Swatton, William Thomas (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

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Liberator KK241

Liberator B. Mk. VI KK241

Ex USAAF B-24J-95-CF serial 44-44312, ex RAF KK241. Delivered to stored reserve, issued to No. 5 Operational Training Unit, Boundary Bay, BC on 21 May 1945. Reported missing on cross country flight on 1 June 1945. Ownership to No. 3 Repair Depot on 5 June 1945, for write off. Wreckage later found on Mount Welch, BC (East of Chilliwack, now known as Welch Peak).

1944-11-23 Taken on Strength Western Air Command 2019-08-20
1945-June-01 Accident: 5 Operational Training Unit Loc: Unknown Names: Aldridge | Broadbent | Dale | Drummond | Gibbons | Hammond | Hill | Langlands | Long | Murray | Swatton
1945-07-06 Struck off Strength 2020-09-28