Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Comprehensive History of the B-24 Liberator

The Allied B-24 Liberator became a major Allied player during World War II. She's been around the world - and so are her users - and she's played various roles in all major theaters. In order to surpass the mythical Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the Liberator appeared in 1941 with a more modern design.

She failed to achieve this, instead fighting alongside her peers, forming a mighty hammer during Allied bombing raids. While the B-17 ultimately proved to be an advantageous career for pilots and strategists, one cannot doubt its influence in the various roles assigned to it.

The Liberator became the most produced American aircraft of the entire war.

Development

The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) issued a new specification in 1935. The specification calls for the development of a new long-range multi-engine heavy bomber capable of a top speed of over 300 miles per hour, a range of 3,000 miles, maintaining a service ceiling of at least 35,000 feet, and accommodating an internal bomb load of at least 8,000 pounds. Production of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was well underway, and in 1938 Consolidated was called in to help with production.

As part of the manufacturing program, Consolidated executives were taken to Boeing's Seattle, Washington, factory for a factory tour. It was this meeting that prompted Consolidated to submit their own heavy bomber design with a more modern twist.

USAAC approved a design study for the C-212 in January 1939, with the aim of making the new aircraft exceed the performance specifications (speed, range, and ceiling) of the B-17 and fight the war in the 20th century.

Consolidated lost no time in developing their design - the Type 32 - and brought some revolutionary changes to the way American bombers were designed. The Type 32 had three-wheeled landing gear -- the first American bomber to do so -- eliminating the traditional "tail-trail" design used by the B-17.

The monoplane wings were also kept high shoulder-mounted, widened themselves, and had two engines mounted on the leading edge of each wing in the underslung nacelles. The tall wing has less surface area but is more fuel efficient than the B-17's low-mounted assembly.

Notable here is Consolidated's attempt at the Model 31 (XP4Y Corregidor), which used the same high aspect ratio "Davis" wing (or "Davis wing"). The plane is twin-engined and designed to be an airship. Ultimately, the design was shelved after the U.S.

Navy cancelled its order for 200 prototypes due to program delays and a shortage of available Wright engines.

Davis Wings originated in the ideas of David R Davis, an aerospace engineer who was working on a new wing plan that used short chords and high aspect ratios and thicknesses suitable for engines and fuel , while maintaining efficiency. He met with Union President Ruben H. Fleet in the summer of 1937 and made the wing design one of the most commonly used wing plane forms in World War II.

The new wing is intended for the company's new flying boat design - the Type 31. Despite the cancellation of the Type 31 (only one example appeared in development), the wing was seen as a big step forward in the design of the upcoming B-24 Liberator and later the mainstay of the Consolidated design.

Other features of the

32 include a selection of Pratt & Whitney R-1830 14-cylinder radial piston engines, deep bomb bay fuselage and dual vertical tail assemblies. The development process culminated in a contract for an airworthy prototype, codenamed the XB-24, on March 30, 1939. The XB-24 entered service and made its first flight from Lindberg Airfield, California, on December 29, 1939, with four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33 radial piston engines, 1,000 hp each. The aircraft did not reach the projected top speed as originally designed, but overall the first flight was a success. To complete the prototype design, six additional YB-24/LB-30A evaluation/pre-production models were ordered, built, and delivered.

The B-24 followed with seven, of which only one was used for service testing. The B-24 was equipped with de-icing boots and had the leading edge grooves removed from earlier forms.

Orders for the new Consolidated design started to pile up, which is a remarkable feat considering the orders were received before the XB-24 even flew. Production began at Consolidated's Santiago facility, with the first six systems serving the French Air Force as the LB-30A variant.

With the fall of France in 1940, the planes were leased to the RAF. The RAF deemed their early production forms unsuitable for the rigors of combat, not even equipped with self-sealing fuel tanks - a valuable feature of all military aircraft at the end of the war - and relegated them to ferry service. USAAC ordered 36 aircraft, while the UK ordered 164 for the RAF. After receiving the plane, the British called it the Liberator, and the legacy of the multi-engine bomber was born.

Like other U.S. goods named after the British (such as the M3 Lee/Grant medium tank), the U.S. military has since accepted the British name Liberator as part of the official name. The first production models were the B-24A/LB-30B.

The XB-24B was designed to exceed the XB-24's projected top speed. This included replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Meridian with turbocharged versions in the R-1830-41, each producing 1,200 horsepower. The XB-24 prototype, as a modified model, now has a top speed increased by 60 km/h. The new engine and its turbocharger also forced a hood revision.

The XB-24B later became the first definitive combat Liberator form to serve in the United Kingdom and the United States. Early deterministic and quantitative models were usually the B-24D, B-24E, and B-24G.

Walk around

Liberator comes with 7 to 10 employees (depending on model). The pilot and co-pilot are located on the upper flight deck, facing forward, to the side and above. Of the two seats in the cockpit, the pilot sits on the left and the co-pilot sits on the right. The pilot is essentially the liberator's overlord and is ultimately responsible for the actions and relative health of the rest of his crew. The pilot maintains the Liberator's position in flight and is told to maneuver the aircraft to the target area and back, or make split-second decisions based on the action to keep their crew alive.

The co-pilot is likewise trained in the systems available to the pilot and is the pilot's right-hand man in all respects. He was involved in the operation and control of the Liberator to relieve the pilot of responsibilities.

Like the pilot, one can rely on the co-pilot to fully control the aircraft in and out of the target area and, like the navigator, master the art of navigation.

The nose gunner, bomber, and navigator were designed to be placed well under the glass nose. The Bow Gunner was probably given the most stunning (and often accurate) position on the Liberator, where he could witness every bombing raid like the rest of the crew. If the Liberator model requires an archer with a 2 x 12.7mm machine gun, a powered archer turret can be used.

Because the Liberator's front lines are the most vulnerable to enemy fighters, this position is also one of the more dangerous positions on the plane.

Bombardier holds the most important job in the crew. Because the Liberators were designed for bombing, aircrews without trained bomber crews were ultimately useless to Allied air campaigns. Bombardier and the pilot share a role, as Bombardier was required to take flight control of the bomber while participating in the autopilot bombing raid. Calculations are required to deliver the payload directly to the target area, requiring a bombardier to maintain a certain level of bravery when blocking enemy fighter jets, anti-aircraft guns, structural damage or personal combat wounds. Leading the bomber was also what prompted other formations to drop bombs.

Later advances in aerial technology allowed bombardiers to hit directly even through clouds and smoke.

The navigator is given the important responsibility of getting the crew to their destination and back home. This is especially important for the lead bomber in a given flight group, but all navigators need special knowledge of their position to guide the bomber through in case the plane is driven out of their group. The navigator can orient himself using the plexiglass dome mounted in front, relying on the physical landmarks below and his training in the art of navigation. Essentially, the pilot and navigator must maintain a close partnership to get everyone to the target area and back home.

If the Liberator model is equipped with a "jaw" machine gun, the navigator can drive one.

The dorsal turret gunner also acts as a flight engineer and probably maintains the best defensive position as it provides an excellent angle of fire compared to all other available gunner positions. 2 x 12.7mm machine guns mounted on the turret. As flight mechanics for an aircraft, these people have some expertise in the inner workings of an aircraft.

Its primary role -- in addition to defending the bomber's upper hemisphere -- is to assist pilots with engine health and fuel consumption.

The radio operator is located in the upper part of the Liberator's deep fuselage, just behind the cockpit, not behind the wings like the B-17. Because of his location, he had to wear it for hours at a time to communicate politely, report updates to the navigator, report regularly on situation updates, and communicate with headquarters about mission results.

The radio operator must keep a log of all relevant operations and can be called upon to operate one of the waist guns if necessary.

The forward flight crew was withdrawn from the rear flight crew, and the passage between the two parts of the bomber was the length of access to both bomb bays via a thin scaffold. Boarding and exiting the plane is through a rear door, which is a distressing emergency exit.

The front crew is expected to exit the plane through the bomb bay gantry and head to the rear wearing parachutes and bulky thermal flight suits.

Usually the smallest bomber crew is recruited to operate the spherical turret with a 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine gun. These guys don't carry a parachute (the small size of the ball tower makes it necessary) and get into their tower after the plane has flown. Unlike the B-17, the spherical turret could be retracted into the Liberator's fuselage during takeoff and landing.

The ball turret is probably the coldest location on any given B-24, with many crew members reporting frostbite during these frigid high-altitude flights. In any case, the turret gunner had a clear idea of ??what was going on, unlike the rest of the crew.

The waist gunner was tasked with defending the Liberator's vulnerable side with a single-shot 12.7mm machine gun. Thus, these positions on the Liberator suffered the most casualties as oncoming fighters prepared to shell the bomber's large flanks. These two positions - left and right - were later offset to balance each shooter's firing angle.

Unlike other turret locations in the B-24, the spent cartridge cases in these hip locations do not automatically eject from the aircraft, forcing the crew to clear their area themselves. Because firing from these sides required a great deal of hand-eye coordination with tracer rounds, taking into account both aiming speed and the Liberator's own flight speed, early hip gunners relied on simple target sights.

Only later did they get support in the form of compensating sights to improve accuracy.

The rear gunner was probably the most important defensive position on the Liberator, occupying a powered 2 x 12.7mm machine gun turret. The view from the tail gunner is spectacular, and he is tasked with defending the plane's "six", which is where he's most likely to encounter trailing enemy fighters bent on easy kills. One point here is that if the Liberator is flying through the rain of anti-aircraft salvos, most of the time the tail gunner will be the safest position on the plane, since the plane has already passed the exploding shells.

It is not uncommon for aircrews to carry their own forms of personal protection, such as steel plates, to defend against such air defense threats.