AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 42 / 103

Plate 42 of 103 · Second World War · Heavy bomber

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

B-24L (Liberator B.VI/VIII), painted as KN751, a Consolidated B-24L-20-FO Liberator (44-50206) built by Ford at Willow Run in December 1944 with four Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials, delivered to the RAF in June 1945 and flown by No. 99 Squadron from Dhubalia and the Cocos Islands, rebuilt for the Indian Air Force as HE807, flown to Britain in 1974 as a gift to the RAF Museum and displayed at RAF Museum London, painted as it is shown there: overall silver with black de-icer boots on the wing, tailplane and fin leading edges, a black anti-glare panel on the nose, SEAC roundels on the fuselage and under the wings, a black ‘F’ and ‘KN751’ on the rear fuselage, SEAC fin flashes and serials on the oval fins, No. 99 Squadron’s ‘Flying Bee’ on the nose, the Emerson nose turret and MPC tail turret with guns, the Fowler flaps lowered as displayed, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips; no photograph shows the upper wing surfaces, so the roundels there are assumed.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as KN751, a Consolidated B-24L-20-FO Liberator (44-50206) built by Ford at Willow Run in December 1944 with four Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials, delivered to the RAF in June 1945 and flown by No. 99 Squadron from Dhubalia and the Cocos Islands, rebuilt for the Indian Air Force as HE807, flown to Britain in 1974 as a gift to the RAF Museum and displayed at RAF Museum London, painted as it is shown there: overall silver with black de-icer boots on the wing, tailplane and fin leading edges, a black anti-glare panel on the nose, SEAC roundels on the fuselage and under the wings, a black ‘F’ and ‘KN751’ on the rear fuselage, SEAC fin flashes and serials on the oval fins, No. 99 Squadron’s ‘Flying Bee’ on the nose, the Emerson nose turret and MPC tail turret with guns, the Fowler flaps lowered as displayed, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips; no photograph shows the upper wing surfaces, so the roundels there are assumed. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.6 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (L/M); engine, crew and dimensions are for the B-24L (Liberator B.VI/VIII) modelled here.

History

The Liberator

In 1938 the US Army Air Corps asked Consolidated of San Diego to build the Boeing B-17 under licence. Consolidated proposed a new design of its own instead, built round the long, narrow, high-lift wing devised by the engineer David R. Davis. The Model 32 put that wing high on a deep, slab-sided fuselage with a capacious bomb bay closed by roller-shutter doors, twin oval fins and a tricycle undercarriage, which no previous American heavy bomber had. The prototype, XB-24, first flew from Lindbergh Field, San Diego, on 29 December 1939.

The RAF had the first Liberators to see service. Early aircraft flew the Return Ferry Service across the Atlantic in 1941, and the very long range Liberators of Coastal Command, beginning with No. 120 Squadron, closed the mid-Atlantic air gap where U-boats had hunted beyond the reach of shore-based aircraft. With the US Army Air Forces the B-24 flew from England alongside the B-17, from North Africa and Italy against the Ploesti oilfields in Romania, and across the Pacific, where its range counted most. To meet demand it was built in five factories, including Ford’s vast new plant at Willow Run in Michigan, and 18,482 were made, more than any other American military aircraft.

The B-24J, L and M of 1944 and 1945 had a power-operated turret in the nose; the L saved weight with a lighter tail turret. In South East Asia RAF Liberator B.VIs and B.VIIIs flew long-range bombing and special-duties sorties from India and Ceylon until the Japanese surrender. Many were left at Kanpur in 1946, and Hindustan Aircraft rebuilt dozens of them for the Indian Air Force, which flew them on bombing and maritime reconnaissance until 1968, longer than any other air force.

This airframe

Liberator B.VI KN751 “F”

KN751The airframe modelled

KN751 was built by Ford at Willow Run in December 1944 as B-24L 44-50206. It was fitted with its tail turret, radar and radio at a modification centre in Louisville, Kentucky, and delivered to the RAF in June 1945. It served with No. 99 Squadron at Dhubalia in India and on the Cocos Islands until the war ended. It was struck off charge at Kanpur in 1946, rebuilt by Hindustan Aircraft for the Indian Air Force as HE807, and flown with No. 6 Squadron on maritime reconnaissance. In July 1974 the Indian Air Force flew it to Britain as a gift to the RAF Museum. It was displayed at Colerne and then at Cosford, where it was painted back into No. 99 Squadron markings, and it now stands in the Bomber Hall at Hendon. The model shows it as displayed: overall silver with black de-icer boots on the wings, tailplane and fins, a black anti-glare panel on the nose, SEAC roundels, the code “F” and the serial on the rear fuselage, SEAC fin flashes and serials on the oval fins, and No. 99 Squadron’s “Flying Bee” on the nose. It has its Emerson nose turret and Motor Products tail turret with guns, no top-turret guns and no ball turret, and its Fowler flaps lowered, as it is shown. No photograph shows the upper wing surfaces, so the roundels there are assumed.

See it at Royal Air Force Museum London

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Liberator in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 103 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.