(Consolidated) B-24 Liberator @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Consolidated XB-24 Consolidated XB-24
    Consolidated XB-24
  • Consolidated B-24 Liberator Consolidated B-24 Liberator
    Consolidated B-24 Liberator
  • A LB-30A (RAF YB-24) A LB-30A (RAF YB-24)
    A LB-30A (RAF YB-24)
  • The Consolidated YB-24 The Consolidated YB-24
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  • The B-24 of the Gathering of Eagles convention The B-24 of the Gathering of Eagles convention
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  • Liberator of the 701st Bombardment Sq Liberator of the 701st Bombardment Sq
    Liberator of the 701st Bombardment Sq
  • The Consolidated-Vultee plant in Forth Worths The Consolidated-Vultee plant in Forth Worths
    The Consolidated-Vultee plant in Forth Worths
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  • A RAAF Liberator A RAAF Liberator
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  • The Willow Run Factory The Willow Run Factory
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  • B-24D B-24D
    B-24D
  • B-24D - 93 Bomb Group B-24D - 93 Bomb Group
    B-24D - 93 Bomb Group
  • B-24Ds over Polesti B-24Ds over Polesti
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  • B-24J - 90 Bomb Group (1944) B-24J - 90 Bomb Group (1944)
    B-24J - 90 Bomb Group (1944)
  • B-24J-55-CO of 328th Bomb Sq, 93rd Bomb Group B-24J-55-CO of 328th Bomb Sq, 93rd Bomb Group
    B-24J-55-CO of 328th Bomb Sq, 93rd Bomb Group
  • B-24M-20-CO of 431st Bomb Sq, 11th Bomb Group B-24M-20-CO of 431st Bomb Sq, 11th Bomb Group
    B-24M-20-CO of 431st Bomb Sq, 11th Bomb Group

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber that was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft during World War II and still holds the record as the most produced allied aircraft. It was used by every branch of service during the war, attaining a distinguished war record with its operations in the European, Pacific, African and Middle Eastern theaters. Often compared to its more famous partner, the Boeing B-17, the B-24 was a more modern design with a higher top speed, greater range and service ceiling yet it had a similar bombload and massive defensive armament. Nevertheless, popular opinion among aircrews and general staff tended to favor the B-17's rugged qualities above all other considerations.

Where the B-24 excelled over other contemporary World War II heavy bombers was in its versatility. Designed around a highly-efficient "Davis" wing design, one of the B-24's main virtues was a long operating range, which led to it also being used for other duties including maritime patrol (known as the PB4Y in US Navy service) and antisubmarine work, reconnaissance, tanker, cargo (where it was designated C-87 and C-109, and also developed into the Navy's R2Y) and personnel transport. Winston Churchill used one as his own transport aircraft. One of the most valuable contributions to Allied victory was the use of the B-24 in combating the U-boat menace in the North Atlantic. When the "very-long-range" Liberators were unleashed on the vulnerable submarines, a so-called "Atlantic Gap" was ultimately closed, allowing Britain's convoy lifeline to be maintained.

Design and development

The Liberator's origins stem from a USAAC request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license as part of the "Project A" program for industrial expansion and production to supplement the manufacturing of key components of air power. After company executives including President Reuben Fleet visited the Boeing factory in Seattle, a decision was made to submit a more modern design instead. In January 1939, the United States Army Air Corps formally invited Consolidated Aircraft under Specification C-212, to submit a design study for a bomber with greater range, higher speed and greater ceiling than the B-17.

The contract for a prototype was awarded in March 1939, with the requirement that a prototype be ready before the end of the year. The design was simple in concept but advanced for its time. Compared to the B-17 Flying Fortress, the proposed Model 32 was shorter, had 25% less wing area but a six 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 Consolidated design would use twin-row 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials of 1000 hp (746 kW). The 70,547 lb (32,000 kg) maximum takeoff weight was one of the highest of the period. Consolidated also incorporated innovative features: the new design would be the first American bomber to use tricycle landing gear and it had long, thin wings with the efficient "Davis" high aspect ratio design promising to provide maximum fuel efficiency. The aircraft also had a distinctive twin tail and rudder assembly.

Like the B-17, the B-24 had an array of 50-caliber machine guns in the tail, belly, top, sides and nose to defend it from attacking enemy fighers. Unlike the B-17, the ball turret could be retracted into the fuselage when not in use. The B-17's ball turret was fixed on the outside.

Due to the sophisticated design elements, wind tunnel testing and experimental programs utilizing an existing Consolidated Model 31, a twin-engined commercial flying boat, provided extensive data on the flight characteristics of the Davis airfoil.

A spacious slab-sided fuselage was built around a central bomb bay that could accommodate up to 8000 pounds of bombs. The bomb bay was divided into front and rear compartments and further divided by a central catwalk, which was also the fuselage keel beam. A universal complaint arose from the extremely narrow catwalk. The plane was sometimes disparaged as "The Flying Coffin" because the only entry and exit from the plane was in the rear and it was almost impossible for the flightcrew and nose gunner to get from the flight deck to the rear if they were wearing their parachutes. An unusual set of "roller-type" bomb bay doors retracted into the fuselage with a minimum of aerodynamic drag.

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 B-24s went to Britain, including all those originally ordered by the Armée de l'Air after France collapsed in 1940. The name, "Liberator" was initially assigned to the RAF and subsequently was adopted by the USAAC as the official name for the type.

Operational history

Deployment

The first deployment of the Liberator exploited its long-range capabilities as US ferry pilots to the United Kingdom were returned home in March 1941. The LB-30A variant serving in the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) on trans-Atlantic transport duties soon were involved in assorted transport duties. The most indispensable role for the first batch of the Liberator GR I equipped with ASV Mark II radar was in service with RAF Coastal Command where its long range "almost doubled the reach of Britain's maritime reconnaissance force" on 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 (or 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 the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). Two RAF squadrons subsequently were deployed to the Middle East in 1942 in the first use of 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 machine guns. At 59,524 lb (27,000 kg) maximum takeoff weight, it was one of the heaviest aircraft in the world; only the British Lancaster and Halifax bombers were comparable.

America enters the war

American B-24s entered combat in June 1942 with a raid of 13 aircraft on the German-occupied Romanian oilfields of Ploies,ti 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 Ploiesti again on 1 August 1943, 54 failed to return.

Liberator production increased at an astonishing rate through 1942 and 1943: Consolidated had tripled the size of its 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. Each of the B-24 Factories were identified with the following production code: Consolidated / San Diego (CO), Consolidated / Ft Worth (CF), Ford / Willow Run (FO), North American (NT) and Douglas, Tulsa (DT).

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 in the Pacific Theater.

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 lighter weight versions 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 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 by September 1945. In addition to the twelve thousand that saw service with the United States Army Air Forces, 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 (RAAF) 287 B-24Js, B-24Ls and B-24Ms - (Liberators were the only heavy bomber used by the RAAF in the Pacific). Two squadrons of the South African Air Force deployed in the Mediterranean flew B-24s.

Initial assembly

President Franklin Roosevelt referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy." The Ford Motor Company played a pivotal role in the allied victory during World War I and World War II. With Europe under siege, Henry Ford's genius would be turned to mass production for the war effort. Specifically, the B-24 Liberator bomber, quickly shifted the balance of power in favor of the allies. The aviation industry could produce, on average, one Consolidated Aircraft B-24 bomber a day at an aircraft plant. Ford would show the world how to produce one B-24 an hour at a peak of 600 per month in 24 hour shifts. Ford's Willow Run factory broke ground in April 1941. At the time, it was the largest assembly line in the world, with over 3,500,000 square feet (330,000 m²). Edsel Ford, Henry Ford's son, under severe stress of running the B-24 bomber facility, died in the spring 1943 of stomach cancer prompting his grieving father Henry Ford to re-assume day-to-day control of the Ford Motor Company. Mass production of the B-24 began by August 1943. Many pilots slept on cots waiting for takeoff as the B-24s rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Willow Run facility.

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 armor 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, B-24s remained vulnerable to attack, especially after many U-boats were armed with Flak guns and adopted a 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, off the coast of West Africa. Trigg's Liberator and its crew were lost, as was their foe, U-468. Trigg's VC is the one of the very few awarded on the recommendation of enemy personnel - the seven U-boat crew members who survived.

Later models were more capable of surviving over occupied Europe or against 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 (no Liberators ever served with RAF Bomber Command during the war in Europe as bombers, but Bomber Command's 100 (Bomber Support) Group 's 223 Squadron was equipped with 20 Liberators carrying electronic jamming equipment to counter enemy defences against Bomber Command operations). 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. A total of 977 USN PB4Y-1s were used in the Pacific Theater in VB and VPB squadrons. Many units operated from bases in the Solomon Islands.

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 C-87 was not popular with the crews forced to fly them. The planes had a distressing habit of losing cockpit electrical power on takeoff and landings, engine reliability left something to be desired and the pilots were disconcerted at the Davis wing's habit of flexing at high altitudes. In his autobiography, Fate is the Hunter, author Ernest K. Gann reported, while flying cargo in India, he barely avoided crashing a C-87 into the Taj Mahal.

The US Army Air Force also converted 218 B-24Ds and B-24-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 armor and military equipment removed to save weight, a C-109 could carry almost 2,905 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. Qantas Empire Airways used Liberators on the Perth-Colombo route, at the time the longest non-stop route in the world, until they were replaced by Avro Lancastrians.

A Liberator II version was refurbished as a VIP transport and used by Winston Churchill as his personal aircraft.

Popular Culture

American Senator and 1972 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.
Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart USAF Reserve, flew B-24s as commanding officer of the 703rd BS, 445th BG out of Tibenham, UK, before a promotion to operations officer of the 453rd BG. From 1943-44, Stewart flew 20 combat missions as a pilot, including one over Berlin. 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 lieutenant colonel by 1945.
Former Speaker of the House, Jim Wright, served as a B-24 bombardier in the Pacific. He recounts his experience in his book "The Flying Circus: Pacific War--1943--as Seen Through a Bombsight".
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.
The story of the "Lady Be Good" inspired a 1960s television movie titled "The Sole Survivor", with a B-25 Mitchell playing the B-24D role.
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One features a mission where the player assumes the role of a gunner in a B-24, during a bombing raid over Oran.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Consolidated B-24 Liberator of Wikipedia ( authors )

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

  • Role :
    • Heavy bomber.
    • Anti-submarine warfare.
    • Maritime patrol aircraft.
  • Manufacturer : Consolidated Aircraft.
  • First flight : 29 December 1939.
  • Introduction : 1941.
  • Retired : 1968 (Indian Air Force).
  • Primary users :
    • United States Army Air Forces.
    • United States Navy.
    • Royal Air Force.
    • Royal Australian Air Force.
  • Produced : 1940–1945.
  • Number built : 18,188.
  • Unit cost : $297,627 ($5.17 million in 2020 dollars).
  • Variants :
  • Developed into :

    • Specifications (B-24J)

  • Crew : 7 to 10.
  • Length : 67 ft 8 in (20.6 m).
  • Height : 18 ft (5.5 m).
  • Wingspan : 110 ft (33.5 m).
  • Wing area : 1,048 ft² (97 m²).
  • Wing loading : 52.5 lb/ft² (256 kg/m²).
  • Empty weight : 36,500 lb (16,590 kg).
  • Loaded weight : 55,000 lb (25,000 kg).
  • Max takeoff weight : 65,000 lb (29,500 kg).
  • Maximum speed : 290 mph (250 kts, 470 km/h).
  • Cruise speed : 215 mph (187 kts, 346 km/h).
  • Stall speed : 95 mph (83 kts, 153 km/h).
  • Combat radius : 2,100 mi (1,800 nm, 3,400 km).
  • Ferry range : 3,700 mi (3,200 nm, 6,000 km).
  • Service ceiling : 28,000 ft (8,500 m).
  • Rate of climb : 1,000 ft/min (5 m/s).
  • Powerplant : Four Pratt & Whitney R-1830 turbosupercharged radial engines.
  • Power : 1,200 hp (900 kW) each.
  • Armament :
    • Ten .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns.
    • Bombs : Max. 8,000 lb (3,600 kg)..

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Consolidated B-24 Liberator of Wikipedia ( authors )
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