Warbirds – B-24 Liberator Heavy Bomber
In all our discussions about the Pacific, we must never forget our flyboys!
December 29th marks the anniversary of the first-flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. Designed by Consolidated under the name Model 32, in 1939 the proposal was offered to the War Department as the highest flying, fastest, and most advanced heavy bomber that American forces would have at their disposal. Though having a shorter hull and less wing area, the innovative design features of the B-24 resulted in a lighter aircraft with substantially greater carrying capacity. Only nine months after the awarding of the contract, the first prototype took flight.
Often forgotten alongside the more famous B-17 Flying Fortress, the Liberator is still the most produced American military aircraft of all time. More than 18,400 units were delivered by war’s end; over half coming produced at the Ford Motor Company Willow Run plant at Belleville, Michigan. At peak, this purpose-built production plant rolled out B-24s at a rate of one per hour. Over 1000 crewmen slept in cots at the facility…
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Posted on September 5, 2015, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 31 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
A real workhorse of WW2, often overshadowed by the Fortress and the Lancaster.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Crawling into one of those babies was difficult for me, I’ve got to give the men credit for that!! Then again they were a lot younger than me (and thinner). 😉
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I had no idea that it was so widely produced.. great story.. thanks
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Thank you for visiting!
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I loved the bridge memorial. The WWII who served there owned that bridge..
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Thanks for coming by and checking out the story.
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Unbelievable achievements, 18,400 built and each one under an hour over a million parts, this remarkable feat is astounding, how many men who worked on those assembly lines today, could still recall that great achievement.
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And – would we ever see something like that again? Thanks for visiting, Ian.
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Who knows gp, the world is moving fast, maybe production lines for other Genocidal components could be in the future.
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I had no idea they were used so much. I had mostly only heard of the B-17 and B-29 bombers. However, I do know there is a museum in California with a B-24 to visit: https://discoverww2now.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/museums-in-california/
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Thank you supplying that link so that everyone can search for their interests.
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I recently came across an american tv-series called Pacific. Its about world war 2. I suggest you check out. You would love it!
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There have been a few series made, usually center around one service. It either appears as though only the Navy won the war or it was just the Marines (and no Army involved at at all), or the Air Corps did all the work – if you see where I’m going with this. I appreciate your interest and suggestion, I try my best to instill that here while I also attempt to include ALL the services in the effort.
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I understand because in that particular series it is rather biased towards the marines. I just thought you’d enjoy it since you like writing about WW2.
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I appreciate that, believe me. The people here have led me to interesting books, videos and tv programs – so please – continue your interest!!
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I got looking and found the following so it looks like a variant:
“Maybe the most exciting news, given its rarity, is that the world’s only flying PB4Y-2 Privateer, a naval patrol variant of the B-24 Liberator, will be appearing at AirVenture in 2015. The aircraft was supposed to make the trip from Arizona to Oshkosh last year, but engine trouble canceled the trip. However, 2014 did feature the B-24 Liberator “Diamond Lil”, one of only two flying B-24s left”
Here is a link to the page- http://airshowstuff.com/v4/2015/eaa-airventure-2015-exciting-announcements/.
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Air Venture certainly looks to be an exciting show. I was thrilled to be at the Wings of Freedom group when they were in Boca Raton. That B-24 was the “Witchcraft.” I have the pictures in a post –
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I remember that post and the excitement. Yes, the airshow here is amazing. Lots of the planes flew over the house and we could see them good. This year was a little out of our budget since we had just moved. Hopefully next year. Glad you were able to go to Boca Raton!!
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Great plane and was surprised to learn that they were producing 1 a hour. When we had the EAA airshow here in July I thought they mentioned the Liberator as flying in and will have to check on that since I am curious.Great post!
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Glad to see such interest, Kathy. Thanks for visiting.
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I am glad there are people who have the resources and the desire to keep our historical aircraft flying. I see there are only two flyable B-24s in the U.S.
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Accidently posted when I meant to hit ‘Enter”. Continuing from my first comment …according to Wikipedia. This article mentions three flying. I wonder where third one is located.
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I would venture to guess it flies with an association dedicated to the memory of the US Army Air Corps, as I saw in Boca.
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If that’s true, then I was lucky enough to see one of them when it was at the Boca Raton airport. It seems the interest in WWII is returning, perhaps we will see more of this work being done.
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Great plane and it’s amazing how quickly it went from drawing board to bombing runs.
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Ah – necessity IS the mother of invention! 😉
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Gwendoline has a great post today about the Wirraway –
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Thanks!
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Great planes.
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They played a huge part in this war – ’round the world.
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