Consolidated B-24 Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30 (LB for Land Bomber). The B-24 was used in World War II by several Allied air forces and navies, and by every branch of the American armed forces during the war, attaining a distinguished war record with its operations in the Western European, Pacific, Mediterranean, and China-Burma-India Theaters.

Often compared with the better-known Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 was a more modern design with a higher top speed, greater range, and a heavier bomb load; it was also more difficult to fly, with heavy control forces and poor formation-flying characteristics. Popular opinion among aircrews and general staffs tended to favor the B-17’s rugged qualities above all other considerations in the European Theater. The placement of the B-24’s fuel tanks throughout the upper fuselage and its lightweight construction, designed to increase range and optimize assembly line production, made the aircraft vulnerable to battle damage. The B-24 was notorious among American aircrews for its tendency to catch fire. Its high fuselage-mounted “Davis wing” also meant it was dangerous to ditch or belly land, since the fuselage tended to break apart. Nevertheless, the B-24 provided excellent service in a variety of roles thanks to its large payload and long range and was the only bomber to operationally deploy the United States’ first forerunner to precision-guided munitions during the war, the 1,000 lb. AZON guided bomb.

The fall of France led to their order being transferred to the British, and the first production Liberators were six LB-30As [left], paid for in cash by England. They were built to British specifications and were used on the Return Ferry Service between Canada and Scotland. The next twenty aircraft, also for England, were known as Liberator Is, and were the first to see operational service. Bristling with aerials and a gun pack containing four 20-mm cannon, they quickly proved themselves in the desperate campaign against the German U-Boats.

The Army Air Forces received their first B-24A in June 1941, one of the nine built. These aircraft went to Ferrying Command, operating between Canada and England. One of the B-24As pioneered the South Atlantic ferry route and in September two of the Liberators flew the Harriman mission to Moscow, and yet another B-24A was the first aircraft over the Greenland ice cap. Two had been detailed to fly reconnaissance over Japanese positions in the Marshall and Carolina Islands, but only one had reached Hawaii by 7 December 1941, and it was destroyed in a hangar at Hickham Field.

The next model was the Liberator II, unique to the Royal Air Force and with an extended nose adding three feet to the aircraft’s length. Four gun Boulton-Paul .303 turrets were fitted in the mid-upper position and in the tail. The first of the Liberator IIs crashed on 2 June 1941, killing Consolidated test pilot William Wheatley, but other Liberator IIs went on to do magnificent work, equipping two squadrons of Bomber Command and three of Coastal Command. Unarmed Liberator IIs flew with the Return Ferry Service, British Overseas Airways, Qantas and Southern Cross Airways, and one was Winston Churchill’s personal transport, the “Commando”.

After Pearl Harbor the United States took over fifty-one undelivered Liberator IIs; called LB-30s by the air force, three of these Liberators attacked Kendari on Celebes on 16 January 1942, the first time American-manned Liberators took part in a bombing attack. Others went to Alaska, Hawaii and Panama, while some were used for training and as transports.The XB-24B was a reworking of the XB-24, with self-sealing tanks, armor and turbo superchargers which resulted in a top speed of 310 miles per hour. This led to nine B-24Cs, which carried a Martin upper turret and Consolidated tail turret, each with two of the .50-caliber machine guns which were quickly replacing the lighter .30 as hard lessons were learned in combat.

By the end of the war Liberators would fly with every American air force, and those of several other countries.The British called their B-24Ds Liberator IIIs when equipped to their specifications, or Liberator IIIAs with American equipment on aircraft supplied under Lend-Lease, and most went to Coastal Command. The U.S. Navy received B-24Ds as YB4Y-1s and these aircraft went to both the Pacific and European Theaters. The first C-87 Liberator Expresses were B-24Ds converted as transports on the production line, and in all 280 C-87s and six C-87As were built, all at Fort Worth. Another B-24D was modified as the XB-41, with fourteen machine guns and provision for 11,000 rounds of ammunition; this was to be a “bomber escort” but was never tested operationally.

The B-24E differed little from its predecessor, and one was modified in late 1943 as the XC-109, a fuel tanker with nose and bomb bay fuel tanks. Combat in Europe and the Pacific had revealed that the B-24D was vulnerable to head-on attack, and various solutions were tried. Twin nose guns, lashed together, were used in Europe, but they were difficult to use, although some crews maintain it was a better arrangement than the later nose turret, as far as overall performance of the aircraft was concerned. The 90th Bomb Group in the Southwest Pacific pioneered the installation of a consolidated tail turret in the Liberator’s nose, and similarly successful work was carried out at the Hawaiian Air Depot. Later Navy B-24Ds were equipped with the distinctive Erco turret, which extended the nose about three feet. Some B-24Ds were fitted with twin waist guns, the most successful experiment being in the 44th Group, where Lieutenant Bill Strong and his crew designed a special mounting for use in their plane, “Baldy and His Brood“.

Ford Motor Company began their Liberator production with 480 B-24Es, built at the huge Willow Run plant in Michigan, and another 311 B-24Es were built by Douglas and Consolidated at Fort Worth. The sole XB-24F was a modification of the B-24D, with a thermal de-icing system.There were 430 B-24Gs, all built in Dallas by the fourth producer of the Liberator, North American Aviation. These aircraft were not all the same – the first twenty-five were without the electrically powered Emerson nose turret (below), and although later aircraft were equivalent to the B-24H, they were not re-designated.

The first Liberator to be fitted with a nose turret on the production line was the B-24H, and Consolidated built 738 at Fort Worth, with Emerson electric turrets. Another 1,780 were built at Willow Run, and 582 at Tulsa, Ford and Douglas using the Motor Products hydraulic turret.

The most prolific model of the Liberator was the B-24J, built at all five factories and differing little in essentials from the B-24H. Around 1,200 went to the Royal Air Force, others became F-7As and F-7Bs, equipped with six aerial cameras, and more went to the Navy, where they were still called PB4Y-1s, carrying the Erco nose turret. Ford built 1,587 B-24Js, North American 536, Douglas 205, Consolidated Fort Worth 1,558 and San Diego 2,792. There were 6,678 B-24Js in all.

Similar to the B-24J, the B-24L was fitted with a lighter tail turret designed by Consolidated’s Tucson modification center. This gave a greater field of fire, was easier to manipulate and saved some two hundred pounds in weight. Ford produced 1,250 aircraft at Willow Run, and the other 417 were built by Consolidated at San Diego.