B-24 Liberator - History, Specs, and Photos of WW2 Bomber (2024)

By Stephen Sherman, Aug. 2002. Updated January 21, 2012.

August1, 1943 - Over Ploesti, Romania, German-occupied Europe:

The Vagabond King, B-24 Liberator #42-40787, shook from theflak concussions, from bullets smashing its windows, and from theroaring rumbling of its four Pratt & Whitney R-1830fourteen-cylinder radial engines. 1st Lt. John McCormick cursed as thegunner in the top turret opened up with his twin fifties. He wasruining the bomb run! And McCormick wanted to hit this target, theSteaua Romana oil refinery outside Ploesti. General Brereton had toldthem this raid could shorten the war by six months.

McCormick barked out orders to his crew, just as he haddone sooften in the past two weeks, when the 389th Bomb Group practiced forOperation "Tidal Wave" over the godforsaken Libyan desert outsideBenghazi.

"Mosco, bomb bay doors open," to the bombardier, 1st Lt. MarvinMosco.

"Start the camera, Van," to the radioman, enlisted man Martin VanBuren.

He steadied the stick as the big Liberator sped along the deck at225 mile per hour, staying close to Hitler's Hearse, CaptainR.C. Mooney's plane immediately ahead, so that Mooney's bombs, with 45second delay fuses, didn't blow up in Vagabond King's nose.Down at chimney height, as black smoke from the bombs and sooty burninghydrocarbons boiled up all around them, suddenly "Bombs away!" and Vagabondjumped up, 4,000 pounds lighter. At that instant, the Hearse,grimly lived up to its name, as it took several direct hits, killingthe Capt. Mooney. As more bullets tore into his own bomber, McCormickhoped those workers at Consolidated's San Diego plant had been payingattention when they built his plane. The Vagabond had taken alot of punishment; one anti-aircraft shell had hit Van and he was abloody mess.

Paul Miller, the gunner in the A-6 power tail turret, reported thattheir particular target, the boiler house, had been flattened and wasburning fiercely. McCormick hugged the deck as he made his getaway,figuring that the German fighters couldn't dive on them down that low.

The Vagabond King headed south, desperate to get medicalattention for the badly wounded Van. They flew over Turkey and toucheddown at Nicosia airfield, Cyprus as it was getting dark, fourteen hoursafter they had taken off. They were one of the lucky ones; of 178B-24's that took off that morning, 54 didn't come back.

More pictures of B-24s and other bombers at Photo Gallery 2.

More B-24's were built than any other American airplane. It edgedout the B-17 on most performance criteria (speed, range, bombload).It's crewmen claimed 2,600 enemy aircraft shot down. With it's greatrange, it performed anti-sub work in the Atlantic and heavy bombersupport in the Pacific.

Design and Development - Early B-24's

The B-24 originated in a 1938 request by the Air Corps forConsolidated Aircraft to produce B-17's. But Consolidated's engineer,David Davis, had designed a wing suited for long-range bombers, a wingthat offered 15 percent less drag than ordinary wings. Consolidated'sengineers sketched out a rough version of a bomber using Davis' wing inlate 1938. It would be a four-engine, high-wing, tricycle landing gear,dual bomb bay aircraft.

USAAC General Hap Arnold approved the plans and in March, 1939Consolidated was granted a contract for its Model 32 or XB-24.Consolidated's prototype, delivered in December, was stumpy andnot-very-attractive. Personally, the look of the two large oval tailfins seems inelegant. The bomb bay was unique. The four bomb doorsoperated much like suburban garage doors and rolled up along theoutside the fuselage. In between, along the bottom of the fuselage rana narrow catwalk. Interestingly, the crew normally went in and out ofthe Liberator through the bomb bay doors. Powered by four 1,100 hpPratt & Whitney R-1830-33 Twin Wasp engines, the prototype couldmake 273 MPH - before turbo-superchargers were added.

Even before the prototype's first flight, the Air Corps contractedfor seven YB-24's and the French ordered 175 (most of theseeventually wound up in the RAF). One of the was customized as WinstonChurchill's personal transport aircraft.

The Army ordered 120 examples of the B-24A in mid-1939.Twenty of these ended up in British service, known as Liberator I.The RAF used them for anti-submarine work, adding radar antennnae allover and four 20 mm cannon in the nose. With the Liberator's 2400-milerange, they were able to patrol for out into the Atlantic. Nine of theoriginal B-24A order served with the USAAF as transports, including theSeptember 1941 Harriman mission to Moscow and a top-secret spy flightover Japanese Pacific bases. The remaining 91 airframes were finishedas "C"s or "D"s.

Dissatisfied with the 273 MPH of the first B-24, the Army specifieda turbo-supercharged engine in the experimental XB-24B. Poweredby 1200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 engines, this plane met theArmy's requirements, with a top speed of 310 MPH. It also featuredself-sealing fuel tanks, as did all subsequent B-24s. (There was adefinite trend to the modifications in WW2 bombers - more guns, betterengines, more armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, bigger bomb loads. Theyall seem to follow that general pattern.)

The B-24C represented the next step in the evolution of theB-24, incorporating advances from the XB-24B and from theBritish combat experience with the Liberator. The "C" model includedeight .50 caliber machine guns: one in the nose, one in the belly, twoin a tail turret, two in a dorsal turret (just aft of the co*ckpit), andtwo in the waist. Its nose was three feet longer than earlier versions.Only nine B-24C models were ordered, all restricted from combatuse.

Production Pool

To meet the foreseen large demand for the B-24, the government set up aconsortium of aircraft manufacturers and plants to build the plane:

• CO - Consolidated/San Diego plant
• CF - Consolidated/Fort Worth plant
• DT - Douglas/Tulsa plant
• FO - Ford/Willow Run plant
• NT - North American/Dallas plant

The story of Ford's Willow Run plant could fill a book in itself. Theybroke ground in April, 1941; by September, it was complete - an 80 acrefactory. Dormitories were built on the site and a commuter rail linewas extended to it. Designed by Ford executives like Charles Sorenson,Willow Run got off to a slow start, as its automobile, assembly-linestyle of manufacturing had to be adapted to aircraft production. Bymid-1943, with 42,000 employees, it began to turn out B-24s - 230 permonth. By the end of 1944, 650 per month. When production ended inApril, 1945, Willow Run had turned out over 8,600 Liberators.

The Liberator Production Pool did not operate completelytrouble-free. Parts made by different factories were not alwaysinterchangeable, and implementing the countless required changesconsistently was a headache. Eventually, separate "modificationcenters" were set up to upgrade planes that had just left the factory,but were already obsolescent.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Production Line to Frontline #4)by Michael O'Leary, tells more of the B-24 production story.

B-24D

The "D" was the first B-24 to be qualified for combat. Under theoriginal Production Pool plan, Consolidated/San Diego was the primemanufacturer, supplying components to Fort Worth and Douglas/Tulsa forassembly. In May, 1942 the first of 2738 B-24D's rolled off theassembly lines.

Due to rapidly changing needs, especially for defensive machine guns,there were many variations within the B-24D model, thesedifferences identified by "production blocks" (e.g B-24D-70-CO).Various ventral gun systems were tired, including a totally unworkable,Bendix turret theoretically aimed with a periscope. Another, familiarproblem was inadequate firepower in the nose. In the "D" two cheek gunswere added, but didn't work out so well.

Specs for late model B-24D:

• Four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 fourteen-cylinder radialengines, rated at 1200 hp.
• Performance: Maximum speed 303 mph at 25,000 feet.
• Service ceiling: 32,000 feet.
• Range: 2300 miles with 5000 pounds of bombs. Maximum range 3500miles.
• Fuel capacity: 3614 US gallons.
• Dimensions: Wingspan 110 feet 0 inches, length 66 feet 4 inches,height 17 feet 11 inches, wing area 1048 square feet.
• Weights: 32,605 pounds empty, 55,000 pounds gross, Maximumtakeoff weight 64,000 pounds.
• Armament: Bomb bay could accommodate up to eight 1600-poundbombs.
• The late model "D"s included eleven .50 caliber machine guns:three in the nose, two in the belly turret, two in a tail turret, twoin a dorsal turret (just aft of the co*ckpit), and two in the waist

A few non-numerous production variants included: the B-24E -produced at Willow Run, similar to the "D" model; C-109 - atanker conversion of the B-24E, capable of carrying 2,900gallons of fuel, used over "the Hump;" and the B-24G - NorthAmerican's model, all equipped with the nose turret.

B-24H

Trying to increase forward firepower, some 90th Bomb Group fieldengineers got the bright idea to install a cannibalized B-24 tailturret in the nose. It worked pretty well, and an Emerson A-15 twin-gunnose turret was standardized on B-24H's. The top and tailturrets were improved, and the camouflage paint was omitted late in the"D" series. 3,100 were produced, over half at Willow Run.

B-24J

Essentially the same as the B-24H; but early "J"s were equipped withthe Convair (merged Consolidated/Vultee) A-6A nose turret, instead ofthe Emerson A-15 turret, due to a limited supply of the Emersonturrets. By early 1944, enough Emersons were available for all fivefactories. The B-24J was also equipped with an improved C-1 automaticpilot, a new M-series bomb sight, an electronic control system for theturbosuperchargers, and a better fuel transfer system.

At first, only the two Convair plants manufactured the B-24J, withFord/Willow Run and Douglas/Tulsa continuing to produce the B-24H andNorth American/Dallas continuing to build the B-24G. However, in early1944, the Army directed that the C-1 automatic pilot and the M-seriesbombsight be installed on all production Liberators under thedesignation B-24J. For the first time, all five members of theLiberator Production Pool would be building aircraft under the samedesignation. Ford/Willow Run produced its first B-24J in April of 1944,with Douglas/Tulsa and North American/Dallas following in May. (Thisparagraph quoted directly from Joe Baugher's B-24page.)

Excessive weight was a real drawback of the B-24J; numerousadditions totaling 8,000 pounds had been made since the B-24D,but the same engine. Performance, fuel efficiency, and flight stabilityfell off because of this excess weight. (Sounds like what my wifeand my doctor tell me.)

6678 B-24J's were produced. By late 1944, the Army foresaw alessened demand for Liberators, and ordered that three of the plants befreed up for other purposes. Only Ford-Willow Run and Convair-San Diegocontinued turning out B-24's in 1945. Late in the B-24 program,attempts were made to trim its weight (in the Pacifc, field engineershad been removing the belly turrets to save weight). The result was theB-24L, some 1,000 pounds lighter than the "J," of which 1667 werebuilt, mostly at Willow Run.

Specs of B-24J (key differences from B-24D in boldface)

• Four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-65 fourteen-cylinderradial engines, rated at 1200 hp, with GE turbosuperchargers
• Performance: Maximum sustained speed 278 mph at 25,000feet.
• Service ceiling: 28,000 feet.
• Range: 1700 miles at all-up weight of 61,500 pounds.
• Fuel capacity: 3614 US gallons.
• Dimensions: Wingspan 110 feet 0 inches, length 64 feet 2 inches,height 18 feet 0 inches, wing area 1048 square feet.
• Weights: 38,000 pounds empty, 55,000 pounds gross,Maximum takeoff weight 71,000 pounds.
• Armament: Bomb bay could accommodate up to eight 1600-poundbombs.
• The late model "D"s included eleven .50 caliber machine guns:three in the nose, two in the belly turret, two in a tail turret, twoin a dorsal turret (just aft of the co*ckpit), and two in the waist

About 1600 late model B-24's (H, G, and L) were delivered underLend-Lease to Britain. The RAF used them for anti-submarine work, daybombing, and as transports.

PB4Y-1 - The Navy's Liberator

Interservice rivalry did not disappear during World War Two. While theNavy wanted a heavy, land-based bomber for patrol, anti-sub, andreconnaissance, the Army resisted such intrusion on its turf. But theArmy needed the production capacity at factory in Renton that wascommitted to Navy projects. The two services made a deal; for its part,the Navy got "navalized" B-24's and other bombers, as well as agreementfor it to carry out its own maritime patrol, photographic, and transportwork.

The Navy (including the Coast Guard and Marine Corps) acquired 977 PB4Y-1'sand equipped 24 VPB (Patrol Bombing) squadrons with them. Operating inboth the Atlantic and Pacific, the PB4Y-1's destroyed 13 Axissubmarines.

Over Europe - 8th Air Force

Twenty-one Bombardment Groups (BG) of the Eighth Air Force would flythe B-24. While five transitioned to the B-17, sixteen were stillequipped with Liberators when the Eighth was re-organized in four AirDivisions in mid-1944.

The first being the 93rd BG which joined the 8AF in April, 1942.Another 1942 arrival was the 44th BG, the "Flying Eightballs."

Other groups included the 25th BG, 34th BG, 44th BG, 93rd BG, 389thBG, 445th BG, 446th BG (in Dec. 1943), 448th BG, 453rd BG (JimmyStewart's group), 458th BG, 466th BG, 467th BG (arriving in March,1944), 482nd BG, 486th BG, 487th BG, 489th BG, 490th BG, 491st BG,492nd BG, and 493rd BG. B-24Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft 15)by Robert F. Dorr, tells their stories.

Perhaps representative of the Eighth's Liberator Groups, theWendling-based 392nd BG flew 285 combat missions. Starting inSeptember, 1943, with a mission to Abbeville, through April 25, 1945when the 392nd flew the last bombing mission of the Eighth Air Force,hitting rail yards near Hallein, Austria.

On a typical mission, July 7, 1944, the Group launched forty-twoLiberators toward Bernberg, and lost six, with five crews MIA. With thestaggering losses of the Eighth Air Force (80,000 casualties), it'soften difficult to put a face on them. Perhaps the details of one B-24,#42-95229 "RAP ‘EM PAPPY" will help:

MISSION LOSS CIRc*msTANCES: Returning aircrew eye-witnessreports (Lt. Neiderriter, crew Pilot, 579th, and Lt. Fleck, crewBombardier of Lt. Leser’s crew, 579th) stated that this aircraft wasattacked by enemy aircraft after bombs away; dropped the nose gear;then most of the landing gear came down with plane leaving formationunder control with #3 engine windmilling; #4 engine out, and someflames coming from the ship. ...

German Report #KU2429 ... reported this ship crashed at 0920hours near Rhoden, (7) kilometers northeast of Osterwielk on 7 July.Crew members Ruvolis, Mayer, Young, and Beltz were captured between1030-1050 hours in the same general vicinity of Osterwielk, same day.Sheridan, as the 5th member captured, was taken prisoner in the samegeneral location at 1115 hours Three (3) crew men were found dead nearthe crash location some with remains badly charred: Wunderlin,Schenkenberger and Garvey - later in the day. The Engineer, Sgt.Cowley, was found badly injured and was taken to a General Hospital atWernigerode where he died two days thereafter. Another member, Sgt.Beltz, and one of the prisoners was found wounded and was later takento the POW Hospital at Magdeburg on 9 July. Local burials were given toall deceased men. ...

A bizarre situation unfolded in later statements of at least twosurvivors on the fate of the Co-Pilot, Lt. Wunderlin, who was founddead near the crash site. It was reported in one statement, admitted assupposition to some degree, that there was "a possibility that his (Lt.Wunderlin’s) chute fouled (did not deploy), but that is unlikely(because) Ed Young, the Bombardier, overheard German conversation inwhich the Germans claimed that he was Jewish....they had in some wayfound his bail out pictures". Lt. Ruvolis, the Pilot, had stated thatthe Co-Pilot had definitely bailed out of the nose well hatch safelyalong with the others who exited there.

Another surviving member on Lt. Wunderlin’s fate noted in hisCasualty Questionnaire:
"At the time I was questioned by the Gestapo and police, they showed meLt. Wunderlin’s escape picture and asked me if I knew where he was. Idenied knowledge of German (language). They then showed me theparachute packing slip from Lt. Ruvolis’ (the Pilot) chute, and Ipresumed that the Co-Pilot had been wearing Lt. Ruvolis’ chute; that hehad come down safely and doffed his coveralls, inadvertently leavinghis escape pictures in the pocket; and was roaming around somewhere.One of the Gestapo then started to ask me if Lt. Wunderline was Jewish.I again denied knowledge of German (none of my interrogators spokeEnglish). They then started insisting he was Jewish, and when I laterheard he (Lt. Wunderlin) was still MIA and tied it into the attitude ofthese men, I came to the conclusion they had themselves shot him on thepresumption that he was Jewish."

From 392nd BG website, astorehouse of information, including comparable details on every lostplane.

LiberatorAlbum: B-24 Liberators of the 2nd Air Division, USAAF by MikeBailey

The Mediterranean - 15th Air Force

Ploesti

No history of the B-24 would be complete without the story of Ploesti,"Black Sunday," August 1, 1943. As part of the Army Air Force's chosenrole as a "strategic" force, not merely "flying artillery," the USAAFplanners quickly focused on the Reich's dependence on oil, largelyproduced and refined in the Balkans. Ploesti, in Romania, was a largecenter of the oil industry, accounting for one-third of German oil andaviation fuel. Accordingly, the U.S. military planners identified it asa high priority target. It even suffered an early air raid from thepioneering Halvorsen Group in mid 1942.

But in 1943, Generals Brereton planned a much larger mission, dubbedOperation "Tidal Wave." Liberator Bomb Groups from the Eighth Air Forcewere loaned to the Mediterranean Theater Air Forces for the assignment.Eventually, five Bomb Groups (the 44th, 93rd, and 389th (of the EighthAir Force) and the 98th and 376th of the Ninth Air Force), 178Liberators, and over 1,700 aircrew would participate. Starting inmid-July, the bomber crews based at Benghazi, Libya, practiced for themission, flying over a huge mock-up of the Ploesti target. Bomb Groups,Squadrons, and even individual airplanes had their particular targets.They hoped to achieve surprise; the long range mission would have nofighter cover. To ensure maximum destruction, the Liberators would droptheir bombs from treetop level. While the planners hoped for surprise,they anticipated huge casualties, perhaps half of the attacking force.

According to the plan, Brig. Gen. Uzal Ent, flying in Teggie Annwith Col. Keith Compton's 376th BG, would lead the five groups over oilrefineries in Ploesti and nearby Campina and Brazi. Taking off fromBenghazi, Libya between 0400 and 0500,the bombers would fly over thewest coast of Greece, across southern Albania & Yugoslavia, andthen descend onto the Romanian industrial plain along the Danube River.The Bomb Groups planned to diverge at Pitesti, to hit all targets inall three cities simultaneously.

En route, the bomb groups became separated, and a route navigatoraircraft crashed. After climbing over the mountains, and thendescending, the two lead groups (the 376th and 93rd) were half an hourahead of the other three. The element of surprise, if it ever existed,was lost. Even worse the 93rd and 376th BG's took a wrong turn atTargoviste. For these groups, the carefully planned target assignmentswere gone. General Ent broke radio silence, and ordered the bombers toturn north and hit targets of opportunity.

Leading the 93rd in Hell's Wench, its CO Col. Addison Bakerand the pilot, Major John Jerstad, headed for the refinery at ColumbiaAquila. Flying through tremendous flak, their plane was hit and caughtfire. Rather than bail out or belly in, these two officers led theirgroup straight onto the target, sacrificing themselves to salvage whatthey could of the critical mission. They both were awarded the Medal ofHonor.

Col. John R. "Killer" Kane, CO of the 98th, and Col. Leon W.Johnson, CO of the 44th, led their groups right over Ploesti, asplanned, except that German defenses had been fully alerted and therewere half as many bombers to "saturate" them. 18 of Kane's 41 bomberswere shot down. His own plane crash-landed at Nicosia, Cyprus, alongwith the Vagabond King, described above. The 44th got split up;only 16 Liberators followed Johnson and Kane; 7 of those weredestroyed. (Cols. Kane and Johnson also earned the MOH.)

Other units hit outlying refineries at Brazi and Campina, and didnot suffer as terribly. Lt. Col. James Posey led twenty-one of the 44thBG's bombers over Brazi, and the 389th under Col. Jack Wood bombedCampina.

The best book I've seen on Operation Tidal Wave is Ploesti: The GreatGround-Air Battle of 1 August 1943, by James Dugan &Carroll Stewart. It includes over 80 contemporary photographs andseveral maps and diagrams, ilustrating hgow the bombers flew information, missed their turns, etc. The books is very detailed,practically a plane-by-plane history of the mission. Nor does itneglect the lead-up and planning, the German side, or the many prisonerof war stories.

Ploesti Mission Results: Of seven target refineries, one waspermanently destroyed; two were untouched; two were shut downcompletely for several months; and two had production greatly reducedfor some time.

Mission Losses: 178 bombers took off from Benghazi. 16aborted or crashed. 162 reached targets around Ploesti. 51 were shotdown or interned in Turkey. 22 landed at various Allied bases in theMediterranean. Of the 89 that returned to Benghazi that day, 58 weredamaged beyond repair.

The Wild Blue

This 2001 book offers another chapter in the apparently unending storyof the B-24 Liberator. Like all of Stephen Ambrose' s books, it isdetailed and readable, but this one is controversial (or leastsurprising) for two reasons. First, the book is almost entirely devotedto George McGovern and his crew. McGovern went on to become U.S Senatorfrom South Dakota, and in 1972, a peace candidate for President. Assuch, he ws unpopular with traditionally hawkish veterans groups. It'sa fair measure of McGovern's character that he never boasted of hisreal, heroic combat career, which earned a Distinguished Flying Cross,in contrast to Nixon's desk-bound service. Thus the book is not reallyabout "the men who flew the B-24s," as much as it is about setting therecord straight about one man who flew B-24's.

Ambrose tells a good story, a readable narrative. He weaves inbiographical backgrounds of the crew (like C.W. Cooper from a devoutBaptist family in McCaulley, Texas), descriptions of the Liberator(stressing how physically challenging it was to fly), an overview ofthe air war in Europe, McGovern's training on the twin engine AT-9. Hedetails the origins of the Fifteenth Air Force, including the famousPloesti mission, thus providing a rich context for McGovern's missionsin late 1944. Personal touches abound, like the first CO of the 455thBomb Group, the aptly named Col. Kenneth A. Cool, who, when surprised,would puff on his pipe and say, "Well, I'll be dipped in gravy."

TheWild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany 1944-45by Stephen E. Ambrose

While the narrow focus of the subject may have been a littlesurprising, the author's plagiarism was highly controversial. TheWild Blue is well-written, or perhaps "well-assembled," butnumerous passages were lifted from other, uncredited, sources. Theprolific Ambrose (two books a year) admitted his "mistake," andpromised to be more careful in the future.

The Pacific

B-24Liberator Units of the Pacific War (Osprey Combat Aircraft 11)by Robert F. Dorr.

The B-24 flew with 5th and 13th Air Forces, supporting the U.S.advance up the Solomons, through New Guinea, and into the Philippines.The B-24 also flew with the 7th Air Force in the Central Pacific,island hopping from the Carolines, Marshalls, Marianas and Palaus toOkinawa. On the way, the 7th bombed such places as Truk, Kwajalein,Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Peleliu, Anguar, China and Japan and thePhilippines.

Sources:

Joe Baugher'sB-24 web article

WW2 Aircraft Nose Art - featuring 22nd BombGroup B-24s based at Okinawa

B-24Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft 15)by Robert F. Dorr

B-24Liberator Units of the Fifteenth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft 21)by Robert F. Dorr, includes an excellent illustrated writeup of thePloesti mission, even though it was carried out by the Ninth Air Force(the Fifteenth AF did not come into existence until November, 1943.)

ConsolidatedB-24 Liberator by Martin A. Bowman

Ploesti:The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1 August 1943

Into theMouth of Hell, by John A. Frisbee, in Valor, the AFA magazine,September 1988, Vol. 71, No. 9