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Consolidated XB-41 Liberator

1942 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History

The USAF made serious attempts to convert various bombers into gunships before providing long-range fighter escorts on a large scale for bomber formations. The concept involved a heavily armored aircraft that would escort a fleet of bombers into enemy airspace, provide point defense against interceptor fighters, and lead the formation home under cover. This conversion work involved several classic American bombers from the war, including the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Joint B-24 Liberator.

The former is represented by "YB-40" (detailed elsewhere on this page) and the latter by "XB-41" described below.

Consolidated provided production B-24D models for refit work, which included the installation of additional artillery and armor protection, eliminating bombardment equipment. A second dual-gun dorsal turret was added to the rear of the first, and a Bendix powered remote control turret was added in the "chin" position. Each single-gun beam position is now equipped with a dual-gun array.

The other two guns were located in the stern, and the Sperry ball turret with twin machine guns remained in its ventral position. Due to the Liberator's low ground height, the Sperry turret is retractable during takeoff and landing.

To feed the multi-machine gun array, approximately 12,420 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition were required to drop air - so the bomb bay was used as a reserve for thousands of rounds.

Work on the XB-41 began in 1942 and a single prototype was delivered for testing in January 1943. The aircraft was withdrawn from the competition after just two months of evaluation, which canceled the initial 13 prototypes. It turned out that the extra weapons, ammunition storage and armor added too much weight and extra drag to the aircraft.

The exposed position also added significant drag, making the flying gun bus much slower than the expected bomber formation - especially after the formation had dropped its bomb load. Work on the prototype continued to make it a viable companion platform, but with little improvement, the attempt was eventually recorded in aviation history.

The prototype was modified as a trainer and renamed "TB-24D". It ended in this form until it was scrapped in February 1945.

Upon completion, the XB-41 was piloted by 9 people. Overall length is 66.3 feet, with a wingspan of 110 feet and a height of 17.10 feet. Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 63,000 lbs. Power comes from 4 Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,250 hp each.

Top speed is 289 mph, range is up to 3,100 miles, and service is capped at 28,500 feet.

The YB-40 (B-17F) Gun Bus project fared slightly better, as 25 examples of this type were produced, albeit in development form. The project was also largely seen as a return on investment failure, although it produced a key quality in future B-17 combat models - namely the Bendix powered chin turret on the B-17G.

All of this was moot when the USAF started to receive large numbers of long-range fighter escorts equipped with jettison tanks, which were well protected by bomber formations on enemy territory. They are agile aircraft with excellent performance and armament, capable of traveling with formations to and from target areas.