- 23 hours ago
For educational purposes
From their background with flying boats, Con-solidated Aircraft Company would design the Liberator.
From its two distinct large vertical stabilizers, tricycle landing gear and high lift Davis wing, the Liberator would be made in greater numbers than the more popular B-17.
Operational in all theaters of the war and in other roles than a bomber (naval reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare and as transports), the B-24 performed well and is one of the Great Planes.
This film traces the development of the B-24 and shows operation in the different theaters including low level raids on Polesti.
Excellent air-to-air photography and great examples of nose art, as counterpart to the B-17, the Liberator is one of the Great Planes.
From their background with flying boats, Con-solidated Aircraft Company would design the Liberator.
From its two distinct large vertical stabilizers, tricycle landing gear and high lift Davis wing, the Liberator would be made in greater numbers than the more popular B-17.
Operational in all theaters of the war and in other roles than a bomber (naval reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare and as transports), the B-24 performed well and is one of the Great Planes.
This film traces the development of the B-24 and shows operation in the different theaters including low level raids on Polesti.
Excellent air-to-air photography and great examples of nose art, as counterpart to the B-17, the Liberator is one of the Great Planes.
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LearningTranscript
00:00The
00:30During World War II, the United States produced only three four-engined long-range bombers
00:43in any numbers. These were the B-29 Superfortress, the B-17 Flying Fortress, and the B-24 Liberator.
00:51The B-29 entered active service only in 1944, but played a large part in the reduction of
01:00Japan's wartime capacity, raising its cities and destroying its factories before delivering
01:05the final blows of the war in the atom bomb attacks. The B-17, the legendary Flying Fortress,
01:16was one of the war's most famous aircraft, and a mainstay of the strategic bombing campaign
01:21against Germany. The Liberator was the other important American bomber of that campaign,
01:30but the B-24 has been overshadowed somewhat by its two illustrious contemporaries. In fact,
01:36it was produced in far larger numbers than either of them. A later design than the Fortress,
01:41its production began after the war had begun, and halted before its end. Yet, in that time,
01:47over 18,000 of them were made. They saw service in every theatre of the conflict, in a variety of
01:53roles, and proved, despite their ugly duckling reputation, to be one of the most effective
01:58weapons of the war.
02:10In 1918, the United States' first airmail service was inaugurated, with President Wilson on hand to mail
02:17the first letter. The pilot of this first flight was Major Ruben Fleet. He was to go on to become
02:23one of America's great aviation entrepreneurs, forming the Consolidated Company in Buffalo.
02:28In 1936, Fleet moved his company to California, establishing a new factory at San Diego. The move
02:43was made to have access to both sea and land drones for their planes, as they moved towards production
02:48of the series of flying boats that was to cement their reputation.
02:59When Consolidated moved to California, they had just won a contract to produce the legendary
03:04PBY Catalina for the Navy and the Coast Guard. Though, at that time, the potential of these
03:09excellent all-metal monoplanes as weapons was not fully realised. The Catalina was to be one
03:15of the most versatile models of the war, and even when the design became dated in the face
03:20of wartime technological advances, their reliability and versatility saw them continue in active
03:25service.
03:33Later variants of the plane featured a retractable undercarriage that made them amphibious and
03:38reinforced their versatility.
04:08a
04:17the
04:21hatchet
04:24a
04:25be
04:27a
04:29a
04:30a
04:31h
04:31a
04:32h
04:32h
04:33h
04:35h
04:35h
04:35h
04:38Consolidated developed a new mammoth flying boat in conjunction with the Navy, the PB2Y.
04:44This four-engined Leviathan gave the company its first experience with large planes.
05:08Over 200 PB2Ys were made, including some that were sold to Britain, although the design did not prove to be a major success.
05:25However, the twin tailplanes of the PB2Y were to go on to be almost a signature of Consolidated's future planes,
05:32and the technical knowledge gained in its construction was to serve the company well.
05:38The
05:42The
05:46The
05:51The
05:57The
06:00The
06:03The
06:05Oh
06:35The PB2Y's relative failure to meet the Navy's requirements
07:01left the problem of a successor for the twin-engined Catalinas unanswered.
07:05Consolidated were, of course, eager to be the company that came up with the satisfactory
07:10design for the replacement.
07:19Among the Consolidated staff who moved from Buffalo to stay with the company was Mac Ladin,
07:23the company's chief engineer.
07:26In 1938, Consolidated was offered rights to a completely new wing design, the Davis Aerofoil,
07:32where the company bought the exclusive ownership of the technology.
07:36Initially the wing was fitted to the Consolidated Model 31, the PB4Y.
07:41Many thought that the theory of the wing was wrong and that it did not have a large enough
07:44surface area to lift and carry a large plane.
07:48These doubts were quashed by the wing's performance on the Model 31.
07:52The PB4Y did not go into production, however, the high shoulder-mounted wing and deep fuselage
07:58of the flying boat were to reappear, heavily modified, on Consolidated's next project.
08:07The outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 saw a change in US popular opinion and a growing
08:14awareness of the need for stronger defence of the nation.
08:26Back in 1938, with the threat of war clear to the strategists, the Army sought to increase
08:31production of its only four-engined long-range bomber, the Flying Fortress, and they approached
08:37Consolidated to be one of the companies dedicated to turning out numbers of B-17s.
08:43The reaction of Consolidated was that, rather than produce the Boeing design, they were confident
08:48that, with their new wing technology, they could produce a better bomber.
09:04Given how pleased the Army was with the B-17s, the thought of a better bomber must have interested
09:09them greatly.
09:11The development of large planes had been very rapid up to the B-17, and clearly there could
09:15be further jumps in technology, which embraced the lessons learned in its development.
09:45In January 1939, Consolidated were given the go-ahead to develop a design for a plane that
09:53could carry a 3,000-pound load, 3,000 miles, at a speed above 300 miles per hour.
10:00This was to be followed in March with a contract to build a prototype of the design.
10:07Mac Ladin's original design combined the now classic Consolidated tail, the aerofoil wing,
10:13cycle undercarriage, and an advanced aerodynamic fuselage.
10:17The plane even had crew sleeping quarters because of the long flights expected.
10:26Eventually, a more conventional fuselage was adopted, with its high sides owing a lot to
10:35the PB4Y flying boat's design.
10:38The plan view shows clearly the slim lines of the superbly efficient new wing.
10:53The Model 32, as it was known, was ready for its test flight on December 29, 1939, one day
11:00under the nine months specified in the contract.
11:07The Model 32, as it was thaerofoil wing.
11:14The Model 32, as it was known, was made by the Army in March.
11:33An order for only seven examples was made by the army, but the French, satisfied with the data provided,
11:40placed an immediate order for 120 Model 32s off the drawing board.
11:45The British were not far behind in ordering 160 of the big new bombers,
11:50and with the fall of France, the French order was transferred to them,
11:54and the first of the planes to go into active service were British.
12:03This is in Japan for the South Pacific Ocean in
12:26Initially, the feature that stood out about the Liberator, as the English named it, was
12:39that it was the only plane capable of non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, and the first five
12:44delivered were handed over to BOAC to be flown on that route, primarily to recycle the pilots
12:50who were ferrying planes from American factories to the European war zone.
13:09The first model to see truly mass production was the B-24D, with a longer nose and the
13:15addition of turbo superchargers to increase the plane's operational sealing.
13:20The incorporation of the superchargers led to the repositioning of the oil coolers on
13:24the engines, which resulted in the characteristic elliptical nacelles that were to stay with
13:29the B-24 throughout the rest of its production life.
13:50So, let's get started.
13:51Let's get started.
13:52Let's get started.
14:24On the 19th of August 1939, with the war still weeks away, German long-range submarines started taking up positions in the Atlantic. These U-boats were the first of many that put a fight in the Battle of the Atlantic.
14:46This cold, wet battleground, which saw the advantage sway back and forth throughout the war, became Germany's greatest chance of defeating Britain.
14:55Indeed, at times in 1942 and 1943 in particular, the Allied losses in the Atlantic were to go very close to being unsustainable.
15:03During the five and a half years of the war, the Germans commissioned 1,172 submarines and 789 were lost.
15:20On the other side, Axis submarines, in all waters, sank 2,828 ships, totalling nearly 15 million tonnes.
15:29Much the greatest proportion of that huge total was sunk by the Germans, whose U-boats also sank 175 Allied warships.
15:36In the end, the battle was to be won with a combination of new weapons and tactics, and the U-boats were soundly defeated.
15:49Perhaps the single most important of the weapons employed in winning this battle was the Liberator.
15:54Before the B-24s came on the scene, there was a 300-mile gap in the middle of the ocean,
16:13where the existing planes were unable to supply air cover for the slow, inadequately escorted convoys.
16:19In this gap, the U-boats, hunting in wolf packs, were able to regularly engage in massacres of the assembled targets,
16:28relatively unendangered and operating often on the surface,
16:32where they were faster than many of the corvettes and destroyers supposedly hunting them.
16:49The arrival of the Liberators closed the gap,
17:02and even the few that were initially available in 1941 caused the Germans to change their plans,
17:08and saw Allied losses at sea drop.
17:10However, when these planes were misguidedly withdrawn in early 1942 for the strategic campaign against Germany,
17:19the U-boats' ascendancy was quickly re-established, and the Allies' losses soared alarmingly.
17:24It was not until more Liberators, with radar, lee lights and their long range,
17:29were sent back into the fray that the tide finally turned.
17:32It was not until the end of the night, but it was not until the end of the night.
18:02So, let's go.
18:32So, let's go.
19:02So, let's go.
19:04So, let's go.
19:06So, let's go.
19:08So, let's go.
19:10So, let's go.
19:12So, let's go.
19:14So, let's go.
19:16So, let's go.
19:18So, let's go.
19:20So, let's go.
19:22So, let's go.
19:24So, let's go.
19:26So, let's go.
19:28So, let's go.
19:30So, let's go.
19:32So, let's go.
19:34So, let's go.
19:36So, let's go.
19:38So, let's go.
19:40So, let's go.
20:08So, let's go.
20:10So, let's go.
20:12So, let's go.
20:14So, let's go.
20:16So, let's go.
20:18So, let's go.
20:20So, let's go.
20:22So, let's go.
20:24So, let's go.
20:26So, let's go.
20:28So, let's go.
20:32So, let's go.
20:34So, let's go.
20:36So, let's go.
20:48So, let's go.
20:50as bombers, the B-24s were soon to be equipped for long-range prowling over the ocean looking
20:56for submarines.
20:58In this area, with the opposing camp's islands so close together, the Japanese relied on
21:04subs for transport and used them to replenish their supplies and bring in reinforcements.
21:10In addition, submarines were used as assault transports in several attempts to move forward
21:15into the American-held islands.
21:24From the freezing cold of their aeroplanes, the aircrew returned to a base that was barely
21:29more comfortable, to report on their missions and to be briefed on their next targets.
21:45With the requirements for long-range bombing limited, the B-24s enormous load carrying
22:00could be tested and they regularly delivered bomb loads equivalent to twice what they carried
22:05in the European theatre.
22:19The sparring in the Aleutians went on throughout the war, with neither side pressing hard on
22:48the other's strong defences.
22:51However, the B-24s regularly took off from American-held ADAC to make their own contribution
22:56to the miseries of the weather on the Japanese base at Kiska.
23:18the B-24s became the most vulnerable.
23:19The nóiåŠ ard's party was raised to her.
23:21And as far as possible, the air-man was held in the innocent諧
23:27in the same way.
23:28As far as possible, the air-man was held and felt in the very moment.
23:28But no exception, the air-man has been failed to a sense.
23:31And the air-man has been ligued to a place to be able to get into it.
23:32The air-man has been developed for several reasons.
23:35The air-man has been sustained by a massive impact on the ship.
23:37And the air-man has been quarantined with a massive amount of relief.
23:42And he showed us all the air-man's been suspended from the camp.
23:43And that's what the air-man has been assaulted for us.
23:46Let's go.
24:16Let's go.
24:46Let's go.
25:16Let's go.
25:46Let's go.
26:16Let's go.
26:46Let's go.
27:16Let's go.
27:46Let's go.
28:16Let's go.
28:46Let's go.
29:16Let's go.
29:46Let's go.
30:16Let's go.
30:46Let's go.
31:16Let's go.
31:46Let's go.
32:16Let's go.
32:46Let's go.
33:16Let's go.
33:46Let's go.
34:16Let's go.
34:46Let's go.
35:16Let's go.
35:46Let's go.
36:16Let's go.
36:46Let's go.
37:16Let's go.
37:46Let's go.
38:16Let's go.
38:46Let's go.
39:16Let's go.
39:46Let's go.
40:16Let's go.
40:46Let's go.
41:16Let's go.
41:46Let's go.
42:16Let's go.
42:45Let's go.
43:15Let's go.
43:45Let's go.
44:15Let's go.
44:45Let's go.
45:15Let's go.
45:45Let's go.
46:15Let's go.
46:45Let's go.
47:15Let's go.
47:45Let's go.
48:15Let's go.
48:45Let's go.
49:15Let's go.
49:45Let's go.
50:15Let's go.
50:45Let's go.
51:15Let's go.
51:45Let's go.
52:15Let's go.
52:45Let's go.
53:15Let's go.
53:45Let's go.
54:15Let's go.
54:45Let's go.
55:15Let's go.
55:45Let's go.
56:15Let's go.
56:45Let's go.
57:15Let's go.
57:45Let's go.
58:15Let's go.
58:45Let's go.
59:15Let's go.
59:45Let's go.
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