B-24 Liberator
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A B-24 Liberator photographed from above while in flight
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American bomber that was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft during World War II and was used by most of the Allied air forces during the war. Designed as a heavy bomber, it served with distinction also as a maritime patrol bomber (known as the PB4Y in U.S. Navy service) and as a heavy transport (where it was designated C-87 or C-109).
Development
Like the equally successful
North American P-51 Mustang, the Liberator was designed in a great hurry. In January
1939, the
United States Army Air Corps invited
Consolidated Aircraft to submit a design study for a bomber with greater range, higher speed and greater ceiling than the existing backbone of the Army Air Corps, the
B-17 Flying Fortress.
The contract for a prototype was awarded in March, requiring that it be ready before the end of the year. The design was simple in concept but advanced for its time. The 70,547 lb (32,000 kg) maximum takeoff weight was one of the highest of the time. It was the first American bomber to use tricycle landing gear instead of a tailwheel and it had long, thin wings with a high aspect ratio for maximum fuel efficiency. It also had a twin tail .
Compared to the B-17; the B-24 was shorter, had 25% less wing area but a 6 foot (1.8 m) greater wingspan and a substantially greater carrying capacity. Whereas the B-17 used 9-cylinder Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines, the B-24 used twin-row 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials of 1000 hp (746 kW).
Consolidated finished the prototype by then known as the XB-24 and had it ready for its first flight two days before the end of 1939. Seven more YB-24 development aircraft flew in 1940 and Consolidated began preparing production tooling. Early orders — placed before the XB-24 had flown — included 36 for the United States Army Air Corps, 120 for the French Armée de l'Air and 164 for the RAF. Most of the first production Liberators went to Britain, including all those originally ordered by the Armée de l'Air after France collapsed in 1940.
Operational history
Initial deployment
Initial Liberator deployment in March 1941 was with the British Overseas Airways Corporation on trans-Atlantic transport duties. Soon after, equipped with ASV Mark II radar it entered service with RAF Coastal Command where its long range made it indispensable for anti-submarine patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Later in 1941, the first Liberator IIs entered service. This model introduced self-sealing fuel tanks and powered gun turrets. At the same time, Consolidated added a 2 ft 7 in (79 cm) plug in the forward fuselage to create more space for crew members and also (it is said) to make the airplane look better. Liberator IIs were split between RAF Coastal Command, RAF Bomber Command and British Overseas Airways Corporation. Two RAF squadrons deployed to the Middle East in 1942 became the first to use the Liberator as a bomber.
At the same time, the United States Army Air Forces began to take delivery of its first B-24As. Like the British, they used them as transports first. Continued development work by Consolidated produced a handful of transitional B-24Cs with turbocharged instead of supercharged engines; the turbocharged engines led to the flattened oval nacelles that would distinguish all subsequent Liberator models.
The first mass-produced model, the B-24D (or Liberator III in British service) was introduced in early 1943; it had turbocharged engines and increased fuel capacity. Three more 0.50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns brought the defensive armament up to ten guns. At 59,524 lb (27,000 kg) maximum take-off weight, it was one of the heaviest aircraft in the world; only the British Lancaster and Halifax bombers were comparable.
A universal complaint about the plane's design was that the bomb racks were placed along each side of the length of the plane's mid-section and the aisle between the racks was extremely narrow. Because the only entry and exit from the plane was in the rear, it was almost impossible for the flight crew and nose gunner to get from the flight deck to the rear if they were wearing their parachutes. The plane was given the nickname, "The Flying Coffin".
America enters the war
B-24 hit by
Flak see reference http://www.b24bestweb.com/blacknan.htm
American B-24s entered combat in June 1942 with a raid of 13 aircraft on the German-occupied Romanian oilfields of Ploieşti launched from Egypt. The attack was described as "unsuccessful" by the Army but it alerted the defenders to the threat of the new heavy bombers. When 177 B-24s attacked Ploieşti again on August 1 1943, 54 failed to return.
Liberator production increased at an astonishing rate through 1942 and 1943: Consolidated had tripled the size of their plant at San Diego and built a large new plant outside Fort Worth, Texas. More production came from Douglas in Tulsa, Oklahoma and North American was building a plant at Dallas, Texas. None of these were minor operations but they were dwarfed by the vast new greenfield factory built by Ford at Willow Run near Detroit, which opened in August 1942. This was the largest factory in the United States, and the largest anywhere outside the USSR.
In April 1942, the C-87 Liberator Express transport version entered production at Fort Worth. It had a large cargo door, no gun turrets, a floor in the bomb bay for freight and side windows. Liberator squadrons deployed to all theaters: Africa, Europe, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific. In the Pacific, the B-24 was designated the standard heavy bomber to simplify logistics, replacing the shorter-range B-17, which had not distinguished itself against Japan.
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In 1943, the model of Liberator considered by many the 'definitive' version was introduced. The B-24H was 10 inches (0.25 m) longer, had a powered gun turret in the nose to reduce vulnerability to head-on attack and was fitted with an improved bomb sight, autopilot and fuel transfer system. Consolidated, Douglas and Ford factories all manufactured the model, while the version made in Dallas by North American was designated the B-24G. All five plants switched over to the almost identical B-24J in August 1943. The later B-24L and B-24M were made to reduce weight and differed mainly in defensive weaponry.
As the war went on, the complexity of servicing the B-24 grew greater and greater. Since B-24s were made by a number of different companies, repair depots had to keep a large stock of many kinds of parts to supply for the various B-24 models. Fortunately, in the summer of 1944, this problem was eased when three plants stopped making B-24s, leaving only the Consolidated plant in San Diego and the Ford plant in Willow Run.
In all, 18,482 Liberators were built before 1945. In addition to the six thousand that saw service with the U.S. Army, the Royal Air Force flew about 2,100 aircraft in 46 bomber groups and 41 squadrons, the Royal Canadian Air Force 1,200 B-24Js, the U.S. Navy about 1,000 PB4Y-1s (and almost 800 PB4Y-2 Privateers, which were derived from the Liberator) and the Royal Australian Air Force 287 B-24Js, B-24Ls and B-24Ms. Two squadrons of the South African Air Force, deployed in the Mediterranean flew B-24s.
Primary roles
Maritime Patrol
The Liberator made a massive contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic. The decision to allocate early Liberators to RAF Coastal Command produced results immediately. The Very Long Range (VLR) Liberator closed the vital Atlantic Gap and was the only aircraft with the range to do so. The VLR sacrificed some armour and often turrets for weight whilst adding extra fuel in bomb bay tanks. Radar and the Leigh light gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and night. They were operated from both sides of the Atlantic with the RCAF to the West and the RAF from the UK and Iceland. However they remained vulnerable to attack, especially when U-boats adopted the policy of staying on the surface to fight. Royal New Zealand Air Force pilot Lloyd Allan Trigg was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross following such a duel which resulted in the loss of his Liberator with all on board and U-468 with all but 7 of its crew. Uniquely, the VC was awarded on the recommendation of the U-boat crew.
Later models were more capable of surviving over occupied Europe or Axis fighters but because of the extra weight allocated to their defense, they had a shorter range. Nothing was done to improve or replace the patrol aircraft until late in the war when the U-boat threat was waning. For twelve months, No. 120 Squadron RAF of Coastal Command, with its handful of much patched and modified early model Liberators, supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap, even while shipments of B-24s to strategic bombing squadrons doubled and redoubled. The sudden and decisive turning of the Battle of the Atlantic in the Allies' favor in May 1943 was the result of many factors. However, it was no accident that it coincided with the long delayed arrival of many more VLR Liberators for maritime patrol. Liberators were credited in full or part with 72 U-boat kills. In addition to very long range patrols, the B-24 was vital for patrols of a radius less than 1,000 mile (1,609 km), in both the Atlantic and in the Pacific where B-24s and PB4Y-1s took a heavy toll of Japanese shipping.
Transport
Early model Liberators were used as unarmed long-range cargo carriers. They flew between
Britain and
Egypt (with an extensive detour around
Spain over the Atlantic) and were used in the evacuation of
Java. This success led to the development of dedicated transport models, known variously as the
C-87 Liberator Express,
RY-2 or
Liberator Cargo VII. The U.S. only made about 300 transports (as compared with over 18,000 other versions) but they were nevertheless the backbone of the Army Air Force’s heavy transport operation. The Army Air Force also converted 218 B-24Ds and B24-Es into
C-109 tankers. These tankers were used in all theaters but they were particularly used to fly fuel from
India over the
Himalayas to supply
B-29 bases in
China. With all armour and military equipment removed to save weight, a C-109 could carry almost 2905 gal (11,000 L) of fuel — over 22,000 lb (10,000 kg). In addition, a large number of unmodified B-24s were pressed into transport duties
ad hoc .
Qantas Empire Airways ran 'civilian' models on the
Colombo -
Perth, Western Australia route, at the time the longest non-stop route in the world, until they were replaced by
Avro Lancastrians.
Variants/design stages
- [XB-24]— (Consolidated Model 32). Designed in 1938 as an improvement on the B-17 Flying Fortress, at the request of the Army Air Corps. It had a wing specially designed for a high aspect ratio, tricycle landing gear, and twin vertical stabilisers. It was ordered in 1939 March, and first flew on 1939 December 29. (×1)
- [B-24] - Service test version of the XB-24, ordered on 1939 April 27, less than thirty days after the XB-24 was ordered, before the XB-24 design was complete. A number of minor modifications were made: elimination of leading edge slots, addition of de-icing boots. (×7; only one used for actual testing)
- [B-24A] - Ordered in 1939, the B-24A was the first production model. Due to the need for heavy bombers, the B-24A was ordered before any version of the B-24 flew. The main improvement over the XB-24 was improved aerodynamics, which led to better performance. (×38: ×20 lb-30A, ×9 B-24C)
- [XB-24B] - When the XB-24 failed to reach its projected top speed, the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33 radials rated at 1,000 hp (746 kW) it carried were replaced with R-1830-41 turbo-supercharged radials rated at 1,200 hp (895 kW), increasing its top speed by 37 mph (59 km/h). The addition of the turbo-superchargers made the engine cowlings elliptical. The XB-24B version also lacked the engine slots of the original. (×1 converted XB-24)
- [B-24C] - Conversion of the B-24A using turbo-supercharged R-1830-41 engines. To hold the supercharger and the intercooler intake, the cowlings were made elliptical and the new items added on the sides. The tail gunner position was improved by adding an Emerson A-6 power turret with twin .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns; a Martin power turret was added to the forward fuselage. (×9 converted B-24A)
- [B-24D] - First model produced on a large scale; ordered from 1940 to 1942, as a B-24C with better engines (R-1830-43 supercharged engines). During the production run, the tunnel gun in the belly was replaced by a remote-sited Bendix belly turret; this was later replaced by a Sperry ball turret. In late B-24Ds, 'cheek' guns were added. (×2696: 2381 Consolidated, San Diego; 305 Consolidated, Fort Worth, 10 Douglas, Tulsa, Oklahoma)
- [B-24E] - A slight alteration of the B-24D built by Ford, using R-1830-65 engines. Unlike the B-24D, the B-24E retained the tunnel gun in the belly. Sometimes the Martin top turret was removed and a Bendix chin turret added. Ford also built sub-assemblies for Douglas; these subassemblies were identical to Ford-built B-24Es, except that they used the same engines as the B-24D (R-1830-43 radials). (×801)
- [XB-24F] - A prototype made to test thermal de-icers, instead of the standard inflatable rubber 'boots'. (×1 converted B-24D)
- [B-24G] - Sperry ball turret, three .50-calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns in nose. All B-24Gs were built by North American Aviation, which was contracted in 1942. (×25)
- *B-24G-1 - Modified Emerson A-6 tail turret in nose instead of 2-3 .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns in earlier models. The B-24G-1 was based on the design of the B-24H (×405)
- [B-24H] - Because of obvious vulnerability of the B-24 to head-on attack, the B-24H design made by Ford used a nose turret, generally a modified Emerson A-6 tail turret. The entire aircraft was redesigned to better fit the turret; 50 airframe changes were made, including a redesigned bombardier compartment. The tail turret was given larger windows for better visibility, the top turret a higher bubble, and the waist gunner positions were offset, to reduce their interference during battle. (×3100)
- [B-24J] - The B-24J was very similar to the B-24H, although the defensive improvements made in the B-24H were not incorporated in the B-24J. The B-24J featured an improved autopilot (type C-1) and a bombsight of the M-1 series. B-24H subassemblies made by Ford and constructed by other companies and any model with a C-1 or M-1 retrofit, were all designated B-24Js. (×6678)
- [XB-24K] - An experimental aircraft, made by Ford by splicing a B-23 Dragon tail empennage onto a B-24D airframe. The plane was more stable and had better handling than other models, but changing the B-24 design was too expensive to do at the time. However, the XB-24K was the ancestor of the Navy's PB4Y-1. (×1 converted B-24D)
- [B-24L] - Because of the immense weight of the B-24J, the Army pushed for a lighter version. In the B-24L, the ball turret was replaced by a floor ring mount with two .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns, and the A-6B tail turret by an M-6A. In later planes, no tail armament was installed, and when it arrived to its airfield either an A-6B, an M-6A, or a dual-mount manual .50-caliber (12.7 mm) gun was installed. (×1667)
- [B-24M] - An enhancement of the B-24L with further weight-saving devices. The B-24M used a more lightweight version of the A-6B tail turret; the waist gunner positions were left open. For better visibility, the windshield was replaced by a ‘knife-edge’ dual pane versions. The B-24M became the last production model of the B-24; a number of the planes built flew only the course between the factory and the scrap heap. (×2593)
- [XB-24N] - A redesign of the B-24J, made to accommodate a single tail. It also featured improved nose and tail turrets. While 5168 B-24Ns were ordered, World War II ended and there was no longer any need for them. (×1)
- [YB-24N] - Pre-production service test version of the XB-24N. (×7)
- [XB-24P] - A modified B-24D, made by Sperry Gyroscope Company to test airborne fire control systems. (×1 converted B-24D)
- [XB-24Q] - A General Electric conversion of the B-24L, using radar-controlled tail turrets. (×1 converted B-24L).
- [XB-41] - Because there were no fighters capable of escorting bomber formations on deep strike missions early in W.W.II, the Army authorised tests for heavily armed bombers to act as escorts for bombing missions. It was completed in 1942. The results of 1943 testing were very negative and the project was quickly cancelled. Performance changed drastically with the addition of more turrets. Also, the escorts were unable to keep up with bomber formations once the bombs had been dropped.
The XB-41 had fourteen .50-calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns, through the addition of a Bendix chin turret and a dorsal Martin power turret on the mid-fuselage. (×1 converted B-24D) - [LB-30] - Version of the B-24 sent to Britain. (LB- = 'Liberator British'):
- *LB-30A - YB-24 (×6)
- *LB-30B (Liberator B Mark I) - B-24A (×20), used in British Coastal Patrol and Defense Squadrons.
- *Liberator B Mk II - Improved LB-30 (×165)
- Liberator B Mk III - B-24D variant with single .303 Browning machine gun in the nose, two in each beam position, and four in a Boulton Paul tail turret similar to that on the Lanchaster, as well as, other British equipment. The Martin dorsal turret was retained. (×156)
- *Liberator B Mk IIIA - Lend-Lease B-24Ds with American equipment and weapons.
- Liberator B Mk IV - Reserved for the B-24E, but there is no record of the RAF actually receiving any.
- Liberator B Mk V - B-24D modified for extra fuel capacity at the cost or armor, with the same armament fit as the Liberator Mk III.
- Liberator B Mk VI - B-24Hs in RAF service fitted with Boulton Paul tail turrets, but retaining the rest of their armament.
- Liberator B Mk VIII - RAF designation for B-24Js.
- Liberator GR Mk V - B-24D modified by RAF Coastal Command for the anti-submarine role with search radar and Leigh Light. Some were fitted with 8 zero length rocket launchers, 4 on each wing.
- 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 for use as a transport.
- Liberator C Mk VII - British designation for C-87.
- Liberator C Mk VIII - Liberator G Mk VIII converted for use as a transport.
- Liberator C Mk IX - RAF designation for the RY-3/C-87C.
- PB4Y-1 - B-24D with different nose turret for US Navy.
- *PB4Y-1P - Photographic reconnaissance variant developed from the PB4Y-1.
- PB4Y-2 Privateer - See Main Article
- 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.
- C-87 Liberator Express - Passenger transports with accommodation for twenty passengers.
- *C-87A - VIP transports with R-1830-45 instead of -43 engines and sleep accommodations for sixteen passengers.
- *C-87B - Projected armed transport variant with nose guns, dorsal turret, and ventral tunnel gun. Never produced.
- *C-87C - US Army Air Force/Air Force designation for the RY-3.
- XC-109/C-109 - Tankers with specialized equipment to help prevent explosions, used to ferry fuel from India to China to support initial B-29 raids against Japan.
- RY-1 - US Navy designation for the C-87A.
- RY-2 - US Navy designation for the C-87.
- RY-3 - Transport variant of the PB4Y-2.
- 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.
Units using the Liberator
United States Army Air Forces
American Senator and presidential candidate
George McGovern served as a B-24 pilot in missions over 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.
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.
United States Navy
Royal Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
Squadrons
Independent special duties flights
Royal Canadian Air Force
Operators
- Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, France, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Soviet Union, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States (Army Air Corps, Army Air Force, Navy).
Specifications (B-24J)
References
External links
B-24 Aircraft
B-24 "Specific" - Air Force / Bomb Group / Bomb Squadron
Naval Variant: PB4Y-1 "Liberator" (Split Tail) / PB4Y-2 "Privateer" (Single Tail)
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