Niemi, Harold John (Sergeant)

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

Aircraft Images

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Liberator EW134

Liberator B. Mk. VI EW134

Ex USAAF B-24J-20-CF, serial number 42-99820. With No. 5 Operational Training Unit at RCAF Stations Boundary Bay and/or Abbotsford, BC. Coded "G". Category A crash on Thorn Hill, near Whonnock, BC (12 miles north-west of Abbotsford, on the Fraser River) on 4 February 1945. 7 fatalities. To No. 3 Repair Depot on 8 February 1945 for write off.

1944-04-13 Taken on Strength Western Air Command 2019-08-20
1945-February-04 Accident: 5 Operational Training Unit Loc: Whennock British Columbia Names: Beveson | Carscadden | Maynard | Niemi | Schneeberger | Therien | Weiss
1945-03-14 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20