:airplane:THE B-24 LIBERATOR
Just as the Handley Page Halifax was overshadowed in the UK by its partner, the Avro Lancaster, so the B-24 never gained the popular appeal of its USAAF partner, the Boeing B-17. In fact, the B-24 was newer, more efficient, built in far greater numbers and, unlike the B-17, served on every front in World War II.
More effort, more aluminium and more aircrew went into the Liberator than into any other flying machine ever built. Nothing better underlines American industrial might than the fact that the prototype Liberator did not even fly until after the beginning of World War II, and the last (except for the PB4Y-2 model) came off the assembly line before the end of the war; yet, in between, deliveries of some 15 major variants totalled 18,188, or 19,203 including spares. This compares with 12,731 B-17s and 7,366 Lancasters.
The accomplishments of the Liberator were in proportion to its astronomic quantities; and, particularly in the matter of range, which to some degree stemmed from its having an unusually efficient wing, the Liberator gave the Allies capabilities they would not otherwise have possessed. Early in the war the first Liberators, in RAF markings, were the first aircraft in history to make North Atlantic crossings a matter of everyday routine. In 1942 a more developed version at last closed the gap in the western North Atlantic where U-boats had been able to operate beyond the range of other RAF aircraft. On countless occasions Liberator formations made attacks on targets that could be reached by no other Allied bomber until the advent of the B-29. Although primarily a heavy bomber, the Liberator was also a very effective fighter (in that it shot down something like 2,600 enemy aircraft), the leading Allied oceanic patrol and anti-submarine aircraft, and the leading Allied long-range cargo transport.
At the same time it was a complicated and advanced machine, leading to prolonged pilot training programs and on occasion to severe attrition. Not only was it demanding to fly, even to a pilot fully qualified on the type, but it was eventually cleared to operate at such high weights that take-offs became marginal even with full power on all engines. Flight stability was also marginal, and escape from a stricken machine was extremely difficult once the pilot or pilots had let go of the controls. Moreover, though more modern and in most ways more efficient than the B-17, the overloaded late-model B-24s were hardly any improvement over their more primitive partners, and several commanders, including 'Jimmy' Doolittle, famed commanding general of the 8th Air Force, preferred the old B-17.
In fact, the B-24s might have been B-17s, because in October 1938 Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was asked if it would set up a second-source production line of the Boeing bomber. Consolidated had moved just three years earlier from icy Buffalo in New York state to sunny San Diego in California, and was well placed to expand its large new plant. But chief engineer Isaac M. 'Mac' Laddon had already made studies for long-range bombers and was confident of producing a superior design. Part of this confidence rested on the wing patented by David R. Davis: this had a particularly deep section, with sharp camber and a reflex curve on the underside, and was almost as slender as the wing of a sailplane. Tunnel tests confirmed Davis's claim that this wing offered from 10 to 25 per cent less drag than ordinary wings, but no full-scale wing had flown. Laddon had designed a giant flying-boat, the Model 31, and this was to fly in spring 1939 with a Davis wing. Pending its measured drag figures he quickly drew a heavy bomber with the same wing and tail but a new fuselage with a futuristic smooth nose and tricycle landing gear. Under the mid/high-mounted wing were two bomb bays, each as large as that of a B-17.
The commanding general of the US Army Air Corps, H. H. 'Hap' Arnold, studied the plans of the Model 32 in January 1939 and told Laddon to go ahead, and "build a bomber that will fly the skin off any rivals." Consolidated received a contract for the Model 32, designated XB-24, on 30 March 1939. It was to be able to reach 300 mph (483 km/h), 35,000 ft (10670 m) and 3,000 miles (4828 km). The Model 31 flying-boat flew on 5 May 1939, and met the promised drag figures. Design of the Model 32 went ahead quickly, although it was drastically altered to have a conventional nose with the navigator and bombardier in the front and a side-by-side cockpit further back with a stepped windscreen. The first XB-24 (US Army serial 39-680) made a successful flight from Lindbergh Field on 29 December 1939.
Total production of the B-24D, excluding transports, was 2,738, 2,409 of these coming from San Diego. The most famous exploit of this model was the first of several long-range attacks on the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on 11-12 June 1942 by a dozen aircraft from a special detachment under Colonel H. A. Halverson, which formed the nucleus of the 9th Air Force. Many others went to 8th Air Force bomb groups in England, making their first mission against Lille on 9 October 1942. No fewer than 37 RAF squadrons operated the equivalent Liberator Mks III (British purchase) and IIIA (Lend-Lease), mostly with the Martin top turret but retaining the Boulton Paul tail turret with four 0.303-in (7.7-mm) guns, in Coastal, Bomber and Far East Commands. Coastal Command also used the Mk V with chin and retractable ventral radars, ASV arrays, Leigh light, extra fuel and much special equipment which sometimes included eight forward-firing rockets carried on stub wings on each side of the forward fuselage. The B-24D was developed through block numbers up to 170, bringing in the Dash-65 engine and the Briggs-Sperry retractable ball turret (in place of the tunnel gun), which were to remain standard on subsequent bomber versions. Gross weight climbed to 71,200 lb (32296 kg), much heavier than any other Allied bomber except the B-29 and quite unanticipated when the B-24 was designed. Even the most gentle turns were best made on the autopilot; the controls were both very heavy and very sluggish, and at weights much in excess of 60,000 lb (27216 kg) any rapid manoeuvre (even to avoid a collision) was impossible.
One of the other bad traits of the 24 was the great wing that it had, was also easly set on fire with just about any kind of ammo! Flak in the Euopean theater was especially bad around some of the targets which the allies pounded and serveral were lost due to ack alone.
We are lucky to have someone in Aces High, who has a great deal of flying time in the B-24, his call sign is "Colombo" and is type rated in the B-24! <S>
