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 AM260

London Evening Standard August 15 1941

Was US YB-24 s/n 40-698. Crashed and burned on takeoff from Heathfield Airfield, Ayr, Scotland after veering off runway and striking a small building and then an embankment. 22 onboard killed.

RAF Ferry Command, Return Ferry Service Liberator I aircraft #AM 260 crashed and burned when it veered off the runway while taking-off from Heathfield Aerodrome, Ayr, Scotland for a return flight to Ferry Command Headquarters in Dorval QC, killing all 22 civilian aircrew and passengers, including (Pilot) EB Anding (USA), (Pilot) MB Dilley (USA), (Pilot) AC Earl (USA), (Pilot) E Hamel (USA), (Pilot) G Hull (USA), (Pilot) JJ Kerwin (USA), (Pilot) PF Lee Jr (USA), (Pilot) JJ Moffat (Can), (Pilot) Captain RC Stafford (BOAC)(UK), (Pilot) WL Trimble (USA), (Pilot) EW Watson (USA), (Pilot) MJ Wetzel (USA), (Radio Officer) R Coates (Can), (Radio Officer) (Radio Officer) JP Culbert (UK), (Radio Officer) RA Duncan (Can), (Radio Officer) WFJ Goddard (Can), (Radio Officer) DN Hannant (Can), (Radio Officer) JJ MacDonald (Can), (Radio Officer) G McKay (Can),(Radio Officer) A Tamblin (Can), (Flight Engineer) RF Davis (USA) (who was also a USN Reserve Pilot) and civilian passenger AB Purvis (Can), the Head of the British Purchasing Commission (resident of Montreal) (marks www.rafcommands.com).

This was the second serious crash of a Return Ferry Service LB-30 Liberator in 4 days. Please see Anderson, JJ for details and casualty list on crash of Liberator I aircraft #AM 261. Combined, the two aircraft crashes were a significant blow to the ability of Ferry Command to conduct operations.

These crashes may have been the inspiration for the plot device that puts the actors into Ferry Command Hudsons in the Warner Brothers propaganda movie on the RCAF, "Captains of the Clouds" then being filmed in Canada.