B-24 Liberator - The American Heavy Bomber

December 29 1939 marked the first flight of the B-24 Liberator; the heavy bomber earns the distinction of being the most produced U.S military aircraft in history. The heavy bomber, manufactured by Consolidated Aircraft, was in production for five years between 1940-1945 during World War II and a record 18,842 B-24s were built to sustain the need for air supremacy in the second world war. Despite its grievances and its notoriety, the B-24 was used by many Allied air forces and had operations in most parts of World War II where it had a supreme war record compared against other World War II aircrafts of its time.

Despite being more modern than the aged B-17 Flying Fortress with better flying capabilities and having a higher top speed in flight, the Liberator was negatively viewed upon and pilots often favored the Flying Fortress when compared against the Liberator. This was because it was believed the Liberator was notoriously difficult to fly with very heavy controls and its clunky shape meant it had poor formation flying abilities, a characteristic that was important during the often-bombing stages of the World War. The Liberator also had a fatal design flaw in which its fuel tanks placed near the upper fuselage made it very vulnerable to damage and easy to catch fire. It is known that there have been over 20 separate cases of the Liberator catching fire upon being hit by enemy rounds from the ground.

A reason for this design flaw can be attributed to the speed of which the Liberator went into production. A contract for a prototype of the Liberator went through in March 1939 and by the end of the year, on 29 December, the first flight of the Liberator had taken place. By March 1941, a mere two years into design and production, the Liberator was already used in operations as a long-range transport aircraft. The start of World War II meant production for the Liberator shifted into high gear as the largest assembly line was created in Willow Run, Detroit specifically to manufacture B-24s at an amazingly astonishing rate. With the factory producing B-24s at a rate of 420 per month, the Liberator was quickly becoming the most produced aircraft in history to cope with the fighter aircrafts of the German and the Japanese army in Europe and the Pacific respectively.

With its huge size and heavy load carrying capabilities, the Liberator was not only a successful heavy bomber in the World War II, it also served different roles during the war and once the war was over. A variant of the B-24, called the VLR or Very Long Range Liberator, took down some of its thick armor and heavy turrets to lose excessive weight and make way for extra fuel and used as a maritime patrol aircraft to look out for German U-boats over the Atlantic Gap. The modified Liberator was the only aircraft able to go on long range patrols and was mostly responsible for the destruction of over 70 U-boats during the war. The ability of the Liberator to go on long range trips meant that the plane made an excellent transport aircraft and hence was used as cargo carriers to transport supplies to troops in the Pacific and Europe.

The US Air Force was not the only operators of the B-24 Liberator. At its peak, the Liberator was operated by over 15 military air forces and its impressive run during the war despite its notoriety meant that it was even used by civil and private aviation companies at the end of the war. While the Liberator is no longer the much-sought after aircraft it once was with many successors designed and manufactured the war, three fully functional B-24s still exist and frequently makes its runs during air shows in the United States. Despite being over 60 years old, the existing Liberators prove that the aircraft was indeed the best of its class during the World War II.