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

Wikipedia Liberator bomber

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Liberator B 24 KG822

Skipper J/86953 Flying Officer Maurice Jorgenson RCAF and his seven crewmates were airborne from Kankesanturai, Ceylon at 1532 hrs on 4 Dec 1944. All eight went missing and have no known graves. Burning wreckage but no sign of life was reported by crews of 354 Sqn Liberators KG850 "Y" and EV950 "T". KG850 reported the Lat/Long of the wreckage as 12.21' N, 85.17' E. From 0056 to 0059 hrs on 5 Dec this Lib circled the debris at 100 ft altitude and took photos. EV950, over the burning wreckage at 0055, reported the location as being 12.21' N, 85.25' E . the same Latitude but a slightly different Longitude than noted by KG850. RAF Commands web page

December 4 1944 Operations Record Book