Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7
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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
last update: 2021-09-18 19:06:22
Liberator Mk. III/V 595
Ex USAAF B-24D-60-CO s/n 42-40469, ex RAF BZ735. Also known as G.R. Mk. V/Can. Operated by No. 10 (BR) Squadron, RCAF Station Gander, Newfoundland, from May 1943. Coded "X". Attacked and damaged 2 submarines on 22 September 1943, U-377 and U-402. The second boat was attacked with guns only, as all depth charges and both homing torpedos had been used to damage U-377 a few minutes earlier.1943-04-30 Taken on Strength 2019-08-20
1944-February-19 Accident: 10 Squadron Loc: Aerodrome Names: Dicksos | Guibord | Hollinger | Luscombe | Walter | Wilson
1945-July-06 Accident: 10 Squadron Loc: 51:47n 47:40w Names: Armstrong | Bates | Gillis | Lundy | Mcarthur | Mcnab | Southam
1945-07-23 Struck off Strength Lost at sea off coast of Newfoundland, while searching for downed pilot. One fatality. 1945-078-06 Struck off on 23 July 1945. 2020-09-23