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 and was less robust than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Consolidated Aircraft tripled the size of its plant in San Diego and built a large new plant outside Fort Worth, Texas in order to receive the massive amounts of knock-down kits that the Ford Motor Company shipped via truck from its Ypsilanti Michigan Facility. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan. 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. Designed to help the U.S. and allies leverage emerging technologies to create a resilient multi-domain network. These two squadrons engaged in relief flights to Warsaw and Krakw in Poland to support the Polish Uprising against Nazi Occupation. . Boeing B-17 Performance. Many of the surviving Liberators originated in this Command. Colonel Leon W. Johnson, the 44th's commander, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership, as was Col. John Riley "Killer" Kane, commander of the 98th Bomb Group. The tailplane featured two large oval vertical stabilizers mounted at the ends of a rectangular horizontal stabilizer. Following incidents when flare guns were accidentally discharged inside the rear fuselage, some assembly (formation) ships had pyrotechnic guns fixed through the fuselage sides. The name "Liberator" was originally given to it by the RAF, and subsequently adopted by the USAAF as the official name for the Model 24. A 4,000-pound (1,800-kg) bomb load was typical for long missions, though the B-17 could carry up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) internally for shorter distances at lower altitudes and even more on external racks beneath the wings. The XB-24 was then re-designated XB-24Bthese changes became standard on all B-24s built starting with the B-24C model. [8], The B-24 had a shoulder-mounted high aspect ratio Davis wing. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. As soon as more dependable Douglas C-54 Skymaster and Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando 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. 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. Engines: Four Wright "Cyclone" R-1820s of 1,200 hp. Armed with no less than 13 0.50-calibre machine guns, including two in a new chin turret for defense against head-on attack, the B-17G fairly bristled with machine guns. One of these was captured at Venegono, Italy on 29 March 1944. Consequently, it was relatively easy for a poorly trained ground crew to load a C-87 with its center of gravity too far forward or aft, rendering the aircraft difficult to control due to inadequate or excessive longitudinal stability. [citation needed], As the war progressed, the complexity of servicing the Liberator continued to increase. Crews flew with the bomb bay doors slightly open to dissipate potentially explosive fumes. In time the B-24 would boast a long, tapered wing atop its fuselage, which allowed impressive long-range cruising capabilities. The aircraft demonstrated unstable flight characteristics with all storage tanks filled, and proved very difficult to land fully loaded at airfields above 6,000ft (1,800m) MSL in elevation, such as those around Chengdu. Consolidated B-24 Liberator Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Speed (kph) 467 462 RANGE 2,001 miles (3,220 km) [Diff.0 miles] RANGE 2,001 miles (3,220 km) [Diff.0 miles] Consolidated B-24 Liberator Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Range (km) 3,220 3,220 CEILING 28,002 ft (8,535 m) [Diff.-7,595 feet] CEILING 35,597 ft (10,850 m) [Diff.+7,595 feet] WAR DEPARTMENT AIR CORPS, MATERIEL DIVISION November 22, 1941. The B-17 had a notably smaller bomb bay than the Lanc (impressive though the B-17's payload was at the time of its design) - although the 22,000lb figure is for the Grand Slam carrying Lancs rather than the standard maximum load (which was, IIRC, about 14,000lb). Learn how and when to remove this template message, British and French purchasing commissions, South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Watch video of B-24 production and testing, List of Consolidated B-24 Liberator operators, List of surviving Consolidated B-24 Liberators, National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Accidents and incidents involving the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, "The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress vs. the Consolidated B-24 Liberator", "A Brief History of the 44th Bomb Group. The waist gun hatches were provided with doors. As early as 1938, the US Army Air Corps realized that if it went to war with another world power, the B-17 was be too small for long range bombing missions. Although the B-24 did not meet Project A goals, it was a step in that direction. Though produced in smaller numbers than its partner the B-24 Liberator, the B-17, with superior high-altitude performance and greater resistance to battle damage, was the mainstay of the strategic bombing campaign. If any dimensional values are "NA" in the database then the presented shapes may appear skewed. The U.S. Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Liberator, and along with maritime patrol B-24s used by RAF Coastal Command this type of patrol plane had been quite successful. Our Multi-Domain Operations/Joint All-Domain Operations solutions provide a complete picture of the battlespace and empowers warfighters to quickly make decisions that drive action. ", "Old China Hands, Tales & Stories The Azon Bomb. [13] The 44th Bomb Group flew the first of its 344 combat missions against the Axis powers in World War II on 7 November 1942. Rendered obsolete by the larger and more powerful B-29 Superfortress, the B-17 served on after the war in small numbers as a search-and-rescue aircraft modified to drop life rafts by parachute. [43] The regiment concerned appears to have been the 890th Bomber Aviation Regiment at Baranovichi until 1944, and then Kazan. 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. 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. BOAC also flew trans-Atlantic services and other various long-range air transportation routes. Continued development work by Consolidated produced a handful of transitional B-24Cs with turbocharged instead of supercharged engines. Production of B-24s increased at an astonishing rate throughout 1942 and 1943. Liberators were equipped with ASV Mk. 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. 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. 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:[13] the 44th Bomb Group joined the 93rd and the 389th Bomb Groups. These aircraft became known as Judas goats.[34]. Sharing production with the Douglas, Lockheed, and Vega companies, Boeing oversaw the manufacture of some 12,730 Flying Fortresses, nearly all of them committed to high-altitude bombing over Europe. 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 San Diego plant began sending B-24D models to Fort Worth for conversion into the C-87 transport. Conceived in 1938 by Consolidated Aircraft, a Lockheed Martin legacy company, the original B-24 prototype was designed to fly faster and carry a larger payload than the US Army Air Corpss B-17 Flying Fortress. Naval B-24s were redesignated PB4Y-1, meaning the fourth patrol bomber design built by Consolidated Aircraft. ", https://web.archive.org/web/20090304014706/http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b24_27.html, "Indian Ocean New Guinea Kangaroo Service 19501946. The low-altitude, nighttime operation was extremely dangerous and took its toll on these airmen. Additionally, the tail span was widened by 2ft (0.61m) and the pitot-static probes were relocated from the wings to the fuselage. Cruising speed: 170 mph. [citation needed] The most important role, however, for the first batch of the Liberator GR Is was in service with RAF Coastal Command on anti-submarine patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic. The specification was written such that the Model 32 would automatically be the winning design. The pilot and co-pilot sat alongside each other in a well-glazed cockpit. In Eighth Air force combat configuration, the aircraft carried 8000lb (3600kg) of bombs. In the hands of a skilled bombardier, the Norden was a remarkably accurate sight. pp. The Royal Air Force received about 2,100 B-24s equipping 46 bomber groups and 41 squadrons; the Royal Canadian Air Force 1,200 B-24Js; and the Royal Australian Air Force 287 B-24Js, B-24Ls, and B-24Ms. The added advantage was the American types could be assessed in the European war zone earlier. Long-range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Double Sunrise route across the Indian Ocean was 3,513mi (5,654km) long, the longest non-stop airline route in the world at the time. The turbocharged engines were the reason for the flattened oval shape of the nacelles that distinguished all subsequent Liberator models. The bomber had disintegrated. The Ninth Air Force moved to England in late 1943. Therefore, the B-24 is superior to the B-17. 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. "Misadventure at Mauritius.". At Willow Run, Ford produced half of 18,000 total B-24s alone. Also, the necessity of range increased the importance of weight and aerodynamic efficiency. Two were shot up by Japanese fighters, but both managed to land safely. The navigator's position was relocated behind the pilot. 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 machine guns. Robert B. Early versions proved to be more vulnerable to fighter attack than anticipated, but, by the time the B-17E version began to go into service shortly before the United States entered the war in 1941, the plane was equipped with turrets in the upper fuselage, belly, and tail. So vital was the need for long-range operations, that at first USAAF used the type as transports. With it's great range, it performed anti-sub work in the Atlantic and heavy bomber support in the Pacific. The C-87 was not always popular with the aircrews assigned to fly it. A heavily loaded B-24 was difficult to fly at speeds of less than 160mph (260 km/h). 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. Consolidated finished the prototype and had it ready for its first flight two days before the end of 1939. Project A led to the development of the Boeing B-29 and Consolidated's own B-32 and B-36. Mission. The Lib's gracefully tapered 100-foot Davis airfoil wing (compared to the B-17's 103-foot-span barn door of a wing) made the difference. Reply. A payload range diagram (also known as the elbow chart) illustrates the trade-off between payload and range. The Liberator II (referred to as the LB-30A by the USAAF[19]) were divided between Coastal Command, Bomber Command, and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The belly turret was a periscopically sighted Bendix model. As a result, the mechanically supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33s were replaced with the turbo-supercharged R-1830s. Some RAAF aircrew were given operational experience in Liberators while attached to USAAF squadrons. The B-17 was also an easier aircraft to fly in formation. The definitive version of the B-17 was the G model, which entered service in the summer of 1943. 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 turret proved unsatisfactory and was soon replaced by a tunnel gun, which was itself omitted. Just fewer of them. Consolidated incorporated innovative features such as a tricycle landing gear and Davis wing. Two RAF bomber squadrons with Liberators were deployed to the Middle East in early 1942. 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