However, in the latter part of 1938, the Army Air Corps (AAC) pushed for the production of another bomber, the B-24. Engines: Four Wright "Cyclone" R-1820s of 1,200 hp. 'While the B-29 had huge advantages over the B-17 and B-24, it wasn't so good it was invulnerable to German fighters, particularly in its early configuration with full guns. ", https://web.archive.org/web/20090304014706/http://home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b24_27.html, "Indian Ocean New Guinea Kangaroo Service 19501946. Project A led to the development of the Boeing B-29 and Consolidated's own B-32 and B-36. Post was the only reporter assigned to a B-24-equipped group, the 44th Bomb Group. Hendrix, Lindell ("Lin"), "Requiem for a Heavyweight", Wings, February 1978, A Sentry Magazine, page 20. B-17, also called Flying Fortress, U.S. heavy bomber used during World War II. Arrangements for signal lighting varied from group to group, but generally consisted of white flashing lamps on both sides of the fuselage arranged to form the identification letter of the group. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber that entered service in 1941. 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. 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. Wind tunnel testing and experimental programs using an existing Consolidated Model 31 provided extensive data on the flight characteristics of the Davis airfoil. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. In some groups an observer officer flew in the tail position to monitor the formation. II radar, which together with the Leigh light, gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and by night. 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. Liberators were also used as anti-submarine patrol aircraft by RAF Coastal Command. 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. (1978). 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. Mosquito Vs B17 #13342705. The U.S. Army Air Corps awarded a contract for the prototype XB-24 in March 1939, with the requirement that one example should be ready before the end of the year. On 12 June 1942, 13 B-24s of the Halverson Project (HALPRO) flying from Egypt attacked the Axis-controlled oil fields and refineries around Ploieti, Romania. B-17G - Range vs Bomb Load; B-17G - Service Ceiling; B-17G Standard Aircraft Characteristics; The large production quantity of the B-24s can be called into question since the United States already had a long-range, high-altitude bomber in the B-17. You can always go back and, Four-Engined Strategic Heavy Bomber Aircraft. After it was discovered that these problems could be alleviated by flying with the forward storage tank empty, this practice became fairly routine, enhancing aircrew safety at the cost of some fuel-carrying capacity. And then, suddenly, the whole wing broke off. The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company in response to a 1934 Army Air Corps specification that called for a four-engined bomber at a time when two engines were the norm. By the end of the conflict, over 18,500 B-24s had been constructed making it the . Its lower altitude made it more vulnerable to flak. These aircraft became known as Judas goats.[34]. 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. In the period between 7 November 1942 and 8 March 1943, the 44th Bomb Group lost 13 of its original 27 B-24s. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [48] By 1945, Ford made 70% of all B-24s in two nine-hour shifts. Reply. 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. Up to four crew members could be located in the waist, operating waist guns, a retractable lower ball turret gun, and a tail gun turret matching the nose turret. 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]. 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. This role was dangerous, especially after many U-boats were armed with extra anti-aircraft guns, some adopting the policy of staying on the surface to fight, rather than submerging and risking being sunk by aerial weapons such as rockets, gunfire, torpedoes and depth charges from the bombers. The PLAAF had two B-24Ms captured from the Chinese Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War and operated until 1952. On a ferry flight from Hildesheim to Bavaria on 6 April 1945 it was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire. 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, that aforementioned ball turret on the B-24 was retractable, whilst the B-17's was not; . Many of the surviving Liberators originated in this Command. The XC-87B also designated a resurrected crash victim B-24D (42-40355) fitted with low altitude power packages and a forward fuselage extension. While aircrews tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24 and procured it in huge numbers for a wide variety of roles. The wing carried four supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 Twin Wasp engines mounted in cowlings borrowed from the PBY Catalina (similar except for being oval in cross-section allowing for oil coolers mounted on each side of the engine) that turned 3-bladed variable-pitch propellers. One of these was captured at Venegono, Italy on 29 March 1944. At 59,524 pounds (27,000kg)[dubious discuss] (29.76 short tons) maximum takeoff weight, it was one of the heaviest aircraft in the world; comparable with the British "heavies", with fully loaded weights of 30 short tons for (and nearly identical to) the Stirling, the 34 short ton Lancaster and the 27 short ton Halifax. In addition, the 36th BS flew night missions with the RAF Bomber Command 100 Group at RAF Sculthorpe. Leutnant Heinz Knoke (who finished the war with 31 kills) shot down the Liberator. 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. B-24 was the second generation with several improvements including longer range. In January 1939, the USAAC, under Specification C-212, formally invited Consolidated[7] to submit a design study for a bomber with longer range, higher speed and greater ceiling than the B-17. These Liberators operated from both sides of the Atlantic with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command and later, the US Navy conducting patrols along all three American coasts and the Canal Zone. No other American combat aircraft in history was produced on a larger scale. The B-24 featured a tricycle undercarriage, the first American bomber to do so,[9] with the main gear extending out of the wing on long, single-oleo strut legs. 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. 200 Flight played an important role in supporting covert operations conducted by the Allied Intelligence Bureau; and other Liberators were converted to VIP transports. [8], The B-24 had a shoulder-mounted high aspect ratio Davis wing. While RAF Bomber Command did not use B-24s as strategic bombers over mainland North West Europe, No. However, in the ETO, the B-24 operated with the B-17 which constrained the aircraft's operating speed. Also, the necessity of range increased the importance of weight and aerodynamic efficiency. The B-24D initially featured upper, belly and tail turrets, plus swiveling single guns in the waist and on either side of the nose. In the event, the need to keep such tight defensive formations over Europe compromised the accuracy of the Norden bombsight, since individual bomb runs were not possible without breaking the formation. ", "Michigan History: Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy. Uomini sul fondo: storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. 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. In his autobiography, Fate is the Hunter, the writer Ernest K. Gann reported that, while flying air cargo in India, he barely avoided crashing an improperly loaded C-87 into the Taj Mahal. Because of this, Boeing began to work on pressurized long range bomber derivatives of the B-17. 1939 bomber aircraft family by Consolidated Aircraft, "B-24" redirects here. Giorgerini, Giorgio (2002). [41], Three B-24s were captured and then operated by the German secret operations unit KG 200, which also tested, evaluated and sometimes clandestinely operated captured enemy aircraft during World War II.[42]. In time the B-24 would boast a long, tapered wing atop its fuselage, which allowed impressive long-range cruising capabilities. Other C-87 designations were the U.S. Navy designation RY and Lend Lease Liberator Cargo VII. This wing was highly efficient allowing a relatively high airspeed and long range. All armament and armor were removed and in some cases the tail turret. The payloads for the B-52H and B-2 are usually given as about 70,000 lbs. 120 Squadron RAF of Coastal Command with its handful of worn and modified early model Liberators supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap, the Liberator being the only airplane with sufficient range. The Liberators flew a shorter 3,077mi (4,952km) over-water route from Learmonth to an airfield northeast of Colombo, but they could make the flight in 17 hours with a 5,500 pounds (2,500kg) payload, whereas the Catalinas required 27 hours and had to carry so much auxiliary fuel that their payload was limited to only 1,000 pounds (450kg). Subject: Acceptance Performance Tests Section: Flying Branch . B-17s couldn't carry as heavy a payload as the B-24, nor fly as far or as fast. A consequence of the British orders went beyond requests for specific modifications: as the RAF accepted some designs while rejecting others, American production was to some extent re-directed along specific lines that accorded with British doctrine, the B-24's capacious bomb bay and ability to carry 8,000lb ordnance a case in point.[9]. The article title designations were the U.S. Navy designation RY and Lend Lease Cargo... The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and Arsenal! Run and the Arsenal of Democracy the Arsenal of Democracy constructed making it the surviving. Suddenly, the 36th BS flew night missions with the RAF bomber Command Group. C-87 designations were the U.S. Navy designation RY and Lend Lease Liberator Cargo VII, tapered wing atop its,... Increased the importance of weight and aerodynamic efficiency Four-Engined Strategic heavy bomber aircraft by. Italiano dalle origini a oggi B-24s in two nine-hour shifts by Consolidated,... 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