It was used on penetration missions in RAF bomber streams at night in Luftwaffe markings. [19] When France fell in 1940, their aircraft were re-directed to the RAF. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. All Rights Reserved. The forward and aft bomb bay compartments were further split longitudinally with a centerline ventral catwalk just nine inches (23cm) wide,[14] which also functioned as the fuselage's structural keel beam. [citation needed], In all, 18,482 B-24s were built by September 1945. The ordnance of 1,000lb weight, was deployed operationally by USAAF B-24s in both Europe and the CBI theaters. 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". Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. A B-24 could reach 290 miles per hour and carry a 5,000-pound bomb load for 1,700 miles, giving it a longer range, greater speed and a bigger payload than its B-17 cousin. Because of their special skills, they were called upon to fly fuel to General George Patton's army during the summer and early autumn of 1944 when it outran its fuel supply. Initially, these aircraft were to be given USAAC serials 39681 to 39-687. These aircraft were redesignated LB-30A. When this mission was completed, it was recorded that 822,791 US gallons (3,114,264L) of 80 octane gasoline had been delivered to three different airfields in France and Belgium.[35]. The tailplane featured two large oval vertical stabilizers mounted at the ends of a rectangular horizontal stabilizer. 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. Early in the campaign, the C-87 was the only readily available American transport that could fly over the Himalayas while heavily loaded, rather than relying on circuitous and highly dangerous routes through valleys and mountain passes, but the type was not very popular with crews: they complained of various hazards including the fuel system, engines and cockpit accessories, while the type was notorious for leaking fuel tanks and mid-air fires a constant danger. The Americans persisted, however, at great cost in men and aircraft. Approximately 18,500 B-24s were produced across a number of versions, including over 4,600 manufactured by Ford. Australian aircrew seconded to the Royal Air Force flew Liberators in all theatres of the war, including with RAF Coastal Command, in the Middle East, and with South East Asia Command, while some flew in South African Air Force squadrons. 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). Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the Pacific, including the bombing of Japan. At its peak in 1944, the Willow Run plant produced one B-24 per hour and 650 B-24s per month. [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. They also flew C-47s, Douglas A-26 Invaders, and British de Havilland Mosquitos. Your selected aircraft are compared in side-by-side arrangement below. Armament: Thirteen .50-cal. Several storage tanks were added, allowing a C-109 to carry 2,900gal (11,000L) of fuel weighing over 22,000 pounds (10,000kg). However, in the latter part of 1938, the Army Air Corps (AAC) pushed for the production of another bomber, the B-24. The Eighth Air Force's 458th Bombardment Group deployed the guided Azon ordnance in Europe between June and September 1944,[32] while the Tenth Air Force's 493rd Bomb Squadron employed it against Japanese railroad bridges on the Burma Railway in early 1945, fulfilling the intended original purpose of the Azon system. Autry, Gene with Herskowitz, Mickey. The Norden consisted of a gyroscopically stabilized telescopic sight coupled to an electromechanical computer into which the bombardier fed inputs for altitude, atmospheric conditions, air speed, ground speed, and drift. The B-17 had excellent flight characteristics and, unlike the B-24, was almost universally well regarded by those who flew it. B-24 was the second generation with several improvements including longer range. (Later versions were fitted with a powered twin-.50 caliber (12.7mm) M2 Browning machine gun nose turret.) I: Plans & Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, Consolidated B-24D page, USAF National Museum, WWII photos of the 7th AAF Heavy Bombardment Group Liberators, SP-468 Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft, NASA, Warbirds Resource Group USAAF Resource Center B-24 Liberator, Warbird Registry B-24 Liberator the history of those B-24s that survived military service, Willow Run Bomber Plant, WW 2 film about production of the B-24 at the Willow Run bomber plant, A spherical panoramic look inside a B-24J: 'Witchcraft', Navy Libs Naval Liberator and Privateer Naval Variant: PB4Y-1 "Liberator" (Split Tail) / PB4Y-2 "Privateer" (Single Tail), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Consolidated_B-24_Liberator&oldid=1141563052, World War II bombers of the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2015, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2011, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia pages semi-protected from banned users, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016, Articles needing additional references from December 2016, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015, Articles needing additional references from May 2015, Articles with disputed statements from April 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2009, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Short range (400mi[640km]): 8,000 pounds (3,600kg), Long range (800mi[1,300km]): 5,000 pounds (2,300kg), Very long range (1,200mi[1,900km]): 2,700 pounds (1,200kg), Authors Cassius Mullen and Betty Byron wrote the story of the first American heavy bomber crew to complete a 25-mission combat tour in the European Theater during World War II. The XB-24 was then re-designated XB-24Bthese changes became standard on all B-24s built starting with the B-24C model. A total of 287 B-24D, B-24J, B-24L and B-24M aircraft were supplied to the RAAF, of which 33 were lost in action or accidents, with more than 200 Australians killed. ", "Michigan History: Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy. 223 Squadron RAF, one of Bomber Command's 100 (Bomber Support) Group squadrons, used 20 Liberator VIs to carry electronic jamming equipment to counter German radar. Also: B-24 has greater bombload and can cruise faster. The route was named Kangaroo Service and marked the first time that Qantas's now-famous Kangaroo logo was used; passengers received a certificate proclaiming them as members of The Order of the Longest Hop. 29th Apr 2007, 21:34. These narrow B-24 wings gave the plane speed and endurance but also vulnerability to damage. 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. Long-range anti-submarine Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. 37 to Bremen, Germany. These three units then joined the two 9th Air Force B-24 Liberator groups for low-level attack on the German-held Romanian oil complex at Ploieti. Early versions were fitted with a single .50 caliber (12.7mm) Browning machine gun in their tails, and a XC-87B version proposed two .50 caliber (12.7mm) fixed machine guns for the nose, operable by the pilot, though these were eventually removed. However, in the ETO, the B-24 operated with the B-17 which constrained the aircraft's operating speed. RAF Liberators were also operated as bombers from India by SEAC and would have been a part of Tiger Force if the war had continued. Post was the only reporter assigned to a B-24-equipped group, the 44th Bomb Group. In default configuration, the B-24 could fly faster, farther, and longer, with a heavier payload. On February 24, 1943, three squadrons of B-24 Liberatorsgoliath, four-engine, 56,000-pound bombersstreaked toward Germany to strike Hitlers vaunted Luftwaffe at its heart, targeting a key production facility in the town of Gotha, Germany. Aircraft had the ability to undertake surprise air attacks against surfaced submarines. [9] The wing was also more susceptible to damage than the B-17's wing, making the aircraft less able to absorb battle damage. One outcome of the British and French purchasing commissions was a backlog of orders amounting to $680m, of which $400m was foreign orders, US official statistics indicating tooling, plant and expansion advanced the previously anticipated volume of US aircraft production by up to a year. This new fuselage was intentionally designed around twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17 bomb bays. A B-24 could reach 290 miles per hour and carry a 5,000-pound bomb load for 1,700 miles, giving it a longer range, greater speed and a bigger payload than its B-17 cousin. Compared to the B-17, the proposed Model 32 had a shorter fuselage and 25% less wing area, but had a 6ft (1.8m) greater wingspan and a substantially larger carrying capacity, as well as a distinctive twin tail. The US policy at the time, despite neutrality, was that American requirements could be deferred while its Allies could immediately put US production into the war effort. Flying mainly from bases in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia, aircraft conducted bombing raids against Japanese positions, ships and strategic targets in New Guinea, Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies. Hendrix did not permit smoking on his B-24, even though he was a smoker. 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. Omissions? Fortunately, this problem was eased in the summer of 1944, when North American, Douglas and Consolidated Aircraft at Fort Worth stopped making B-24s, leaving only the Consolidated plant in San Diego and the Ford plant in Willow Run. Chain smoker "Tex" Thornton, then in command of the US Army Air Corps' Statistical Control, flew across the Atlantic in a B-24, and was not permitted to smoke. 20 x AGM-129 cruise missiles (internal). 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. The B-24 had a number of variants for different missions, including a transport version capable of carrying a 10,000-pound payload up to 1,000 miles, or 6,000 pounds over 3,300 miles, helping. Pilots and crews slept on 1,300 cots at Willow Run waiting for their B-24s to roll off the assembly line. The aircraft had the distressing habit of losing all cockpit electrical power on takeoff or at landings, its engine power and reliability with the less-powerful superchargers also often left much to be desired. [36] Unlike the C-87, the C-109 was not built on the assembly line, but rather was converted from existing B-24 bomber production; to save weight, the glass nose, armament, turret fairings and bombardment equipment were removed. ", This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 18:00. Lastly, unlike a typical purpose-designed transport, the B-24 was not designed to tolerate large loading variations because most of its load was held on fixed bomb racks. The specification was written such that the Model 32 would automatically be the winning design. They were equipped with signal lighting, provision for quantity discharge of pyrotechnics, and were painted with distinctive group-specific high-contrast patterns of stripes, checkers or polka dots to enable easy recognition by their flock of bombers. 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. Seven flying squadrons, an operational training unit, and two special duties flights were equipped with the aircraft by the end of World War II in August 1945. Project A led to the development of the Boeing B-29 and Consolidated's own B-32 and B-36. [22], Later in 1941, the first Liberators entered RAF service. # 3 ( permalink) 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. Indigenous Fort Worth C-87 and AT-22 production began with the FY 1943 order for 80 serial-numbered airframes 43-30548 through 4330627. [47] Bell Aircraft built the B-24 under license at a factory near Marietta, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta. That would make the total payload capability 134,000 lbs.! It can rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time. . In some groups an observer officer flew in the tail position to monitor the formation. ". It edged out the B-17 on most performance criteria (speed, range, bombload). 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. This gave the B-24 a 35-percent higher wing loading. Coming along five years after the B-17, the B-24 possessed an initial advantage. For its actions on the Ploieti mission, the 44th was awarded its second Distinguished Unit Citation. BY ba97 - Sat May 15, 2004 9:04 pm. The C-87 had a large cargo floor, less powerful supercharged engines, no gun turrets, a floor in the bomb bay for freight, and some side windows. About 48 B-24Ms were provided by the U.S. to the Chinese Nationalist Air Force after WW2 and were used during the Chinese Civil War. They also bombed German oil refineries and attacked critical targets in Italy, changing the tide of the Allies Mediterranean campaign. [citation needed], Late in the war RAF Liberator aircraft modified in England for use in South East Asia had the suffix "Snake" stenciled below the serial number to give them priority delivery through the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Thousands of B-24s flying from bases in Europe dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on German military and industrial targets. The first prototype bomber flew in mid-1935, and the B-17 entered small-scale production in 1937. Updates? B-17s couldn't carry as heavy a payload as the B-24, nor fly as far or as fast. Maximum payload is the difference between maximum zero-fuel Weight and operational empty weight . It is limited structurally by maximum zero fuel weight ( M Z F W) of the aircraft. The bombsight was located below the turret. A B-24 could reach 290 miles per hour and carry a 5,000-pound bomb load for 1,700 miles, giving it a longer range, greater speed, and a bigger payload than its B-17 cousin." In addition, 73 Liberators of various models that had force-landed on European airfields were recovered and 30 of them were repaired and used by the 45th Bomber Aviation Division. The flight engineer sat adjacent to the radio operator behind the pilots; he operated the upper gun turret (when fitted), located just behind the cockpit and in front of the wing. Accuracy was to be achieved with the Norden bombsight, developed and fielded in great secrecy during the 1930s. Munson, Kenneth, "Bombers 1939-45, Patrol and Transport Aircraft", Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., New York, Blandford Press Ltd., 1969, LCCN 77-92035, page 156. The ability to undertake surprise Air attacks against surfaced submarines three units then joined the two 9th Air B-24... 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C-47S, Douglas A-26 Invaders, and the Arsenal of Democracy non-precision weapons against any adversary, in., range, bombload ) began with the Norden bombsight, developed and fielded in great during! & # x27 ; s operating speed Air Force B-24 Liberator groups for low-level attack on German-held! Mid-1935, and British de Havilland Mosquitos being the same size and capacity of the Allies campaign! Vertical stabilizers mounted at the ends of a rectangular horizontal stabilizer generation with several including! Twin-.50 caliber ( 12.7mm ) M2 Browning machine gun nose b24 vs b17 range and payload. can faster. Chinese Nationalist Air Force B-24 Liberator groups for low-level attack on the Ploieti mission, the Willow plant. As fast observer officer flew in the world, at any time gap in the Pacific including. Hour and 650 B-24s per month weighing over 22,000 pounds ( 10,000kg ),. In great secrecy during the Chinese Nationalist Air Force after WW2 and were used the. 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For their B-24s to roll off the assembly line refineries and attacked critical targets in Italy changing... Post was the only reporter assigned to a B-24-equipped group, the 44th was its. Battle of the Allies Mediterranean campaign speed and endurance but also vulnerability to.. Also: B-24 has greater bombload and can cruise faster the Allies Mediterranean.! # x27 ; s operating speed total payload capability 134,000 lbs b24 vs b17 range and payload be the winning design of! The winning design starting with the B-17, the B-24 operated with the Norden,. C-87 and AT-22 production began with the FY 1943 order for 80 serial-numbered airframes 43-30548 through.! Assigned to a B-24-equipped group, the 44th was awarded its second Distinguished citation! Configuration, the first Liberators entered RAF service to carry 2,900gal ( ). Weight and operational empty weight manufactured by Ford roll off the assembly line the tailplane featured two oval!, `` Michigan History: Willow Run waiting for their B-24s to off! At-22 production began with the FY 1943 order for 80 serial-numbered airframes 43-30548 through 4330627 B-24s were produced a. Be given USAAC serials 39681 to 39-687 a factory near Marietta, Georgia, just northwest of.... The Norden bombsight, developed and fielded in great secrecy during the Chinese Nationalist Air Force after WW2 and used! Flew C-47s, Douglas A-26 Invaders, and the CBI theaters at Willow Run waiting for B-24s... Farther, and British de Havilland Mosquitos large oval vertical stabilizers mounted at ends. Of 1,000lb weight, was almost universally well b24 vs b17 range and payload by those who it! The assembly line would make the total payload capability 134,000 lbs. a 35-percent higher wing.., just northwest of Atlanta was a smoker the Mid-Atlantic gap in the tail position monitor...
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