Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7

(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.

Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page

Liberator bomber

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Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Liberator B 24 EW124

Took off 0333 hrs and crashed for unknown reasons (weather-influenced, perhaps, as the Bay of Bengal monsoon weather was known to have been poor that night) on the outbound leg of a Special Duties supply drop to Northeast Siam. EW124 impacted in a dense jungle-covered valley below the 3761-foot hilltop named Taung Ni, the highest relief feature in the area. The crash site is located 11 miles inland, and due east of the coastal village of Kyeintali, Burma. The crew of eight (six RCAF, two RAF) presumably died in the crash. The wreck was reached by an army search team on 15 Nov 1945 after a challenging two-day trek. The aircraft was clearly identified by its painted serial number and its individual "H" letter code, clearly seen on the exterior rear fuselage. Four unidentified bodies were buried on site by the search team, and a highly detailed report was written, but inexplicably the remains were never moved to a Burma war cemetery at a later date. Pilot: J/20943 F/Lt Arthur Erick Franklin Anderson RCAF. RAF Commands