Fly Past

60 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS

CONSOLIDATED

LIBERATORLIBERATOR

(^19182018) CONSOLIDATED LIBERATOR
F
ive years after Boeing’s designers
began to detail what became
the B-17 Flying Fortress, in the
spring of 1939 the Consolidated
Vultee team sat down in San Diego,
California, to conceive the B-24
Liberator. Such was the pace of
progress in aerodynamics, structures
and systems that it was effectively a
generation ahead of the B-17 and a
much more sophisticated aircraft.
In a similar manner to the
relationship between the Hurricane
and the Spitfire, and the Halifax and
Lancaster, it was the Fortress – not the
Liberator – that seemed to get all the
limelight in the American press. Yet
US air and ground crew thought very
highly of the B-24, and its war record
was exceptional and extremely varied.
The RAF’s experience was quite
the reverse. As can be seen on page
58, the Fortress had a dismal start
to its British service and, although
it went on to steadfast service with
Coastal Command and 100 Group,
it was eclipsed by its comrade from
San Diego.
More than 2,000 Liberators
served over the hostile waters of
the Atlantic in maritime patrol and
transport roles, the type also being
the RAF’s heavy bomber of choice
in the Mediterranean, Middle
East and South East Asia Command
(SEAC).
The Liberator’s introduction to
the RAF came via an order for 120
LB-30 models from France. Most of
these were absorbed by the service,
with some used to establish a regular
passenger and mail link across the
Atlantic – see below. Transport
versions of the Liberator remained
in operation with the RAF until
August 1946 when the last Mk.IXs
were withdrawn at Poona (now
Pune) in India.
The first Liberators to join Coastal
Command were Mk.Is at Nutts
Corner, Northern Ireland, in June

1941. Equipped with increasingly
      capable anti-surface vessel radar,
      they continued to patrol the Atlantic
      convoys from Britain, the Azores
      and Iceland until specially modified
      Avro Lancaster GR.IIIs took over in
      late 1946.
      Liberator IIs were the first long-
      range bomber variant, with Nutts
      Corner again the debut venue, this
      time for 160 Squadron in May
      1942 – and Liberator VIs of 99
      and 356 Squadrons, based on the
      Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean,
      southwest of Java, carried out the last
      RAF bombing raid of World War
      Two, on August 7, 1945, the day after
      an atomic bomb was dropped on
      Hiroshima.

ATLANTIC SHUTTLE

Large American-supplied aircraft

such as Liberators, Fortresses and

Lockheed Hudsons were flown across

the Atlantic while smaller types,

such as fighters, came by boat. The

Atlantic Ferry Organisation was

established at Dorval, Montreal,

Canada, in November 1940 and run

by Canadian Pacific Air Lines. Pilots

came from the RAF, British Overseas

Airways Corporation (BOAC) and

from among commercially rated

freelancers.

By their very nature the flights

were mostly one-way, eastbound to

the ferry terminal at Prestwick in

Scotland. Bringing pilots back to

repeat the process was

Right

Liberator VIs of 357

Squadron lined up at

Meiktila, Burma, in

early 1945.

Below

Coastal Command

Liberator IIIA FK222 of

120 Squadron, based

at Ballykelly and then

Aldergrove, Northern

Ireland, 1942-1944.

© ANDY HAY

http://www.fl yingart.co.uk

originally a haphazard arrangement,

many facing a painfully slow, and

risky, voyage dodging U-boats.

In March 1941 the Return Ferry

Service (RFS) began, equipped with

French-ordered LB-30s. Crews came

from BOAC and the RAF, with the

first round trip being flown on May

4, 1941.

As well as ferry pilots, the flights

carried military and diplomatic

personnel along with mail and

high-priority freight. At first, the

rear fuselages of the LB-30s offered

no creature comforts other than

mattresses and blankets for a slightly

more comfortable seat than the hard,

freezing cold airframe.

‘Catering’ was limited to vacuum

flasks of coffee or soup, sandwiches

and small ‘nips’ of rum. With no

rationing in Canada, the sandwiches

had more nutritious fillings on

eastbound flights; westbound, ‘Spam’

processed meat predominated.

RAF Ferry Command formed on

April 20, 1941 to administer the RFS

and to better

arrange for

aircrew to be

Atlantic – see below. Transport

versions of the Liberator remained

in operation with the RAF until

the ferry terminal at Prestwick in

Scotland. Bringing pilots back to

repeat the process was

and to better

arrange for

aircrew to be

1941 TO 1946