The Consolidated B-24 'Liberator' was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land 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 China-Burma-India Theaters.
Development
The Liberator originated from a United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license. Instead, Consolidated decided to submit its own design and the new Model 32 combined the Davis wing, a high-efficiency airfoil design created by unorthodox means by a lone inventor named David Davis, 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 the twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17's. 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 USAAC ordered seven YB-24s and twenty B-24As. The first production aircraft were export versions with deliveries beginning in December 1940. 120 LB-30s (export version 'Land Bombers') were ordered for France and 164 were ordered by the British. The orders for France were not available before its capitulation and the French aircraft were diverted to Great Britain. The B-24D was the first model produced on a large scale, ordered from 1940 to 1942, as a B-24C with better engines (R-1830-43 supercharged engines). The D model was initially equipped with a remotely operated and periscopically sighted Bendix belly turret gun and was eventually replaced by the Sperry ball turret, which had also been adopted by the later B-17E 'Fortresses', but made retractable for the Liberator as the ventral area of its fuselage was very close to the ground on landing. In late B-24Ds, "cheek" guns mounted on either side of the forward nose, just behind the framed "greenhouse" nose glazing were added.
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RAF Service
The Liberators made a great contribution to Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-boats. The decision to allocate some Liberators to Coastal Command in 1941 to patrol the eastern Atlantic Ocean produced immediate results. The Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators "almost doubled the reach of Britain's maritime reconnaissance force". This extended range enabled Coastal Command patrols to cover part of the mid-Atlantic gap, where U-boats had operated without risking being attacked and sunk by Allied aircraft. For 12 months, No. 120 Squadron RAF of Coastal Command with its handful of much-patched and modified early model Liberators, supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap, the Liberator being the only warplane with sufficient range. The VLR Liberators sacrificed some armor and often gun turrets in order to save weight, while carrying extra aviation gasoline in their bomb-bay tanks. Liberators were equipped with ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) Mark II radar, which together with the Leigh Light gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and by night. Liberators were credited in full or in part with 93 U-boat sinkings.
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Fighting the Luftwaffe
B-24s of the Ninth Air Force, operating from Africa and Italy, and the Fifteenth Air Force, also operating from Italy, took a major role in strategic bombing. Fifteen of the 15th AF's 21 bombardment groups flew B-24s. The Ninth Air Force moved to England in 1944 to become a tactical air force, and all of its B-24s were transferred to other Air Forces, such as the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy. On 12 June 1942, 13 B-24s flying from Egypt attacked the Axis-controlled oil fields and refineries around Ploiesti, Romania. While pilots who flew both preferred the B-17, the B-24 was faster, had longer range, and could carry a ton more bombs. It was one of the workhorse bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in the Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany, forming about one-third of its heavy bomber strength, with the other two-thirds being B-17s. Thousands of B-24s, flying from bases in England, dropped hundreds of thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on German military and industrial targets. The 44th Bombardment Group was one of the first two heavy bombardment groups flying the B-24 with the 8th Air Force in the fall/winter air campaigns in the European Theater of Operations. The 44th Bomb Group flew the first of its 344 combat missions against the Axis powers in World War II on 7 November 1942. 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.
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The 44th Bomb Group was joined by the 93rd and the 389th Bomb Groups. These three units joined the two 9th Air Force B-24 Liberator groups for the 1 August 1943 low-level attack on the German-held Romanian oil complex at Ploesti. A total of 177 B-24s carried out the famous second attack on Ploesti (Operation Tidal Wave), flying from their bases in northwestern Libya. This daring assault by high altitude bombers at tree top level was a costly success. The 44th destroyed both of its assigned targets, but lost 11 of its 37 bombers and their crews. Of the 177 B-24s that were dispatched on this operation, 54 were lost. The B-24 loss rate in the ETO was actually slightly better than that of the B-17. The B-24's flew 226,775 sorties with 3,626 losses or 1.60% while the B-17 flew 291,508 sorties with 4,688 losses or 1.61%. By February 1944, the 2nd Division authorized the use of "Assembly Ships" (or "Formation Ships") specially fitted to aid assembly of individual group formations. They were equipped with signal lighting, provision for quantity discharge of pyrotechnics, and were painted with distinctive group-specific high-contrast patters of stripes, checkers, or polka dots to enable easy recognition by their flock of bombers. The aircraft used in the first allocation were B-24Ds retired by the 44th, 93rd and 389th Groups.
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In the Pacific
The USAAF took delivery of its first B-24As in mid-1941 and initially used the type as transports. The sole B-24 in Hawaii was destroyed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. These early LB-30s were replaced by the first B-24Ds to reach the Pacific in late 1942. The Fifth Air Force was raised that covered the vast region from the Far East, Australia, New Guinea to the Philippines. It was originally formed as the Philippine Department of the Air Force and participated in halting the Japanese drive in Papua, recovery of New Guinea, and liberation of the Philippines. 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. By 1943, the Liberator had almost entirely replaced the B-17 Fortress as the primary long-range heavy bomber in the theatre.
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Fifth Air Force
A total of four Bombardment Groups operated the B-24 Liberator with the Fifth Air Force during its campaign in the South West Pacific. The 90th Bombardment Group was the first Fifth Air Force unit to gain the B-24, operating it from bases in Australia from November 1942-February 1943, from New Guinea from February 1943 to August 1944 and then from Biak until January 1945. During this period the unit supported the campaigns on New Guinea, as well as attacking targets on Palau and in the southern Philippines. In January 1945 the group moved to Mindoro, from where it attacked targets on the Asian mainland, before finally moving to Ie Shima in August 1945 in preparation for the attack on Japan. The 43rd Bombardment Group gained its B-24s between May and September 1943, while it was based on New Guinea. From there it moved to Owi, in the Schouten Islands (July 1944), then to the Philippines (November 1944) and finally to Ie Shima in July 1945. It attacked targets on New Guinea and the southern Philippines while based on New Guinea. From the Philippines the group was used to attack Japanese shipping off the coast of the Asian mainland, as well as targets in China and on Formosa. Finally from July 1945 it attacked targets in Japan, the Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan. The 22nd Bombardment Group gained its B-24s in February 1944. From then until September it was used to attack targets on Borneo, before helping to support the invasion of the Philippines. The group moved to Leyte in November 1944, from where it supported the campaign on Luzon, as well as attacking targets on Borneo and in China. At the very end of the war the group had moved to Okinawa, in preparation for the invasion of Japan. The 380th Bombardment Group was assigned to the Fifth Air Force from the spring of 1943, but was attached to the Royal Australian Air Force from then until January 1945. During that period it trained Australian crews to fly the B-24, and carried out attacks on Japanese targets in the Dutch East Indies, the Bismarck Archipelago, on Borneo and on New Guinea. In February 1945 the group rejoined the Fifth Air Force on Mindoro, from where it took part in the campaign on Luzon, as well as attacking targets on Formosa, Borneo and in French Indochina. Finally in August 1945 the group moved to Okinawa, from where it flew missions over Japan.
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Eleventh Air Force
The liberation of Alaska's Attu Island in May 1943 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign provided the USAAF with bases within range of the Kurils. As part of the preparations for the liberation of Kiska Island in the Aleutians, the Eleventh Air Force conducted a series of raids against the Kurils to suppress the Japanese air units stationed there. The first of these attacks was made against southern Shumshu and northern Paramushiru by eight B-25s on 10 July. The Kurils were attacked again on 18 July by six B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, and the unopposed liberation of Kiska (Operation Cottage) took place on 15 August. The Eleventh Air Force and US Navy units continued to make small-scale raids on the Kuril Islands until the closing months of the war. The USAAF attacks were broken off for five months following a raid on 11 September 1943 when nine of the 20 B-24s and B-25s 'Mitchell's dispatched were lost, but raids by US Navy PBY 'Catalinas' continued. The Eleventh Air Force resumed its offensive in February 1944 after it had been reinforced with two squadrons of P-38 Lightning escort fighters, and it continued to attack targets in the Kurils until June 1945. While these raids caused little damage, they forced the Japanese to divert large numbers of soldiers to defend their northern islands against a potential United States invasion.
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RAAF
The B-24's were also used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The USAAF helped in the procurement of the aircraft for the RAAF and training of the Australian air-crew. Seven flying squadrons, an operational training unit and two independant flights were equipped with the aircraft by the end of World War II in August 1945.
Production and Aftermath
While a workhorse of the Allied bombing effort, the B-24 was not hugely popular with American air crews who preferred the more rugged B-17. Among the issues with the B-24 was its inability to sustain heavy damage and remain aloft. The wings in particular proved vulnerable to enemy fire and if hit in critical areas could give way completely. It was not uncommon to see a B-24 falling from the sky with its wings folded upwards like a butterfly. Also, the aircraft proved highly susceptible to fires as many of the fuel tanks were mounted in the upper parts of the fuselage. In addition, crews nicknamed the B-24 the 'Flying Coffin' as it possessed only one exit which was located near the tail of the aircraft. This made it difficult to impossible for the flight crew to escape a crippled B-24. The B-24D was the first main production model with 2,728 aircraft produced. The "D", "E" and "G" were essentially the same aircraft, totaling 3,958 aircraft. The B-24H added detail improvements, including Emerson electric nose and tail turrets and improved waist gun mounts. Consolidated, Douglas, and Ford built 3.100 of these.
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The B-24J was the most numerous production variant, with 6,678 being produced by all four manufacturers. It included improved nose and tail turrets, jettisonable waist gun mounts, a new autopilot, and an improved bombsight. Ford and Consolidated also built 1,667 of the B-24L, and 2,593 of the B-24M, which featured variations in the tail gun turrets. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator retains the record to this day as the most produced US military airplane. Something in the neighbourhood of 18,500 of all variants were built, a number made all the more astonishing by the fact that all were produced in a six-year period, from 1940-1945 making it the most produced American wartime aircraft. After the end of the war, the B-24's were quickly disbanded and the remaining Pacific squadrons were re-equiped with the B-29 'Superfortress'. There are very few examples of flying B-24's left now.
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P-26 Peashooter
P-36 Hawk
P-38 Lightning
P-39 Airacobra
P-40 Warhawk
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-51 Mustang
P-61 Black Widow
A-20 Havoc
A-26 Invader
B-17 Flying Fortress
B-25 Mitchell
B-26 Marauder
B-29 Superfortress
Consolidated B-24 'Liberator'
