World War 2 In Review No. 20: Consolidated B-24 Liberator

By Merriam Press

Merriam Press World War 2 In Review Series.

2023 eBook Edition

This issue provides coverage of the B-24 Liberator 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 CBI Theaters. The B-24 provided excellent service in a variety of roles thanks to its large payload and long range.

This pictorial includes a concise history of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber, as well as coverage of the XB-41 long range escort, C-87 Liberator Express, and C-109 fuel tanker models. Also included are two articles: “Operation Tidal Wave,” the low-level strike against the Ploesti oil fields in Romania on 1 August 1943, and “Flying the B-24 Bomber Was No Picnic.”

412 B&W/color photos/illustrations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387207459

Book preview

World War 2 In Review No. 20: Consolidated B-24 Liberator

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Hoosick Falls, New York

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2023 eBook Edition

ISBN 9781387207459

Copyright © 2017 by Merriam Press

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On the Cover

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial models were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.

At its inception, the B-24 was a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. However, the type was difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance. It also had a lower ceiling and was less robust than its far better known counterpart, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. While aircrews tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff preferred the B-24, and procured it for a wide variety of roles.

The B-24 was used in extensively in World War II. It served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several Allied air forces and navies, and saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic bombing campaign in the Western European theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan. Long range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic Gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The C-87 transport derivative served as a longer range, higher capacity counterpart to the C-47 Skytrain.

The B-24 was produced in very large numbers. At nearly 19,000 units, with over 8,000 manufactured by Ford Motor Company, it holds the distinction of being the most produced heavy bomber in history and the most-produced American military aircraft.

At the end of World War II, the Liberator had been surpassed by more modern types such as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The type was rapidly phased out of US service, although the PB4Y-2 Privateer derivative would go on to see service with the US Navy in the Korean War.

Two B-24s, one B-24A and one Liberator V (Lend Lease B-24J) representing a B-24H, are airworthy as of 2015.

The Liberator originated from a United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license. After company executives including President Reuben Fleet visited the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington, Consolidated decided instead to submit a more modern design of its own.

The new Model 32 combined designer David R. Davis's wing, a high-efficiency airfoil design created by unorthodox means, with the twin tail design from the Consolidated Model 31 flying boat, both mated together on a new fuselage. This new fuselage was intentionally designed around twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17 bomb bays.

In January 1939, the USAAC, under Specification C-212, formally invited Consolidated to submit a design study for a bomber with longer range, higher speed and greater ceiling than the B-17. The specification was written such that the Model 32 would automatically be the winning design. 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. Although the B-24 did not meet Project A goals, it was a step in that direction. Project A led to the development of the Boeing B-29 and Consolidated's own B-32 and B-36.

The B-24 had a shoulder mounted high aspect ratio Davis wing. This wing was highly efficient allowing a relatively high airspeed and long range. Compared to the B-17 it had a 6 foot larger wingspan, but a lower wing area. This gave the B-24 a 35% higher wing loading. The wing design had several drawbacks. Being thinner, the wing was also more susceptible to damage than the B-17's wing, making the aircraft less able to absorb battle damage. The wing carried four supercharged radial engines mounted in cowlings borrowed from the PBY Catalina, turning 3 bladed variable pitch propellers. The tail plane featured two large oval vertical stabilizers mounted at the ends of a rectangular horizontal stabilizer.

The B-24's spacious, slab-sided fuselage (which earned the aircraft the nickname Flying Boxcar) was built around two central bomb bay that could accommodate up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of ordnance in each compartment. The forward and aft bomb bay compartments were further split longitudinally with a centerline ventral catwalk just nine inches (23 cm) wide, which also functioned as the fuselage's structural keel beam. An unusual four-panel set of all-metal, tambour-panel roller-type bomb bay doors, which operated very much like the movable enclosure of a roll top desk, retracted into the fuselage, creating a minimum of aerodynamic drag to keep speed high over the target area. The occasional need for crewmen to move around inside from fore to aft within the B-24's fuselage during a mission over the narrow catwalk was a drawback shared with other designs.

The Liberator carried a crew of up to 10. The pilot and co-pilot sat alongside each other in a well glazed cockpit. The navigator and bombardier, who could also double as a nose or wiggly ear gunner, sat in the nose. The radar operator sat behind the pilots facing sideways. The upper gun turrets, when fitted, were located just behind the cockpit, in front of the wing. In the tail, up to 3 crew could be located in the waist operating waist guns and a lower ball turret. The waist gun hatches were provided with doors, and ball turrets were retractable for greater aerodynamic efficiency. The tail gunner was located at the end of the tail, behind the tailplane.

The B-24 featured a tricycle undercarriage, with the main gear extending out of the wing on long legs. It used differential braking and differential thrust for ground steering, which made taxiing difficult.

The defensive armament of the B-24 varied from transport variants, which were usually unarmed, to bombers armed with up to 10 .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns located in turrets and waist gun positions.

Early model liberators were fitted with a top mounted turret, a tail turret and single machine guns located in the waist and in the glazed nose. The B-24D initially featured upper, belly and tail turrets, plus swiveling single guns in the waist and on either side of the nose. The belly turret was a periscopically sighted Bendix model. The turret proved unsatisfactory and was soon replaced by a tunnel gun, which was itself omitted. Later D models were fitted with the retractable Sperry turret.

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. The bombsight was located below the turret.

Long range naval patrol versions often carried a light