![]() ![]() At the peak of production, the assembly line was producing one Liberator an hour. The Willow Run Airport, with six runways to test planes, was also completed in 1942. On October 1, 1942, the first plane was completed and christened "The Spirit of Ypsilanti." ![]() The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator. Numbers represent our best research on the subject there are minor variations in numbers reported by other sources and outlets.ī-24 Liberator production totals by model and assembly plant Included on this website is a table showing a recap of B-24 Liberator production by model, and by manufacturing plant. A second Consolidated plant in Fort Worth.Original Consolidated plant in San Diego.50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns in 4 turrets and two waist positionī-24 Liberator Production Recap by Model and Assembly PlantĪ total of 18,493 Liberators were built, more than any other aircraft in World War II. Several factories produced the Liberator: Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 or -41 turbosupercharged radial engines, 1,200 hp each.Specifications (B-24J)Ĭrew: 11 (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, nose turret, top turret, 2 waist gunners, ball turret, tail gunner) The B-24 also evolved in the Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer used by the U.S. The Consolidated C-109 was a dedicated fuel transport version of the B-24 built as a support aircraft for Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations in central China. These were built alongside the B-24 at the Consolidated plant in Fort Worth, Texas. The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was a transport derivative of the B-24. The B-24 provided excellent service in a variety of roles due to its large payload and long range.Ī follow-up aircraft design by Consolidated was the B-32 Dominator, a plane with some of the B-24's characteristics, built in only limited numbers towards the end of World War II. The B-24's spacious, slab-sided fuselage was built around a central bomb bay with two compartments that could accommodate up to 8,000 pounds of ordnance each. The high fuselage-mounted wings also made it more difficult to survive crash landings on land or water. The positioning of the fuel tanks also made the plane prone to fire. But the B-24 was more difficult to fly, with heavy control forces and poor formation-flying characteristics. The B-24 was a more modern design than the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, with a higher top speed, greater range, higher ceiling, and a heavier bomb load. Its first flight was on December 29, 1939, and it began service in 1941. The mission saw some success for the Allies, but only about 20 percent of the targets were seriously damaged, and the Americans suffered tremendous losses.The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a 4-engine, twin-tail heavy bomber designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego. Approaching from low level positions, the planes crossed one another as they skimmed over their targets, at great risk from the numerous anti-aircraft guns below as well as from the spectacular explosions their bombs created. attack bombers were divided into several waves and due to multiple problems that arose, these groups got out of sequence and ended up attacking from several directions. located in south-central Romania, in the heart of the oil fields, Ploesti's refineries supplied half of the Nazi war machines' petroleum requirements," B-24 Liberator Legend by Philip A. "The importance of the Ploesti oil complex. The most famous, although not the most successful bombing raid by B-24 Liberators, was the attack on the Ploesti oil field in Romania on August 1, 1943. B-24 Liberators dropping their bombs at low altitude at Ploesti oil fields. ![]()
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