{"id":4074,"date":"2019-01-08T09:57:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T15:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/?page_id=4074"},"modified":"2019-01-08T09:57:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T15:57:15","slug":"b-24-liberator-heavy-bomber","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/things\/b-24-liberator-heavy-bomber\/","title":{"rendered":"B-24 Liberator Heavy Bomber"},"content":{"rendered":"

The B-24 heavy bomber was the ultimate assignment for many of Tom’s Aviation Cadet classmates. He describes this in his July 11, 1944 letter.<\/a><\/p>\n

I have seen alot of fellows here that I have known through cadet training. Most of them are co-pilots in B24\u2019s and I can\u2019t say as I envy them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Consolidated B-24 Liberator from Maxwell Field, Alabama, four engine pilot school, glistens in the sun as it makes a turn at high altitude in the clouds. Heavy Bombers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Excerpt from Wikipedia:<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Consolidated B-24 Liberator<\/b>\u00a0is an American\u00a0heavy bomber<\/a>, designed by\u00a0Consolidated Aircraft<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0San Diego<\/a>,\u00a0California<\/a>. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.<\/em><\/p>\n

At its inception, the B-24 was a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio\u00a0Davis wing<\/a>. The wing gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long\u00a0range<\/a>\u00a0and the ability to carry a heavy\u00a0bomb<\/a>\u00a0load. Early\u00a0RAF<\/a>\u00a0Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the\u00a0Atlantic Ocean<\/a>\u00a0as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower\u00a0ceiling<\/a>\u00a0and was less robust than the\u00a0Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress<\/a>. While\u00a0aircrews<\/a>\u00a0tended to prefer the B-17, General Staff favored the B-24, and procured it in huge numbers for a wide variety of roles.[4]<\/a><\/sup>[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0At approximately 18,500 units \u2013 including over 4,600 manufactured by\u00a0Ford Motor Company<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 it holds records as the world’s\u00a0most produced<\/a>\u00a0bomber, heavy bomber, multi-engine aircraft, and American military aircraft in history.<\/em><\/p>\n

The B-24 was used extensively in\u00a0World War II<\/a>. It served in every branch of the American armed forces, as well as several\u00a0Allied<\/a>\u00a0air forces and navies, and saw use in every theater of operations. Along with the B-17, the B-24 was the mainstay of the\u00a0U.S.<\/a>\u00a0strategic bombing<\/a>\u00a0campaign in the\u00a0Western European<\/a>\u00a0theater. Due to its range, it proved useful in bombing operations in the\u00a0Pacific<\/a>, including the bombing of\u00a0Japan<\/a>. Long range\u00a0anti-submarine<\/a>\u00a0Liberators played an instrumental role in closing the\u00a0Mid-Atlantic gap<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Battle of the Atlantic<\/a>. The\u00a0C-87 transport derivative<\/a>\u00a0served as a longer range, higher capacity counterpart to the\u00a0Douglas C-47 Skytrain<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

By the end of World War II, the technological breakthroughs of the\u00a0Boeing B-29 Superfortress<\/a>\u00a0and other modern types had surpassed the bombers that served from the start of the war. The B-24 was rapidly phased out of U.S. service, although the\u00a0PB4Y-2 Privateer<\/a>\u00a0maritime patrol<\/a>\u00a0derivative carried on in service with the\u00a0U.S. Navy<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Korean War<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The B-24 heavy bomber was the ultimate assignment for many of Tom’s Aviation Cadet classmates. He describes this in his July 11, 1944 letter. I have seen alot of fellows here that I have known through cadet training. Most of them are co-pilots in B24\u2019s and I can\u2019t say as I envy them. Excerpt from … Continue reading B-24 Liberator Heavy Bomber<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":57,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4074","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4077,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4074\/revisions\/4077"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}