to-Surface Vessel, Mark II, or ASV Mk. II for short, was an airborne sea-surface search radar developed by the UK's Air Ministry immediately prior to the start of World War II. It was the first aircraft mounted radar of any sort to ...
(anticipated early in the Liberator's development when Reuben Fleet told the engineering team he had a gut feeling the nose was too short). The Mark II was the first Liberator to be equipped with powered turrets, one plane having them installed before leaving San Diego, the remainder having them installed in the field: four Browning
Boulton Paul
Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer that was incorporated in 1934, although its origins in aircraft manufacturing began earlier in 1914, and lasted until 1961. The company mainly built and modified aircraft under co ...
A-type Mk IV with 600 rounds of .303 in the dorsal position; and a Boulton Paul E-type Mk II with 2200 rounds in the tail (later increased to 2500 rounds), supplemented by pairs of guns at the waist position, a single gun in the nose and another in the belly, for a total of fourteen guns. The maximum take-off weight was slightly raised to 64,250 pounds, the maximum altitude lifted from 21,200 to 24,000 feet but the maximum speed was reduced to 263 mph, largely as a result of increased drag.
The Liberator II (referred to as the LB-30A by the USAAF
) were divided between
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
,
Bomber Command
Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...
, and
British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...
(BOAC). Both BOAC and the RAF used converted Liberator IIs as unarmed long-range cargo carriers. These aircraft flew between the United Kingdom and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
(with an extensive detour around
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
over the Atlantic), and they were used in the evacuation of
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
in the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...
. BOAC also flew trans-Atlantic services and other various long-range air transportation routes.
![Liberator 120 Squadron](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Liberator_120_Squadron.jpg)
Two RAF bomber squadrons with Liberators were deployed to the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
in early 1942. While
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
did not use B-24s as strategic bombers over mainland
North West Europe
Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The region can be defined both geographically and ethnographically.
Geographic definitions
Geographically, Northw ...
,
No. 223 Squadron RAF, one of Bomber Command's
100 (Bomber Support) Group squadrons, used 20 Liberator VIs to carry electronic jamming equipment to counter German radar.
In October 1944, two RAF Liberator squadrons (357 and 358) were deployed to
Jessore
Jessore ( bn, যশোর, jôshor, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District situated in Khulna Division. It is situated in the south-western part of Bangladesh. It is the administrative centre (headquarter) of the eponymous district ...
India in support of British SAS, American OSS and French SIS underground operations throughout SE Asia. The aircraft were stripped of most armaments to allow for fuel for up to 26-hour return flights such as Jessore to Singapore.
Liberators were also used as anti-submarine patrol aircraft by RAF
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
. RAF Liberators were also operated as bombers from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
by
SEAC and would have been a part of
Tiger Force
Tiger Force was the name of a long-range reconnaissance patrol unit of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry, 1st Brigade (Separate), 101st Airborne Division, which fought in the Vietnam War from November 1965 to November 1967. The unit ...
if the war had continued. Many of the surviving Liberators originated in this Command.
Antisubmarine and maritime patrols
![B-24 Liberator Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth Texas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/B-24_Liberator_Consolidated-Vultee_Plant%2C_Fort_Worth_Texas.jpg)
The Liberators made a significant contribution to Allied victory in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
against German
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s. Aircraft had the ability to undertake surprise air attacks against surfaced submarines. Liberators assigned to the RAF's
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
in 1941, offensively to patrol against submarines in the eastern
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, produced immediate results. The introduction of Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators vastly increased the reach of the UK's maritime reconnaissance force, closing the
Mid Atlantic Gap
The Mid-Atlantic gap is a geographical term applied to an undefended area beyond the reach of land-based RAF Coastal Command antisubmarine (A/S) aircraft during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. It is frequently known as The Bla ...
where a lack of air cover had allowed U-boats to operate without risk of aerial attack.
For 12 months,
No. 120 Squadron RAF
Number 120 Squadron or No. CXX Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force which was established as a Royal Flying Corps unit late in World War I, disbanded a year after the end of the war, then re-established as a RAF Coastal Command squadro ...
of Coastal Command with its handful of worn and modified early model Liberators supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap, the Liberator being the only airplane with sufficient range. The VLR Liberators sacrificed some armor and often gun turrets to save weight, while carrying extra aviation
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
in their bomb-bay tanks. Liberators were equipped with
ASV Mk. II radar
Radar, Air-to-Surface Vessel, Mark II, or ASV Mk. II for short, was an airborne sea-surface search radar developed by the UK's Air Ministry immediately prior to the start of World War II. It was the first aircraft mounted radar of any sort to b ...
, which together with the
Leigh light, gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and by night. Before the Leigh Light, not a single enemy submarine had been sunk in over five months, but in combination with radar, it was so overwhelmingly effective that many German submarine crews chose to surface during the day so that they could at least see the aircraft attacking them and have a chance to fire their anti-aircraft weaponry in defense.
These Liberators operated from both sides of the Atlantic with the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
and the
Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command
The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, which ...
and later, the
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
conducting patrols along all three American coasts and the Canal Zone. The RAF and later American patrols ranged from the east, based in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and beginning in mid-1943 from the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
. This role was dangerous, especially after many U-boats were armed with extra
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
guns, some adopting the policy of staying on the surface to fight, rather than submerging and risking being sunk by aerial weapons such as rockets, gunfire, torpedoes and depth charges from the bombers. American Liberators flew from Nova Scotia,
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
, the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
,
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
,
the Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, Panama,
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
,
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...
and from wherever else they could fly far out over the Atlantic.
The sudden and decisive turning of the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
in favor of the Allies in May 1943 was the result of many factors. The gradual arrival of many more VLR and in October, PB4Y navalized Liberators for anti-submarine missions over the Mid-Atlantic gap ("black pit") and the Bay of Biscay was an important contribution to the Allies' greater success. Liberators were credited in full or in part with sinking 93 U-boats. The B-24 was vital for missions of a radius less than , in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters where U.S. Navy PB4Y-1s and USAAF SB-24s took a heavy toll of enemy submarines and surface combatants and shipping.
USAAF
Introduction to service, 1941–1942
The
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF) took delivery of its first B-24As in mid-1941. Over the next three years, B-24 squadrons deployed to all theaters of the war: African, European, China-Burma-India, the Anti-submarine Campaign, the Southwest Pacific Theater and the Pacific Theater. In the Pacific, to simplify logistics and to take advantage of its longer range, the B-24 (and its twin, the U.S. Navy PB4Y) was the chosen standard heavy bomber. By mid-1943, the shorter-range B-17 was phased out. The Liberators which had served early in the war in the Pacific continued the efforts from the Philippines, Australia, Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, Hawaii, and Midway Island. The Liberator peak overseas deployment was 45.5 bomb groups in June 1944. Additionally, the Liberator equipped a number of independent squadrons in a variety of special combat roles. The cargo versions, C-87 and C-109 tanker, further increased its overseas presence, especially in Asia in support of the XX Bomber Command air offensive against Japan.
So vital was the need for long-range operations, that at first USAAF used the type as transports. The sole B-24 in Hawaii was destroyed by the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
on 7 December 1941. It had been sent to the Central Pacific for a very long-range reconnaissance mission that was preempted by the Japanese attack.
The first USAAF Liberators to carry out combat missions were 12 repossessed LB-30s deployed to Java with the
11th Bombardment Squadron (
7th Bombardment Group) that flew their first combat mission in mid-January. Two were shot up by Japanese fighters, but both managed to land safely. One was written off due to battle damage and the other crash-landed on a beach.
US-based Liberators entered combat service in 1942 when on 6 June, four LB-30s from
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
staging through
Midway Island
Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...
attempted an attack on
Wake Island
Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...
, but were unable to find it. The B-24 came to dominate the heavy bombardment role in the Pacific because compared to the B-17, the B-24 was faster, had longer range, and could carry a ton more bombs.
[Levine 1992, pp. 14–15.]
Strategic bombing, 1942–1945
![Phoenix-Deer Valley Airport-Wings of Freedom-B-24 J Liberator-7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Phoenix-Deer_Valley_Airport-Wings_of_Freedom-B-24_J_Liberator-7.JPG)
On 12 June 1942, 13 B-24s of the Halverson Project (HALPRO) flying from
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
attacked the Axis-controlled oil fields and refineries around
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. Within weeks, the First Provisional Bombardment Group formed from the remnants of the Halverson and China detachments. This unit then was formalized as the 376th Bombardment Group, Heavy, and along with the 98th BG formed the nucleus of the IX Bomber Command of the
Ninth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint De ...
, operating from Africa until absorbed into the Twelfth Air Force briefly, and then the
Fifteenth Air Force
The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...
, operating from Italy. The Ninth Air Force moved to England in late 1943. This was a major component of the
USSTAF
The United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) was a formation of the United States Army Air Forces. It became the overall command and control authority of the United States Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II.
USSTAF had started as ...
and took a major role in strategic bombing. Fifteen of the 15th AF's 21
bombardment groups flew B-24s.
For much of 1944, the B-24 was the predominant bomber of U.S. Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) formerly the
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
in the
Combined Bomber Offensive
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II, strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets w ...
against Germany, forming nearly half of its heavy bomber strength in the ETO prior to August and most of the Italian-based force. Thousands of B-24s flying from bases in Europe dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of
high explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
and
incendiary bombs
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...
on German military and industrial targets.
The
44th Bombardment Group was one of the first two heavy bombardment groups flying the B-24 with the 8th Air Force in the fall/winter air campaigns in the European Theater of Operations.
The 44th Bomb Group flew the first of its 344 combat missions against the Axis powers in World War II on 7 November 1942.
The first B-24 loss over German territory occurred on 26 February 1943. Earlier in the war, both the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force had abandoned daylight bombing raids because neither could sustain the losses suffered. The Americans persisted, however, at great cost in men and aircraft. In the period between 7 November 1942 and 8 March 1943, the 44th Bomb Group lost 13 of its original 27 B-24s.
For some time, newspapers had been requesting permission for a reporter to go on one of the missions.
Robert B. Post and five other reporters of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' were granted permission. Post was the only reporter assigned to a B-24-equipped group, the 44th Bomb Group. He flew in B-24 41-23777 ("Maisey") on Mission No. 37 to
Bremen, Germany
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
. Intercepted just short of the target, the B-24 came under attack from
JG 1's
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
s. ''
Leutnant
() is the lowest Junior officer rank in the armed forces the German (language), German-speaking of Germany (Bundeswehr), Austrian Armed Forces, and military of Switzerland.
History
The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") fro ...
''
Heinz Knoke (who finished the war with 31 kills) shot down the Liberator. Post and all but two of the 11 men aboard were killed. Knoke reported: "The fire spread out along the right wing. The inboard propeller windmilled to a stop. And then, suddenly, the whole wing broke off. At an altitude of 900 metres there was a tremendous explosion. The bomber had disintegrated. The blazing wreckage landed just outside
Bad Zwischenahn
Bad Zwischenahn (Low German: ''Twüschenahn'') is a town and a municipality in the low-lying Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is on Zwischenahner Meer, approximately 15 km northwest of Oldenburg and about 70 km south of t ...
airfield."
![B-24 Destroyed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/B-24_Destroyed.jpg)
A total of 177 B-24s carried out the famous second attack on
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...
(
Operation Tidal Wave
Operation Tidal Wave was an air attack by bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) based in Libya on nine oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania on 1 August 1943, during World War II. It was a strategic bombing mission and part of ...
) on 1 August 1943. This was the B-24's most costly mission. In late June 1943, the three B-24 Liberator groups of the 8th Air Force were sent to North Africa on temporary duty with the 9th Air Force:
the 44th Bomb Group joined the 93rd and the 389th Bomb Groups. These three units then joined the two 9th Air Force B-24 Liberator groups for low-level attack on the German-held
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n oil complex at Ploiești. This daring assault by high-altitude bombers at treetop level was a costly success. The attack became disorganized after a navigational error which alerted the defenders and protracted the bomb run from the initial point. The 44th destroyed both of its assigned targets, but lost 11 of its 37 bombers and their crews. Colonel
Leon W. Johnson, the 44th's commander, was awarded the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
for his leadership, as was Col.
John Riley "Killer" Kane, commander of the 98th Bomb Group. Kane and Johnson survived the mission but three other recipients of the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
for their actions in the mission—Lt.
Lloyd H. Hughes, Maj.
John L. Jerstad and Col.
Addison E. Baker
Lieutenant Colonel Addison Earl Baker (January 1, 1907 – August 1, 1943) was commander of the 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the U.S. Army Air Forces who led the group on the low-altitude Allied bombing mission of oil refineries at Plo ...
—were killed in action. For its actions on the Ploiești mission, the 44th was awarded its second
Distinguished Unit Citation
The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enem ...
.
Of the 177 B-24s that were dispatched on this operation, 54 were lost.
Radar/Electronic warfare and PGM deployment
The B-24 advanced the use of electronic warfare and equipped Search Bomber (SB), Low Altitude (LAB) and Radar Counter Measure (RCM) squadrons in addition to high-altitude bombing. Among the specialized squadrons were the 20th RS (RCM), 36th BS (RCM), 406th NLS, 63rd BS (SB) SeaHawks, 373rdBS (LAB) and 868th BS (SB) Snoopers.
The
36th Bombardment Squadron was the Eighth Air Force's only electronic warfare squadron using specially equipped B-24s to jam German VHF communications during large Eighth Air Force daylight raids. In addition, the 36th BS flew night missions with the
Royal Air Force Bomber Command 100 Group at
RAF Sculthorpe
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
. Radar Counter Measures (RCM) was code-named CARPET, however, this should not be confused with agent and supply drops, code-named "Carpetbaggers".
The B-24 was the platform for the pioneering use of the Americans'
Azon
AZON (or Azon), from "azimuth only", was one of the world's first guided weapons, deployed by the Allies and contemporary with the German Fritz X.
Officially designated VB-1 ("Vertical Bomb 1"), it was invented by Major Henry J. Rand and Thoma ...
laterally-guidable
precision-guided munition
A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gul ...
ordnance design, a pioneering
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
radio-guided munition system during World War II. The ordnance of 1,000 lb weight, was deployed operationally by USAAF B-24s in both Europe and the
CBI theaters. The
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
's
458th Bombardment Group deployed the guided Azon ordnance in Europe between June and September 1944, while the
Tenth Air Force
The Tenth Air Force (10 AF) is a unit of the U.S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field (formerly Carswell AF ...
's
493rd Bomb Squadron employed it against Japanese railroad bridges on the
Burma Railway
The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
in early 1945, fulfilling the intended original purpose of the Azon system.
Assembly ships
![First Sergeant B-24D Assembly Ship or Judas Goat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/First_Sergeant_B-24D_Assembly_Ship_or_Judas_Goat.jpg)
In February 1944, the 2nd Division authorized the use of "Assembly Ships" (or "Formation Ships") specially fitted to aid the assembly of individual group formations. They were equipped with signal lighting, provision for quantity discharge of pyrotechnics, and were painted with distinctive group-specific high-contrast patterns of stripes, checkers or polka dots to enable easy recognition by their flock of bombers. The aircraft used in the first allocation were B-24Ds retired by the 44th, 93rd and 389th Groups. Arrangements for signal lighting varied from group to group, but generally consisted of white flashing lamps on both sides of the fuselage arranged to form the identification letter of the group. All armament and armor were removed and in some cases the tail turret. In the B-24Hs used for this purpose, the nose turret was removed and replaced by a "carpetbagger" type nose. Following incidents when flare guns were accidentally discharged inside the rear fuselage, some assembly (formation) ships had pyrotechnic guns fixed through the fuselage sides. As these aircraft normally returned to base once a formation had been established, a skeleton crew of two pilots, navigator, radio operator and one or two flare discharge operators were carried. In some groups an observer officer flew in the tail position to monitor the formation. These aircraft became known as
Judas goat
A Judas goat is a trained goat used in general animal herding. The Judas goat is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination. In stockyards, a Judas goat will lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life is s ...
s.
"Carpetbaggers"
![B24-Cockpit USAF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/B24-Cockpit_USAF.jpg)
From August 1943 until the end of the war in Europe, specially modified B-24Ds were used in classified missions. In a joint venture between the Army Air Forces and the
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...
(OSS) code-named
Operation Carpetbagger
Operation Carpetbagger was a World War II operation to provide aerial supply of weapons and other '' matériel'' to resistance fighters in France, Italy and the Low Countries by the U.S. Army Air Forces that began on 4 January 1944.
History
In ...
, pilots and crews flew specially modified B-24Ds painted with a glossy black anti-searchlight paint to supply friendly underground forces throughout German-occupied Europe. They also flew
C-47s,
Douglas A-26 Invader
The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...
s, and British
de Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...
s.
Carpetbagger aircraft flew spies called "Joes" and commando groups prior to the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day and afterward, and retrieved over 5,000 officers and enlisted men who had escaped capture after being shot down. The low-altitude, nighttime operation was extremely dangerous and took its toll on these airmen. The first aircrews chosen for this operation came from the anti-submarine bomb groups because of their special training in low altitude flying and pinpoint navigation skills. Because of their special skills, they were called upon to fly fuel to
General George Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
's army during the summer and early autumn of 1944 when it outran its fuel supply. When this mission was completed, it was recorded that 822,791 US gallons (3,114,264 L) of 80 octane gasoline had been delivered to three different airfields in France and Belgium.
The 859 BS was converted from day bombardment to these operations and then transferred to the 15th Air Force.
Transport variants
C-87 Liberator Express
In early 1942, with the need for a purpose-built transport with better high-altitude performance and longer range than the
Douglas C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...
, the San Diego plant began sending B-24D models to Fort Worth for conversion into the C-87 transport. The conversion had a hinged cargo door at the nose eliminating transparent nose and large cargo doors installed in the waist area. The C-87 had a large cargo floor, less powerful supercharged engines, no gun turrets, a floor in the bomb bay for freight, and some side windows. The navigator's position was relocated behind the pilot. Indigenous Fort Worth C-87 and AT-22 production began with the FY 1943 order for 80 serial-numbered airframes 43-30548 through 43–30627.
The C-87A was a dedicated VIP series built in small quantity. Early versions were fitted with a single .50 caliber (12.7 mm) Browning machine gun in their tails, and a XC-87B version proposed two .50 caliber (12.7 mm) fixed machine guns for the nose, operable by the pilot, though these were eventually removed. The XC-87B also designated a resurrected crash victim B-24D (42-40355) fitted with low altitude power packages and a forward fuselage extension. The extended nose earned it the name Pinocchio. Later modifications gave it a single tail and yet another type of engine packages bring it to near C-87C configuration. Other C-87 designations were the
U.S. Navy designation RY and Lend Lease Liberator Cargo VII.
Although only 287 C-87 and eight U.S. Navy RY variants were produced, they were still important in the Army Air Forces' airlift operations early in the war when aircraft with high-altitude, long-range heavy hauling abilities were in short supply. The C-87 flew in many theaters of war, including much hazardous duty in flights from Labrador to Greenland and Iceland in the North Atlantic. In the
China Burma India Theater
China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was officia ...
(CBI), the C-87 was used to airlift cargo and fuel over
the Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...
(the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
) from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Early in the campaign, the C-87 was the only readily available American transport that could fly over the Himalayas while heavily loaded, rather than relying on circuitous and highly dangerous routes through valleys and mountain passes, but the type was not very popular with crews: they complained of various hazards including the fuel system, engines and cockpit accessories, while the type was notorious for leaking fuel tanks and mid-air fires a constant danger.
The C-87 also shared the Liberator's dangerous sensitivity to icing, particularly prevalent over Himalayan routes.
With these difficulties in mind it is little wonder the ATC India China Division was the only unit in the Command to be combat decorated during WWII, having been awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation.
The C-87 was not always popular with the aircrews assigned to fly it. The aircraft had the distressing habit of losing all cockpit electrical power on takeoff or at landings, its engine power and reliability with the less-powerful superchargers also often left much to be desired. It proved to be quite vulnerable to icing conditions, and was prone to fall into a spin with even small amounts of ice accumulated onto its Davis wing. Since the aircraft had been designed to be a bomber that dropped its loads while airborne, the C-87's nose
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
was not designed for landing with a heavy load, and frequently it collapsed from the stress. Fuel leaks inside the crew compartment from the hastily modified long-range fuel system were an all-too-common occurrence. Lastly, unlike a typical purpose-designed transport, the B-24 was not designed to tolerate large loading variations because most of its load was held on fixed bomb racks. Consequently, it was relatively easy for a poorly trained ground crew to load a C-87 with its
center of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Thi ...
too far forward or aft, rendering the aircraft difficult to control due to inadequate or excessive longitudinal stability. In his autobiography, ''
Fate is the Hunter
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
'', the writer
Ernest K. Gann
Ernest Kellogg Gann (October 13, 1910 – December 19, 1991) was an American aviator, author, sailor, and conservationist. He is best known for his novels and memoirs about early aviation and nautical adventures. Some of his more famous aviation ...
reported that, while flying air cargo in India, he barely avoided crashing an improperly loaded C-87 into the
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...
. As soon as more dependable
Douglas C-54 Skymaster
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...
and
Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando
The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...
transports became available in large numbers, C-87s were rapidly phased out of combat zone service, with some later used as VIP transports or B-24 flight crew trainers.
C-109 version
![C-109 Liberator Express tanker unloading](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/C-109_Liberator_Express_tanker_unloading.jpg)
The C-109 was a dedicated fuel transport version of the B-24 conceived as a support aircraft for Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations in central China.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090304014706/http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b24_27.html Consolidated C-109] Unlike the C-87, the C-109 was not built on the assembly line, but rather was converted from existing B-24 bomber production; to save weight, the glass nose, armament, turret fairings and bombardment equipment were removed. Several storage tanks were added, allowing a C-109 to carry 2,900 gal (11,000 L) of fuel weighing over .
Plans originally called for 2,000 C-109s to support 10 groups of B-29s (approximately 400) in China, but the
capture of the Mariana Islands provided a far more easily resupplied location for raids on mainland
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and the plans were greatly scaled back. Only 218 C-109s were actually converted. After the transfer of the B-29s, the C-109s were reassigned to the
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces.
It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
. According to the history of the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, at least one squadron was assigned to the IX Troop Carrier Command in Europe to transport gasoline to advancing ground and air forces on the Continent after the Normandy invasion.
However, whereas a combat-loaded B-24 could safely take off with room to spare from a runway, a loaded C-109 required every foot of such a runway to break ground, and crashes on takeoff were not uncommon. The aircraft demonstrated unstable flight characteristics with all storage tanks filled, and proved very difficult to land fully loaded at airfields above MSL in elevation, such as those around
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
. After it was discovered that these problems could be alleviated by flying with the forward storage tank empty, this practice became fairly routine, enhancing aircrew safety at the cost of some fuel-carrying capacity. Many C-109s were lost in flying
the Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...
airlift to China.
The ''Singing Cowboy''
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
served in the
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces.
It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...
(in the same squadron as
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
), and described flying the C-109 over "
The Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...
" as "the thrill that lasts a lifetime".
B-24 bombers were also extensively used in the Pacific area after the end of World War II to transport cargo and supplies during the rebuilding of Japan, China, and the Philippines.
U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps
PB4Y-1
B-24s were also used by the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
and
U.S. Marine Corps for
ASW, anti-ship patrol, and
photographic reconnaissance
Imagery intelligence (IMINT), pronounced as either as ''Im-Int'' or ''I-Mint'', is an intelligence gathering discipline wherein imagery is analyzed (or "exploited") to identify information of intelligence value. Imagery used for defense intel ...
in the Pacific Theater, and by the
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
for patrol and
SAR
SAR or Sar may refer to:
Places
* Sar (river), Galicia, Spain
* Sar, Bahrain, a residential district
* Sar, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran
* Sar, Tibet, Tibet Autonomous Region of China
* Šar Mountains, in southeastern Europe
...
. Naval B-24s were redesignated PB4Y-1, meaning the fourth patrol bomber design built by Consolidated Aircraft. Navy PB4Y-1s assigned to Atlantic ASW and all Coast Guard PB4Y-1s had the ventral turret replaced by a retractable radome. Also, most naval aircraft had an Erco ball turret installed in the nose position, replacing the glass nose and other styles of turret.
The Consolidated Aircraft Company
PB4Y-2 Privateer
The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Lib ...
was a World War II
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
patrol bomber
A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol rol ...
that was derived directly from the B-24 Liberator. The U.S. Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Liberator, and along with
maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008
Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities.
Maritime patrol refers to ac ...
B-24s used by
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
this type of patrol plane had been quite successful. A fully navalized design was seen as advantageous, and Consolidated Aircraft developed a purpose-built long-range patrol bomber in 1943, designated PB4Y-2. The Privateer had non-turbosupercharged engines for weight savings and optimal performance at low to medium patrol
altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
s, and was visually distinguishable from the B-24 and PB4Y-1 by its longer fuselage, single tall vertical stabilizer (rather than a twin tail), two dorsal turrets, and teardrop-shaped waist gun blisters (similar in appearance to those on Consolidated's own
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...
).
Australia
RAAF
Australian aircrew seconded to the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
flew Liberators in all theatres of the war, including with
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
, in the Middle East, and with
South East Asia Command
South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allies of World War II, Allied operations in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, South-East Asian Theatre during the World War II, Second World War.
Histo ...
, while some flew in
South African Air Force
"Through hardships to the stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment ...
squadrons. Liberators were introduced into service in the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) in 1944, after the American commander of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF), General
George C. Kenney
George Churchill Kenney (August 6, 1889 – August 9, 1977) was a United States Army general during World War II. He is best known as the commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), a position he held between Augu ...
, suggested that seven heavy bomber squadrons be raised to supplement the efforts of American Liberator squadrons. The USAAF transferred some aircraft to the RAAF, while the remainder would be delivered from the USA under
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
. Some RAAF aircrew were given operational experience in Liberators while attached to USAAF squadrons. Seven flying squadrons, an
operational training unit
Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles.
OTUs
; No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 OTU): The Unit was formed in ...
, and two special duties flights were equipped with the aircraft by the end of World War II in August 1945.
The RAAF Liberators saw service in the
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (except for Sumatra), Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of ...
. Flying mainly from bases in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
,
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
and
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, aircraft conducted bombing raids against Japanese positions, ships and strategic targets in
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
,
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
and the
Netherlands East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
. In addition, the small number of Liberators operated by
No. 200 Flight played an important role in supporting covert operations conducted by the
Allied Intelligence Bureau
The Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) was a joint United States, Australian, Dutch and British intelligence and special operations agency during World War II. It was responsible for operating parties of spies and commandos behind Japanese lines ...
; and other Liberators were converted to VIP transports. A total of 287 B-24D, B-24J, B-24L and B-24M aircraft were supplied to the RAAF, of which 33 were lost in action or accidents, with more than 200 Australians killed. Following the Japanese surrender, the RAAF's Liberators participated in flying former
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
and other personnel back to Australia. Liberators remained in service until 1948, when they were replaced by
Avro Lincoln
The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...
s.
Qantas
In June 1944,
Qantas Empire Airways began service with the first of two converted LB-30 Liberators on the
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
to
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
route to augment
Consolidated PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...
s that had been used since May 1943.
The Double Sunrise
The Double Sunrise service was formed in 1943 to re-establish the Australia–England air link that had been cut due to the fall of Singapore in 1942. The service initially operated from its base in Nedlands, Western Australia near Perth, to th ...
route across the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
was long, the longest non-stop airline route in the world at the time. The Liberators flew a shorter over-water route from
Learmonth to an airfield northeast of Colombo, but they could make the flight in 17 hours with a payload, whereas the Catalinas required 27 hours and had to carry so much auxiliary fuel that their payload was limited to only . The route was named ''
Kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
Service'' and marked the first time that Qantas's now-famous Kangaroo logo was used; passengers received a certificate proclaiming them as members of ''The Order of the Longest Hop''. The Liberators were later replaced by
Avro Lancastrian
The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a Canadian and British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabit ...
s.
SAAF
Two squadrons of the
South African Air Force
"Through hardships to the stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment ...
(SAAF) also flew B-24s:
31 and
34 Squadrons under No 2 Wing SAAF based at
Foggia
Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...
, Italy. These two squadrons engaged in relief flights to
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
and
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
in Poland to support the
Polish Uprising against Nazi Occupation.
Luftwaffe use
Three B-24s were captured and then operated by the German secret operations unit
KG 200
''Kampfgeschwader'' 200 (KG 200) (" irCombat Squadron 200") was a German ''Luftwaffe'' special operations unit during World War II. The unit carried out especially difficult bombing and transport operations and long-distance reconnaissance flight ...
, which also tested, evaluated and sometimes clandestinely operated captured enemy aircraft during World War II.
One of these was captured at Venegono, Italy on 29 March 1944. It was used on penetration missions in RAF bomber streams at night in Luftwaffe markings. On a ferry flight from Hildesheim to Bavaria on 6 April 1945 it was shot down – by German anti-aircraft fire.
Crashed B-24s were the source of the landing gear units for the strictly experimental
Junkers Ju 287
The Junkers Ju 287 was an aerodynamic testbed built in Nazi Germany to develop the technology required for a multi-engine jet bomber. It was powered by four Junkers Jumo 004 engines, featured a novel forward-swept wing, and apart from the wing ...
V1 first prototype jet bomber airframe in 1945.
Soviet use
Only one B-24 was officially delivered to the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
according to the
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
agreements, stranded in
Yakutsk
Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of ...
while flying a government mission to the Soviet Union in November 1942. In addition, 73 Liberators of various models that had force-landed on European airfields were recovered and 30 of them were repaired and used by the
45th Bomber Aviation Division.
[Gordon 2008, p. 479.] The regiment concerned appears to have been the 890th Bomber Aviation Regiment at Baranovichi until 1944, and then
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
.
Chinese use
![375th Bombardment Squadron - B-24 Liberator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/375th_Bombardment_Squadron_-_B-24_Liberator.jpg)
The B-24 bombers of the
308th Bombardment Group (Heavy) joined the battlefield in March 1944 as the heavy bombers of the
Fourteenth Air Force
The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The command was responsible for the organizatio ...
to fight against the Japanese during the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
(WW2 in China). About 48 B-24Ms were provided by the U.S. to the
Chinese Nationalist Air Force
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
after WW2 and were used during the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
. The
PLAAF
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Pe ...
had two B-24Ms captured from the Chinese Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War and operated until 1952.
Production
Approximately 18,500 B-24s were produced across a number of versions, including over 4,600 manufactured by
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
. It holds records as the world's most-produced bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history. Production took place at 5 plants. At Ford's
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan.
As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, and ...
based
Willow Run
Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator hea ...
Bomber plant alone, one B-24 was being produced every 59 minutes at its peak, a rate so large that production exceeded the military's ability to use the aircraft. Such were the production numbers it has been said that more aluminum, aircrew, and effort went into the B-24 than any other aircraft in history.
Continued development work by Consolidated produced a handful of transitional B-24Cs with
turbocharged
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
instead of
supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
engines. The turbocharged engines were the reason for the flattened oval shape of the nacelles that distinguished all subsequent Liberator models.
The B-24D was the first mass-produced series. The B-24D was the Liberator III in British service. It entered US service in early 1942. It had turbocharged engines and increased fuel capacity. Three more 0.50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns brought the defensive armament up to 10 machine guns. At (29.76 short tons) maximum takeoff weight, it was one of the heaviest aircraft in the world; comparable with the British "heavies", with fully loaded weights of 30 short tons for (and nearly identical to) the
Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, the 34 short ton
Lancaster and the 27 short ton
Halifax.
Production of B-24s increased at an astonishing rate throughout 1942 and 1943. Consolidated Aircraft tripled the size of its plant in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
and built a large new plant outside
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
in order to receive the massive amounts of knock-down kits that the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
shipped via truck from its Ypsilanti Michigan Facility. A new government plant was built in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
with
Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...
funds and leased to
Douglas Aircraft
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
for assembly of B-24s from Ford parts; Douglas ultimately built a total of 962 of the D, E, H, and J models there.
Bell Aircraft
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many ...
built the B-24 under license at a factory near
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...
, just northwest of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Online by mid-1943, the new plant produced hundreds of B-24 Liberator bombers.
[ Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) ]Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
p.619 The aircraft was also built at
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
plant B in the city of
Grand Prairie, Texas
Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it t ...
having only starting production of the B-24G in 1943. None of these were minor operations, but they were dwarfed by Ford's vast new purpose-built factory constructed at
Willow Run
Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator hea ...
near
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Michigan.
According to the Willow Run Reference Book published 1 February 1945, Ford broke ground on Willow Run on 18 April 1941, with the first plane coming off the line on 10 September 1942. Willow Run had the largest assembly line in the world (). At its peak in 1944, the Willow Run plant produced one B-24 per hour and 650 B-24s per month.
[Nolan, Jenny]
"Michigan History: Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy."
''The Detroit News'', 28 January 1997. Retrieved: 7 August 2010. In mid-1944, the production of the B-24 was consolidated from several different companies (including some in Texas) to two large factories: the
Consolidated Aircraft Company
The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was ...
in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
and the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
's factory in
Willow Run
Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator hea ...
, near
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, which had been specially designed to produce B-24s.
By 1945, Ford made 70% of all B-24s in two nine-hour shifts. Pilots and crews slept on 1,300 cots at Willow Run waiting for their B-24s to roll off the assembly line. At Willow Run, Ford produced half of 18,000 total B-24s alone.
Up into December 1944, Ford had also produced an additional 7242 KD or 'Knock Down' Kits that would be trucked to and assembled by Consolidated in Ft. Worth and Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa. Each of the B-24 factories was identified with a production code suffix: Consolidated/San Diego, CO; Consolidated/Fort Worth, CF; Ford/Willow Run, FO; North American, NT; and Douglas/Tulsa, DT.
![B-24 300-239](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/B-24_300-239.jpg)
In 1943, the model of Liberator considered by many the "definitive" version was introduced. The B-24H was longer, had a powered gun turret in the upper nose to reduce vulnerability to head-on attack, and was fitted with an improved bomb sight (behind a simpler, three-panel glazed lower nose), autopilot, and fuel transfer system. Consolidated, Douglas and Ford all manufactured the B-24H, while North American made the slightly different B-24G. All five plants switched over to the almost identical B-24J in August 1943. The later B-24L and B-24M were lighter-weight versions and differed mainly in defensive armament.
As the war progressed, the complexity of servicing the Liberator continued to increase. The B-24 variants made by each company differed slightly, so repair depots had to stock many different parts to support various models. Fortunately, this problem was eased in the summer of 1944, when North American, Douglas and Consolidated Aircraft at Fort Worth stopped making B-24s, leaving only the Consolidated plant in San Diego and the Ford plant in Willow Run.
In all, 18,482 B-24s were built by September 1945. Twelve thousand saw service with the USAAF, with a peak inventory in September 1944 of 6,043. The
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
received 977 PB4Y-1s (Liberators originally ordered by the USAAF) and 739
PB4Y-2 Privateers, derived from the B-24. The
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
received about 2,100 B-24s equipping 46 bomber groups and 41 squadrons; the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF) 1,200 B-24Js; and the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF) 287 B-24Js, B-24Ls, and B-24Ms. Liberators were the only heavy bomber flown by the RAAF in the Pacific.
Variants
U.S. Army Air Forces variants
;XB-24: Single prototype ordered by Army Air Corps on 30 March 1939. Powered by four
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33 Twin Wasps rated at for takeoff and at . Bombload of eight bombs, with defensive armament of three and four machine guns. First flew 29 December 1939. Later converted to XB-24B.
[Wegg 1990, pp. 82–83.][Dorr and Lake 2002, p. 129.]
;YB-24/LB-30A: Pre-production prototypes, six of which were sold to the UK directly as the LB-30A. US funds and serial numbers were deferred to the B-24D production. The seventh (40-702) remained in U.S. service as the sole YB-24 for service test. (Total: 7)
;B-24: Ordered on 27 April 1939, less than 30 days after the XB-24 was ordered and before its completion. Minor modifications included eliminating leading-edge slots and adding de-icing boots. (Total: 1, converted YB-24.)
![DF-ST-88-06744-B-24-Gathering of Eagles convention](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/DF-ST-88-06744-B-24-Gathering_of_Eagles_convention.JPEG)
;B-24A/LB-30B: Ordered in 1939, the B-24A was the first production model. Due to the need for long-range aircraft, the B-24A was ordered before any version of the B-24 flew. Aerodynamics improvements over the XB-24 led to better performance. Nine built as transports, transferred to Ferrying Command; while twenty were sold to the UK (before Lend-Lease) as LB-30Bs. (Total: 20 LB-30B; 9 B-24A)
;Liberator B Mk II/LB-30: The first combat-ready B-24. The modifications included a three-foot nose extension, a deeper rear fuselage, wider tailplane, self-sealing fuel tanks, and armor. Built to British specifications with British equipment so there was no B-24 equivalent but it was similar to the B-24C. Except for the first aircraft which was completed as a pattern aircraft, and subsequently lost in a test flight, the rest of the run was completed without armament, which the British would fit after being flown to the UK. With the US entry into the war in December 1941, some 75 were requisitioned by the USAAF during delivery and retained the LB-30 designation in service. These were delivered unarmed. Browning M2 guns were fitted throughout; single guns were mounted in the nose, both waist positions, and the ventral tunnel; and a twin manual mount in the tail replaced the British 4 Browning tail turret, and a Martin turret with two guns replaced the Boulton Paul dorsal turret. Fifteen were sent to the south west Pacific, including some to Java to assist the Dutch East Indies, while three went to Alaska, six to Midway Island immediately after the naval battle in June. Six were lost in various accidents. Twenty-three were later returned to the UK in 1943. Seventeen were fitted with ASV radar and used in the Panama Canal Zone. (Total production: 165)
;XB-24B: A newly funded conversion of the XB-24 after it failed to reach its projected top speed. The
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33 radials were replaced with R-1830-41 turbo-supercharged radials rated at , increasing its top speed by . The engine cowlings were made elliptical to accommodate the turbo-superchargers. The XB-24B also lacked the original's engine slots. It was re-serialed. (Total: one converted XB-24) XB-24B 39-680 was converted into a luxury airliner for
Consairway
Consairway (also Consairway Division or Consolidated Airway) was an American civilian wartime airline created in late-1941 as a subsidiary of the Convair, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. The airline worked under contract to the United St ...
which included gutting the interior, cutting new windows, and dividing the interior into compartments with individual and bench seating and two-tier Pullman-style sleeping berths. Trim was added for sound-proofing, and a galley with refrigerator and hot plates.
;B-24C: New production funded from deferred funds after LB-30A to the UK. Used the engine package tested in the XB-24B and the new fuselage of the LB-30. The tail
air gunner position was improved by adding a hydraulically powered Consolidated A-6 turret with twin
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s; a
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
powered dorsal turret was added to the forward fuselage. One (#84) converted to prototype the "three in nose" armament for the B-24D. FY funds and serial numbers transferred from B-24A. (Total: nine)
;B-24D: First to see large scale production; ordered from 1940 to 1942, as a B-24C with more powerful R-1830-43 supercharged engines. The D model was initially equipped with a remotely operated and periscopically sighted
Bendix belly turret, as the first examples of the B-17E Flying Fortress and some early models of the
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
medium bomber had used, but this was unsatisfactory and was discontinued after the 287th aircraft. Later aircraft reverted to the earlier manually operated "tunnel" mounting with a single machine gun. The tunnel gun was eventually replaced by the
Sperry Sperry may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
*Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County
*Sperry, Missouri
*Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County
*Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana
*Sperry Glacier, ...
ball turret, which had also been adopted by the later B-17E Fortresses, but made retractable for the Liberator as the fuselage was very close to the ground. Late B-24Ds had "cheek" guns mounted on either side of the nose, just behind the "greenhouse". (Total: 2,696: 2,381
Consolidated,
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
; 305 Consolidated,
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
; 10
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
,
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
).
![Consolidated B-24E (4641192942)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Consolidated_B-24E_%284641192942%29.jpg)
;B-24E: A slight alteration of the B-24D built by
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, using R-1830-65 engines. The B-24E retained the belly tunnel gun. The USAAF used the B-24Es primarily as trainers as were the aircraft produced by Consolidated at San Diego (CO). Ford also built sub-assemblies for
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
and Convair Fort Worth; these sub-assemblies were identical to Ford-built B-24Es, except that they used the same R-1830-43 radial engines as the B-24D. These sub-assemblies were called KD (knock down) kits and were trucked from Willow Run to the Southwest for the final assembly. (Total: 801)
;XB-24F: A prototype made to test thermal de-icers to replace the standard inflatable rubber "boots". (Total: one converted B-24D)
;B-24G: Designation for B-24D aircraft built by
North American Aviation
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...
pursuant to a 1942 contract. Equipped with
Sperry Sperry may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
*Sperry, Iowa, community in Des Moines County
*Sperry, Missouri
*Sperry, Oklahoma, town in Tulsa County
*Sperry Chalet, historic backcountry chalet, Glacier National Park, Montana
*Sperry Glacier, ...
ball turret and three flexible
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s in nose. (Total: 25)
;B-24G-1: as B-24G but with A-6 nose turret. Most were operated by the 15th Air Force in Italy. (Total: 405)
;B-24H: Because of the vulnerability of the B-24 to head-on attack with the earlier "greenhouse" nose, the B-24H design incorporated an electrically powered Emerson A-15 nose turret above the bombardier's position, similar to where the
Frazer-Nash
Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed ...
FN5 nose turret on the Avro Lancaster was placed. Approximately 50 other airframe changes were made, including a redesigned bombardier compartment. The tail turret was given larger windows for better visibility and the Martin A-3 dorsal turret received an enlarged "high hat" dome. The waist gunner positions were enclosed with
Plexiglass
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...
windows, and laterally offset to reduce interference between the waist gunners. Most H model aircraft were built by Ford at Willow Run. (Total: 3,100)
![B-24J-55-CO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/B-24J-55-CO.jpg)
;B-24J: The B-24J was similar to the B-24H, but shortages of the Emerson nose turret required use of a modified, hydraulically powered Consolidated A-6 turret in most J model aircraft built at Consolidated's San Diego and Fort Worth factories. The B-24J featured an improved autopilot (type C-1) and a M-1 series bombsight. B-24H sub-assemblies made by Ford and constructed by other companies and any model with a C-1 or M-1 retrofit, were all designated B-24J. The J model was the only version to be built by all five factories involved in B-24 production. (Total: 6,678)
;XB-24K: Developed from the B-24ST, with the B-23 Dragon
empennage
The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
replaced by the tail of a
Douglas C-54 Skymaster
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...
.
The improved performance and handling of the B-24ST and XB-24K led to the decision to incorporate a single tail in the PB4Y-2 and B-24N. (Total: one converted B-24D)
;B-24L: Because of the excessive weight of the B-24J, the Army requested a lightened version. In the B-24L, the Sperry ball turret was replaced by a floor ring mount with two machine guns, and the A-6B tail turret by an M-6A. Later aircraft were delivered from the factory without tail guns. An A-6B or M-6A turret (190 total), a hand-held but hydraulically assisted twin mount (42) or a manually operated twin mounting was installed at a depot before delivery to operational units. The L model was built at Willow Run and Consolidated's San Diego factory. (Total: 1,667)
![B-24M-20-CO USAAF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/B-24M-20-CO_USAAF.jpg)
;B-24M: Improved B-24L with further weight-savings. The B-24M used a lighter version of the A-6B tail turret; the waist gunner positions were left open, and the retractable Sperry ventral ball turret was reintroduced. For better visibility from the flight deck, the windshield in Ford-built aircraft was replaced by a version with less framing from Block 20 onward. The B-24M became the last production model of the B-24 and many flew only from the factory to the scrap yard. (Total: 2,593)
;XB-24N: A redesign of the B-24J, made to accommodate a single tail. It also featured an Emerson 128 ball turret in the nose and a stationary tail gunner's position. While 5,168 B-24Ns were ordered, the end of the war resulted in cancellation of all contracts before production could begin. Its single tail was said to be the inspiration for the PB4Y-2 Privateer's similar single fin/rudder tail design.(Total: one)
;YB-24N: Pre-production service test version of the XB-24N. (Total: seven)
;XB-24P: A modified B-24D, used by
Sperry Gyroscope Company
Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
to test airborne fire control systems. (Total: one converted B-24D)
;XB-24Q: A
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
conversion of the B-24L. Used to test a radar-controlled tail turret intended for use in the
Boeing B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
. (Total: one converted B-24L)
;
XB-41: With no fighters capable of escorting bombers on deep strike missions early in World War II, the Army authorized heavily armed bombers as "gunship" escorts, which resulted in both the B-17 derived
YB-40 Flying Fortress
The Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress was a modification for operational testing purposes of the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber aircraft, converted to act as a heavily armed gunship to support other bombers during World War II. At the time of its deve ...
gunship and its Liberator-derived XB-41 counterpart. The XB-41 had fourteen
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s, including a Bendix chin turret and a second
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
A-3 turret on the upper fuselage. One aircraft was completed in 1942. Performance was degraded drastically with the additional turrets and were unable to keep up with bomber formations, particularly when bombs had been dropped. Following testing in 1943 the project was canceled. (Total: one converted B-24D)
;B-24ST: An experimental aircraft, The B-24ST (for Single Tail, an unofficial designation applied by Ford) was made by
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
by fitting a Douglas B-23 Dragon empennage onto a B-24D airframe. The aircraft was more stable and had better handling than other models and was used as the basis of the XB-24K.
[Consolidated page at Aerofiles.com](_blank)
retrieved 23 October 2013
;AT-22 or TB-24: C-87 used for flight engineer training.
:*RB-24L: Developed for training B-29 gunners on an identical remote gun system installed on a B-24L.
:*TB-24L: As with the RB-24L, but with additional radar equipment.
![Consolidated XB-24J](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Consolidated_XB-24J.jpg)
;Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express, C-87 Liberator Express: Transports with accommodation for 20 passengers.
:*C-87A: VIP transports with R-1830-45 instead of -43 engines and sleeping berths for 16 passengers.
:*C-87B: Projected armed transport with nose guns, dorsal turret, and ventral tunnel gun; not produced.
:*C-87C: U.S. Army Air Force/Air Force designation for the RY-3.
;XC-109/C-109: Tankers used to ferry fuel from India to China to support early B-29 raids against Japan.
;XF-7: Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the B-24D.
;F-7: Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the B-24H; -FO block.
;F-7A: Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the B-24J; three cameras in the nose and three in the bomb bay.
;F-7B: Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the B-24J; six cameras in the bomb bay.
;BQ-8: A number of worn-out B-24D and B-24Js were converted as radio-controlled flying bombs to attack German targets. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was killed in a BQ-8 during Operation Aphrodite, Operation Anvil.
U.S. Navy nomenclature and sub-variants
;PB4Y-1: U.S. Navy designation applied to 976 navalized B-24D, J, L and M models built at Consolidated's San Diego factory, as well as one North American-built B-24G. Later aircraft were equipped with an Engineering and Research Corporation, ERCO nose turret.
;PB4Y-1P: Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the PB4Y-1.
;
PB4Y-2 Privateer
The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Lib ...
: A developed PB4Y with a large single fin, a lengthened fuselage and many other improvements and changes.
;P5Y: Proposed twin-engined patrol version of PB4Y-1. Unbuilt.
[Wegg 1990, p. 90.]
;RY-1: U.S. Navy designation for the C-87A.
;RY-2: U.S. Navy designation for the C-87.
;RY-3: Transport variant of the PB4Y-2.
;Consolidated R2Y, R2Y: ''Liberator Liner'' built using a new fuselage for the US Navy as an airliner with 48 seats
British Commonwealth nomenclature and sub-variants
![B 24 in raf service 23 03 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/B_24_in_raf_service_23_03_05.jpg)
;Consolidated Liberator I, Liberator C Mk.I: YB-24/LB-30A, direct purchase aircraft for the RAF. (Total: 9) Considered unsuitable for combat, all rebuilt as the C.1 and used by BOAC on a ferry service between the UK and Canada, including transferring RAF aircrew to Canada for ferrying Lend-Lease aircraft to the UK.
;Consolidated Liberator I, Liberator B Mk.I/GR Mk.I: B-24A/LB-30B, direct purchase aircraft for the RAF. (Total: 20) Considered unsuitable for combat, some rebuilt as the GR.1 and used in British anti-submarine patrol squadrons.
;Liberator B Mk.II: LB-30. The first combat-ready B-24. The modifications included a three-foot nose extension as well as a deeper aft fuselage and wider tailplane and self-sealing fuel tanks and armor; built to meet British specifications with British equipment and armament—there was no direct B-24 equivalent but similar to the B-24C. Except for the first aircraft off the lines (completed to specifications as a pattern aircraft and subsequently lost in a test flight over San Diego Bay), the rest of the run was completed without armament, which the British would fit after aerial delivery to the UK. With the American entry into the war in December 1941, the USAAF requisitioned about 75, which retained the LB-30 designation in service, but 23 were returned in 1943. A small series of B Mk.IIs were rebuilt late in the war as unarmed transports both for the RAF and the USAAF, including one modified as the personal transport of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, named 'Commando (aircraft), Commando'. (Total production: 165)
;Liberator B Mk.III: B-24D with single Browning machine gun in the nose, two in each waist position, and four in a Boulton Paul Aircraft, Boulton Paul tail turret—similar to that used on the Handley Page Halifax and other British equipment. The Martin dorsal turret was retained. (Total: 156)
:*Liberator B Mk IIIA: Lend-Lease B-24Ds with American equipment and weapons.
;Liberator B Mk.IV: Designation reserved for the B-24E, but the RAF never received any.
;Liberator B Mk.V: B-24D with increased fuel capacity at the cost of armor, with the same armament as the Liberator Mk.III.
;Liberator B Mk.VI: B-24Hs in RAF service with Boulton Paul tail turrets, but retaining the rest of their armament.
;Liberator B Mk.VIII: RAF designation for the B-24J.
![American Aircraft in Royal Air Force Service 1939-1945- Consolidated Model 32 Liberator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/American_Aircraft_in_Royal_Air_Force_Service_1939-1945-_Consolidated_Model_32_Liberator._CH18035.jpg)
;Liberator GR Mk.V: B-24D modified by
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
for the anti-submarine role with search radar and Leigh Light. Some were fitted with eight zero-length rocket launchers, four on each wing, with others being fitted with eight RP-3 rails under stub-wings, either side of the lower forward fuselage.
;Liberator GR Mk.VI: B-24G/H/J type used as a long-range General Reconnaissance anti-submarine patrol aircraft by RAF Coastal Command.
;Liberator GR Mk.VIII: B-24J modified by RAF Coastal Command for the anti-submarine role.
;Liberator C Mk.VI: Liberator B Mk.VIII converted as a cargo aircraft.
;Liberator C Mk.VII: British designation for C-87.
;Liberator C Mk.VIII: Liberator G Mk.VIII converted as a cargo aircraft.
;Liberator C Mk.IX: RAF designation for RY-3/C-87C
Late in the war RAF Liberator aircraft modified in England for use in South East Asia had the suffix "Snake" stenciled below the serial number to give them priority delivery through the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Operators
Surviving aircraft
Specifications (B-24J)
Accidents and incidents
Notable B-24 crewmen
* Robert Altman, film director, was a B-24 co-pilot, flying over 50 bombing missions in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies.
* William Charles Anderson, author of ''BAT-21'' and ''Bomber Crew 369'', piloted Liberators based in Italy as a member of the 451st Bomb Group of the 15th AF.
* Chuck Bednarik, NFL Hall of Fame member, former Philadelphia Eagle and the last full-time two-way player, served as a B-24 waist-gunner with the Eighth Air Force 467th Bomb Group. Bednarik participated in 30 combat missions over Germany as a S/Sgt and eventually attained the rank of First Lieutenant. Bednarik was awarded the Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and four Battle Stars.
* Hal Clement, science fiction author, was a pilot and copilot on B-24s and flew 35 combat missions over Europe with the 68th Bomb Squadron, 44th Operations Group, 44th Bomb Group, based in England with
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
.
*
Ernest K. Gann
Ernest Kellogg Gann (October 13, 1910 – December 19, 1991) was an American aviator, author, sailor, and conservationist. He is best known for his novels and memoirs about early aviation and nautical adventures. Some of his more famous aviation ...
, early airline pilot and author, flew C-87 Cargo Express aircraft in Southern Asia and China, including flying cargo over "The Hump". He detailed his flying experiences in ''
Fate is the Hunter
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
''.
* Don Herbert, television pioneer "Mr. Wizard", flew 56 missions as a Liberator pilot over northern Italy, Germany, and Yugoslavia, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States), Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., elder brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, was killed in Operation Aphrodite when his PB4Y-1 Liberator, modified to be a remote-controlled bomb, exploded in flight.
* Ben Kuroki, top turret gunner, was the only Japanese-American in the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
to serve in combat operations in the Pacific theater of World War II.
* Walter Matthau, actor, was a radioman and nose gunner in the 453rd Bomb Group
* George McGovern, U.S. Senator and 1972 presidential candidate, served as a B-24 pilot on his plane, ''Dakota Queen,'' in missions over Germany from Cerignola, Italy, as a member of the 455th Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force. His wartime exploits and some of the characteristics of the B-24 are the focus of Stephen Ambrose's book ''The Wild Blue''.
* Actor James Stewart, Jimmy Stewart flew B-24s as commanding officer of the 703rd Bomber Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, out of RAF Tibenham, UK. (He was later promoted to operations officer of the 453rd BG.) From 1943 to 1944, Stewart was credited with 20 combat missions as a pilot, including one over Berlin. Stewart flew several (possibly as many as 20) additional uncredited missions, filling in for pilots as duties and space would allow. Stewart's leadership qualities were highly regarded; the men who served under him praised his coolness under fire. He entered service as a private in early 1941 and rose to the rank of colonel by 1945.
* Flying Officer Lloyd Trigg VC (1914-1943), New Zealand pilot in the RNZAF, died during a successful attack on a German U-boat off West Africa. His medal was uniquely awarded solely on the recommendation of the enemy captain and other eyewitnesses.
* Stewart Udall, author, conservationist, U.S. Representative, and Secretary of Interior, served as a waist gunner on a B-24 in 1944. He was based in Southern Italy; 15th Army AF, 454th Bombardment Group. His Liberator's nickname was "Flyin' Home". He is credited with 50 missions. The 454th received a Unit Citation for leading an attack on the Hermann Goering Steel Works in Linz, Austria on 25 July 1944. Udall's crew suffered one casualty on the mission. The dead crew member was serving at the waist-gunner position normally manned by Udall; by chance, the pilot assigned Udall to the nose gun for this mission, saving his life.
* Jim Wright, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, served as a B-24 bombardier in the Pacific. He recounted his experience in his book ''The Flying Circus: Pacific War – 1943 – as Seen Through a Bombsight''.
* Louis Zamperini, Olympic runner, and later war prisoner and hero, served as a bombardier on two B-24s. The first, "Super Man", was damaged, and the crew was assigned to B-24D "Green Hornet" to conduct search and rescue. On 27 May 1943, the aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Eight of the 11 crewmembers were killed. Zamperini, pilot Russell A. Phillips, and Francis McNamara survived the crash. Only Zamperini and Phillips survived their 47 days adrift on a life raft on the sea. Zamperini is the subject of two biographies and the 2014 film ''Unbroken (film), Unbroken''.
Notable appearances in media
* The book ''One Damned Island After Another'' (1946) contains the official history of the 7th Bomber Command of the Seventh Air Force. It describes B-24 operations in the Central Pacific. B-24s from the Seventh Air Force were the first B-24s to bomb the Japanese home islands.
* Authors Cassius Mullen and Betty Byron wrote the story of the first American heavy bomber crew to complete a 25-mission combat tour in the European Theater during World War II. The book ''Before the Belle'' (2015) tells the story of Capt Robert Shannon and his aircraft, which completed a combat tour only to be lost in an accident while transporting Lt Gen Frank Maxwell Andrews back to Washington on 3 May 1943.
* Laura Hillenbrand's ''Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption'' (2010) tells the story of B-24D bombardier Louis Zamperini and how he survived crashing in the Pacific, being adrift on the ocean for 47 days, and then more than two years in Japanese POW camps.
* ''Damnyankee: A WWII Story of Tragedy and Survival off the West of Ireland'' by Thomas L. Walsh (2009) tells the story of a US Navy PB4Y-1 (B-24 Liberator) submarine patrol bomber that ditched off the west coast of Ireland in 1944; five of the ten crew survived 33 hours adrift in a seething North Atlantic storm before drifting ashore in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
* ''The Sinking of the Laconia'' depicts the Laconia Incident and a B-24's attempts to sink the .
* ''Shady Lady: Mission Accomplished, Running on Empty'' (2012) tells the true story of the USAAF's B-24D ''Shady Lady,''. It was one of 11 planes that took off from Darwin, Australia, on Friday, 13 August 1943, to bomb a Japanese oil refinery at Balikpapan, Borneo, a distance of more than 1,300 miles. This mission was the longest overwater bombing mission up to that time.
"B-24D-53-CO "Shady Lady" Serial Number 42-40369"
''pacificwrecks.com''. Retrieved: 26 June 2016.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Andrade, John. ''U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909''. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. .
* Axworthy, Mark. ''Third Axis Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945''. London: Arms & Armour, First edition 1995. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''The B-24 Liberator''. New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc., 1968. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''B-24 Liberator in Action'' (Aircraft number 21). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1975. .
* Birdsall, Steve. ''Log of the Liberators''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973. .
* Blue, Allan G. ''The B-24 Liberator, A Pictorial History''. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Ltd., 1976. .
* Bowman, Martin. ''The B-24 Liberator 1939–1945''. Norwich, Norfolk, UK: Wensum Books Ltd, 1979. .
* Bowman, Martin. ''Combat Legend: B-24 Liberator''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd, 2003. .
* Craven, Wesley and James Lea Cate.
US Army Air Forces in World War II: Vol. I: Plans & Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942
''. Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1949.
* Currier, Donald R. ''Lt. Col. (Ret)''. ''50 Mission Crush''. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: Burd Street Press, 1992. .
* Davis, Larry. ''B-24 Liberator in Action'' (Aircraft number 80). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1987. .
* Donald, David, general editor. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997. .
* Dorr, Robert F. and Jon Lake. "Warplane Classic: Consolidated B-24 Liberator: Part 1". ''International Air Power Review'', Volume4, Spring 2002. Norwalk: Connecticut, USA: Airtime Publishing, pp. 126–163. .
* Ethell, L. Jeffrey. ''Aircraft of World War II''. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. .
* Francillon, René. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920: Volume I''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1988. .
* Freeman, Roger. ''B-24 at War''. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Ltd., 1983. .
* Freeman, Roger. ''Mighty Eighth War Manual''. London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1984. .
* Gann, Ernest K. ''Fate Is the Hunter''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. .
*
* Gilman, J. D. and J. Clive. ''KG 200''. London: Pan Books Ltd., 1978. .
* Gordon, Yefim. ''Soviet Air Power in World War 2''. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland, Ian Allan Publishing, 2008. .
* Green, William. ''Famous Bombers of the Second World War''. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1975. .
* Hillenbrand, Laura. ''Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.'' New York: Random House, 2010. .
* Isemongers, Lawrence.''The Men Who Went to Warsaw''. Nelspruit, UK: Freeworld Publications, 2002, .
* Job, Macarthur. "Misadventure at Mauritius." ''Flight Safety Magazine'', January–February 2000.
* Johnsen, Frederick A. ''Consolidated B-24 Liberator ''(WarbirdTech Volume 1). North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. .
* Johnsen, Frederick A. ''B-24 Liberator: Combat and Development History of the Liberator and Privateer''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbooks International, 1993. .
* Johnsen, Frederick A. ''Bombers in Blue: PB4Y-2 Privateers and PB4Y-1 Liberators''. Tacoma, Washington: Bomber Books, 1979. No ISBN.
* Levine, Alan J. ''The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940–1945''. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1992. .
* Lord, Walter. ''Incredible Victory''. New York: Harper & Row, 1967. .
* March, Daniel J., ed. ''British Warplanes of World War II''. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1998. .
* McDowell, Ernest and Richard Ward. ''Consolidated B-24D-M Liberator in USAAF-RAF-RAAF-MLD-IAF-CzechAF & CNAF Service, PB4Y-1/2 Privateer in USN-USMC-Aeronavale & CNAF Service''. New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc., 1969. .
* Nelmes, Michael V. ''Tocumwal to Tarakan. Australians and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator''. Belconnen, Australia: Banner Books, 1994. .
* Moyes, Philip J. R. ''Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Early Models)''. Kidlington, Oxford, UK: Vintage Aviation Publications Ltd., 1979. .
* North, Tony and Mike Bailey. ''Liberator Album, B-24's of the 2nd Air Division 8th Air Force. Volume 1: The 20th. Combat Bomb Wing''. Norwich, Norfolk, UK: Tony North, 1979. No ISBN.
* North, Tony and Mike Bailey. ''Liberator Album, B-24's of the 2nd Air Division 8th Air Force. Volume 2: The 14th. Combat Bomb Wing''. Norwich, Norfolk, UK: Tony North, 1981. No ISBN.
* Odgers, George
''Air War Against Japan 1943–1945''
Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 3—Air. Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1968.
* O'Leary, Michael. ''Consolidated B-24 Liberator''. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2002. .
* Parnell, Ben. ''Carpetbaggers America's Secret War in Europe''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1987, revised edition 1993. .
*
* Robertson, Bruce. ''British Military Aircraft Serials: 1878–1987''. Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1998. .
* Scearce, Phil. ''Finish Forty and Home: The Untold World War II Story of B-24s in the Pacific''. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 2011. .
* Shacklady, Edward. ''Classic WWII Aviation: Consolidated B-24''. Bristol, UK: Cerberus Publishing Ltd., 2002. .
* Shores, Christopher, "History of the Royal Canadian Air Force", Toronto, Royce Publications, 1984, .
* Taylor, John W. R. "Consolidated B-24/PB4 Y Liberator." ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. .
* Wagner, Ray. ''American Combat Planes''. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968. .
* Ward, Richard and Eric A. Munday. ''USAAF Heavy Bomb Group Markings & Camouflage 1941–1945, Consolidated Liberator''. Reading, Berkshire, UK: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 1972. .
* Weal, John. ''Bf 109 Defence of the Reich Aces''. Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2006. .
* Wegg, John. ''General Dynamic Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. .
* Wilson, Stewart. ''Boston, Mitchell & Liberator in Australian Service''. Weston Creek, Australia: Aerospace Publications, 1992. .
* Wilson, Stewart. ''Military Aircraft of Australia''. Weston Creek, Australia: Aerospace Publications, 1994. .
* Winchester, Jim. "Consolidated B-24 Liberator." ''Aircraft of World War II: The Aviation Factfile''. Hoo, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. .
External links
Consolidated B-24A page
Consolidated B-24D page, USAF National Museum
WWII photos of the 7th AAF Heavy Bombardment Group Liberators
* [http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/URG/b24liberator.html Warbirds Resource Group USAAF Resource Center – B-24 Liberator]
Warbird Registry – B-24 Liberator – the history of those B-24s that survived military service
*
*
Willow Run Bomber Plant, WW 2 film about production of the B-24 at the Willow Run bomber plant
A spherical panoramic look inside a B-24J: 'Witchcraft'
Navy Libs – Naval Liberator and Privateer Naval Variant: PB4Y-1 "Liberator" (Split Tail) / PB4Y-2 "Privateer" (Single Tail)
'Crawl through a B-24 Bomber IN FLIGHT!'
by steveo1kinevo, in-flight video of 'Witchcraft'
{{Authority control
1930s United States bomber aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1939
Consolidated aircraft, B-24 Liberator
Four-engined piston aircraft
Four-engined tractor aircraft
Shoulder-wing aircraft
Twin-tail aircraft
World War II bombers of the United States
World War II heavy bombers