100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 61Above
Amid the ice and
snow of Dorval
airfi eld, LB-30
AL592 joined the
Return Ferry Service
in August 1942
and continued to
shuttle across the
Atlantic until the
summer of 1946. The
organisation was run
by British Overseas
Airways Corporation,
and the airline’s
‘Speedbird’ insignia
can be discerned on
the nose. BOACAbove
The RAF Museum’s
Liberator, built by
Ford Motors at Willow
Run, Michigan, served
the RAF as Mk.VI
KN751 and later the
Indian Air Force as
HE807. Acquired in
July 1974 it’s painted
in the colours of
Cocos Island-based
99 Squadron.
RAF MUSEUM
http://www.rafmuseum.orgCONSOLIDATED LIBERATOR
assigned to the duty. From September
1941 till the end of the war, BOAC
operated the hard-working Liberators
while Scottish Aviation at Prestwick
modified and maintained them.
BRAND LOYALTY
Several RAF units operated Liberators
for their entire existence: for example,
354, 355 and 356 Squadrons serving
within SEAC from 1943 to 1945.
One of the most bizarre units of
World War One, 159 Squadron
formed on June 1, 1918 only to de
disbanded 34 days later. Records of
its base, if any, are lost in the mists of
time and it doesn’t appear to have had
any aircraft allocated. It’s thought it
was intended to bolster Royal Flying
Corps strength on the Western Front,
but was destined to remain a ‘paper’
squadron.
Reincarnated on January 2, 1942
at Molesworth with Liberator II
bombers, 159 Squadron began
to work up on the new type,
pilots finding the novel tricycle
undercarriage challenging. From
then until the unit disbanded in
India in June 1946, Liberators were
its exclusive equipment – taking on a
mixture of Mk.IIIs and Vs in August
1943, Mk.VIs from March 1944 and
Mk.VIIIs from June 1945.
The Liberators departed Molesworth
bound for Fayid, Egypt, in April 1942
before settling upon Acre and the
Aqir in Palestine, from where they
flew bombing raids along the North
African coast and across
the Mediterranean to Greece and
southern Italy.
In September, 159 Squadron was
on the move eastwards again, arriving
at Salbani (present-day Solbani) inBengal, eastern India. Flying mostly
from this location the unit conducted
bombing and mining operations as its
main task, but also carried out air-sea
rescue searches, support of Special
Operations Executive missions and
meteorological reconnaissance.
The Liberators flew attacks as far
as Siam (Thailand), Indo-China
(Vietnam) and the Dutch East Indies
(Indonesia), and in October 1944
mined the harbour at Penang, Malaya,
blocking it for several days. Such long-
ranging sorties involved trips of 3,000-
plus miles (4,827km) and 12 hours
airborne.
During the afternoon of October 6,
1944, two Liberators of 159 departed
Salbani and crossed the Bay of Bengal,
bound for a target along the infamous
Burma-Siam railway. Both failed to
return and 17 aircrew were missing.
Squadron personnel received some
cold comfort 38 days later when a
signal arrived confirming that Fg Off
R J Hockings RAAF, F/Sgt R Derrick
and Sgt T W Rutter RCAF, part of
the crew of Liberator VI BZ992 E-for-
Easy, were alive and in a Japanese
prisoner of war camp.Type: Eight-crew heavy bomber/anti-submarine patroller
First fl ight: December 29, 1939; Mk.I entered service June 1941
Powerplant: Four 1,200hp (895kW) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp radials
Dimensions: Span 110ft 0in (33.52m), Length 67ft 1in (20.44m)
Weights: Empty 37,000lb (16,783kg); all-up 65,000lb (29,484kg)
Max speed: 270mph (434km/h) at 20,000ft (6,096m)
Range: 2,100 miles (640m)
Armament: Two machine guns each in nose, mid-upper and tail turrets. One
machine gun in ventral position and one in port and starboard
beam positions. Up to 8,800lb (3,991kg) of ordnance
Replaced: Vickers Wellington from 1941, Bristol Beaufort and Lockheed
Hudson from 1942, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley from 1943, Boeing
Fortress and Martin Baltimore from 1944
Taken on charge: 2,181 – all variants
Replaced by: Avro York from 1943, Douglas Dakota from 1945, Avro Lancaster
from 1946CONSOLIDATED LIBERATOR VI