Consolidated B-24 Liberator
With over 19,000 built during the war, the B-24 Liberator holds the records of history’s most-produced American military airplane, most produced heavy bomber, and most produced multi-engine aircraft. First flown in 1939 and entering service in 1941, the B-24s had a distinct look with a box-like fuselage beneath a high wing, a twin tail assembly, and a tricycle landing gear that significantly improved ground visibility for taxiing, takeoffs, and landings.
B-24s, along with B-17s, were the mainstay of America’s strategic bombing campaign in Europe. Like B-17s, Liberators carried the Norden bombsight and flew in defensive “box” formations – although looser ones because B-24s were tougher to handle, making tight formations inadvisable. B-24s typically flew with a 5000 lbs bomb load, but for short missions could carry up to 16,000 lbs. They had a 1600 mile range for high altitude missions – 40% more than the B-17. However, B-24s had a 28,000-foot service ceiling, compared to 35,000 for the B-17, which meant Liberators were more exposed to flak. That, coupled with the Liberator’s greater vulnerability to damage and more cramped interior crew space, explains why aircrews generally preferred the more robust and easier to fly B-17 despite the B-24’s longer range, higher speed, heavier bomb load, and superior landing gear.
Long range made B-24s a natural fit for the Pacific Theater’s vast expanses, and they began replacing B-17s there starting in 1942. Long range also made them suitable for anti-submarine patrols, and they played a vital role in defeating the U-boat menace during the Battle of the Atlantic by closing the “Mid Atlantic Gap” – an area within which U-boats had been free to operate without fear of air attack. Their range also suited them well for flying high-priority cargo and VIPs – Winston Churchill’s personal transport was a Liberator.
The B-24s’ toughest raids were against the Ploesti oilfield complex in Romania – Germany’s most important single source, supplying one-third of the Reich’s oil and aviation fuel. The costliest of the Ploesti raids occurred on August 1st, 1943, “Black Sunday”, when 177 Liberators, unescorted by fighters, took off from North Africa and flew to their targets at treetop level to avoid detection. However, the enemy was alerted because of a cascade of mishaps, from a navigation error that took bombers over a German position en route to Ploesti to a navigator’s crash resulting in the bombers arriving in staggered groups rather than simultaneously, to a group leader, seeing all formation lost, breaking radio silence to order the scattered B-24s to make their individual ways to the targets and bomb as best they could. The Germans prepared a hot welcome: of the 177 Liberators that took off, 162 reached Ploesti, and of those 53 B-24s and 660 crewmen were lost. Of the 109 survivors that made it to an Allied base, 58 were damaged beyond repair.