Profiles and Logos
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a United States Heavy Bomber known as the Model 32 serving with all branches of the US armed forces and many allied air forces and navies. The aircraft was faster had a greater range and carried a heavier bomb load than the B-17 but was more difficult to fly having heavy controls. The aircraft was designed to a United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) requirement in 1938. The design had a efficient high mounted Davis wing and the twin tail of the Model 31 flying boat. The design also had a tricycle undercarriage, the first for an American Bomber. After a successful development 36 were ordered for the USAAC, 120 for the French Armée de l’Air and 164 for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The French aircraft were delivered to the RAF after France fell in 1940. Production of the aircraft was split between Consolidated and the Ford Motor Company and peak production reached 650 aircraft per month. During the war Liberators were used as transports, bombers and maritime patrol aircraft and was the most produced bomber aircraft in history with 18,400 being built.