Specifications: Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Type: Eight/ten-crew daylight medium/heavy bomber
Powerplant: Four 1200Hp (895Kw) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-65 radial piston engines
Weights
Empty: 16556 Kg (36500 Lbs)
Maximum Take-Off: 29484 Kg (65000 Lbs)
Dimensions
Span: 33.53m (110 ft)
Lenght: 20.47m (67ft 2in)
Height: 5.49m (18 ft)
Wing Area: 97.36 m2 (1048 sq ft)
Armament: Two-Gun Turrets in nose, tail, upper fuselage aft of cockpit and under center fuselage, and single manual guns in waist positions for a total of 10 12.7mm machine-guns plus a normal bombload of 3992 Kg (8800 Lbs).
Operational History: Wanting to equip itself with a heavy bomber with performances superior to that of the B-17, the USAAF requested, in 1939, that Consolidated aircrafts design a proposal meeting these requirements. The resulting XB-24 first flew in December of that year and made an outstanding performance.
The tests being conclusive, the aircraft was ordered into production. An order for 120 planes was destined for France but the events of 1941 prevented their delivery. The British RAF took over the French order and became the first to use the type in combat in 1941.
The liberator was used in the battle of the Atlantic, in the Middle-East and in Italy, from which they were used in the bombing of the oilfields at Ploesti in Roumania. They also saw action in the Pacific Theatre of operations and in the strategic bombing of Europe.
Total B-24 production reached 18 313 aircraft.
