Consolidated B-24L Liberator "Lassie I'm Home" (Nose Art)
Lessons learned over Europe and the Pacific showed that the B-24 was vulnerable to attacks from the front—a problem it shared with the B-17. In the field, B-24 crews jammed as many machine guns as possible into the glasshouse nose of the B-24D (some B-24s at Ploesti had five or six guns in a nose designed only for three at most), but this was not the solution.
Consolidated experimented with various kinds of modifications until settling on a redesigned nose with a manned turret (unlike the remote chin turret on the B-17G). This would cause some loss of aerodynamics on an aircraft already known for its difficult handling, but it at least would give the B-24 better defense from forward attacks. The redesign also made the nose roomier, added chin windows for the bombardier, enlarged the dorsal and tail turrets for better visibility, and enclosed the waist positions. The wet wing used by the B-24D was deleted in favor of self-sealing fuel tanks, eliminating the B-24’s tendency to catch fire.
Production shifted to the B-24H in late 1943, but there was a shortage of the electrically-powered Emerson nose turret, and so a hydraulically-powered Sperry turret was used on the B-24J. If that was not confusing enough, Consolidated also produced a lighter version, the B-24L, with no ball or tail turrets, leaving it to individual groups to install heavier turrets, flexible mounts, or no armament at all. All three were produced at once, and all three were used in increasingly heavy combat over Europe.
Though losses climbed over Europe, the aircraft could at least be easily replaced, for by the introduction of the B-24H/J series, Liberator production had truly hit its stride. Four factories were producing B-24s, but the most famous and efficient was Ford’s Willow Run plant, which by 1944 was producing one bomber per hour—crews fresh from training would arrive at Willow Run around nightfall, and pick up their new B-24 the next morning. The B-24 would not only become the most produced bomber of World War II, it would be the most produced American combat aircraft in history—no less than 18,482 Liberators would come off the line by the end of the war.
B-24Js and like variants would see heavy service worldwide, replacing the B-17 entirely in the Pacific and supplementing it over Europe. B-24s would bomb both Berlin and attack the southernmost Japanese home islands. Besides acting as strategic bombers, Liberators would also act as antisubmarine maritime patrol aircraft for the RAF, the USAAF, and the US Navy as the PB4Y-1; the latter would also be converted to primitive cruise missiles in Operation Aphrodite against German V-weapon sites in Belgium. One Aphrodite mission would claim the life of Joseph Kennedy Jr., older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. Still others would be converted to long-range transports, flying fuel over the Himalayas “Hump” in support of operations in China, and two would be converted to executive transports for both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the latter becoming the first of many Presidential aircraft. By 1945, it was possible to find B-24s literally everywhere, from Alaska’s cold Aleutians to sunny Brazil, from China to Italy.
After the end of World War II, the USAAF rapidly scrapped nearly its entire B-24 fleet, but a few soldiered on in the 1960s, mainly in India, where they operated as maritime patrol aircraft. Others served as seed aircraft for postwar airlines, including Qantas of Australia. By 1968, however, nearly all B-24s had disappeared from inventories worldwide; today, only 14 complete Liberators are left, with two aircraft flyable.
"Lassie, I'm Home" was a B-24L assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Pandaveswar, India in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of war. The B-24L was an attempt to lighten the heavy B-24J a little and make it less sluggish; the nose and tail turrets were left off the aircraft at the Willow Run plant in Michigan, and installed as necessary in the field. Most L models replaced the nose turret with a lighter ring mount, which made the B-24L less nose heavy. This would be important for the 7th BG, since its operations would take it over the Himalayas for operations against Japanese forces in China. The 7th had an interesting war long before it arrived in India in 1943: its B-17s had come under attack at Pearl Harbor, and the group was whittled down to almost nothing in the dark days of early 1942, in an attempt to defend the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from Japanese invasion.
"Lassie" (the name refers to the Scottish term, not the dog) made it through the war and returned home to the US, to be scrapped at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. The scrapyard's owner, Minot Pratt, thought the nose art worthy of preservation and had it axed out of the aircraft. Later, it ended up with the Commemorative Air Force and loaned to the EAA AirVenture Museum, where I saw it in May 2018.
Apparently Lassie just stepped out of the shower, and is a bit surprised to see her guy. This was based on a famous pinup in Yank magazine, and reproduced several times in nose art.
Consolidated B-24L Liberator "Lassie I'm Home" (Nose Art)
Lessons learned over Europe and the Pacific showed that the B-24 was vulnerable to attacks from the front—a problem it shared with the B-17. In the field, B-24 crews jammed as many machine guns as possible into the glasshouse nose of the B-24D (some B-24s at Ploesti had five or six guns in a nose designed only for three at most), but this was not the solution.
Consolidated experimented with various kinds of modifications until settling on a redesigned nose with a manned turret (unlike the remote chin turret on the B-17G). This would cause some loss of aerodynamics on an aircraft already known for its difficult handling, but it at least would give the B-24 better defense from forward attacks. The redesign also made the nose roomier, added chin windows for the bombardier, enlarged the dorsal and tail turrets for better visibility, and enclosed the waist positions. The wet wing used by the B-24D was deleted in favor of self-sealing fuel tanks, eliminating the B-24’s tendency to catch fire.
Production shifted to the B-24H in late 1943, but there was a shortage of the electrically-powered Emerson nose turret, and so a hydraulically-powered Sperry turret was used on the B-24J. If that was not confusing enough, Consolidated also produced a lighter version, the B-24L, with no ball or tail turrets, leaving it to individual groups to install heavier turrets, flexible mounts, or no armament at all. All three were produced at once, and all three were used in increasingly heavy combat over Europe.
Though losses climbed over Europe, the aircraft could at least be easily replaced, for by the introduction of the B-24H/J series, Liberator production had truly hit its stride. Four factories were producing B-24s, but the most famous and efficient was Ford’s Willow Run plant, which by 1944 was producing one bomber per hour—crews fresh from training would arrive at Willow Run around nightfall, and pick up their new B-24 the next morning. The B-24 would not only become the most produced bomber of World War II, it would be the most produced American combat aircraft in history—no less than 18,482 Liberators would come off the line by the end of the war.
B-24Js and like variants would see heavy service worldwide, replacing the B-17 entirely in the Pacific and supplementing it over Europe. B-24s would bomb both Berlin and attack the southernmost Japanese home islands. Besides acting as strategic bombers, Liberators would also act as antisubmarine maritime patrol aircraft for the RAF, the USAAF, and the US Navy as the PB4Y-1; the latter would also be converted to primitive cruise missiles in Operation Aphrodite against German V-weapon sites in Belgium. One Aphrodite mission would claim the life of Joseph Kennedy Jr., older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. Still others would be converted to long-range transports, flying fuel over the Himalayas “Hump” in support of operations in China, and two would be converted to executive transports for both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the latter becoming the first of many Presidential aircraft. By 1945, it was possible to find B-24s literally everywhere, from Alaska’s cold Aleutians to sunny Brazil, from China to Italy.
After the end of World War II, the USAAF rapidly scrapped nearly its entire B-24 fleet, but a few soldiered on in the 1960s, mainly in India, where they operated as maritime patrol aircraft. Others served as seed aircraft for postwar airlines, including Qantas of Australia. By 1968, however, nearly all B-24s had disappeared from inventories worldwide; today, only 14 complete Liberators are left, with two aircraft flyable.
"Lassie, I'm Home" was a B-24L assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Pandaveswar, India in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of war. The B-24L was an attempt to lighten the heavy B-24J a little and make it less sluggish; the nose and tail turrets were left off the aircraft at the Willow Run plant in Michigan, and installed as necessary in the field. Most L models replaced the nose turret with a lighter ring mount, which made the B-24L less nose heavy. This would be important for the 7th BG, since its operations would take it over the Himalayas for operations against Japanese forces in China. The 7th had an interesting war long before it arrived in India in 1943: its B-17s had come under attack at Pearl Harbor, and the group was whittled down to almost nothing in the dark days of early 1942, in an attempt to defend the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) from Japanese invasion.
"Lassie" (the name refers to the Scottish term, not the dog) made it through the war and returned home to the US, to be scrapped at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. The scrapyard's owner, Minot Pratt, thought the nose art worthy of preservation and had it axed out of the aircraft. Later, it ended up with the Commemorative Air Force and loaned to the EAA AirVenture Museum, where I saw it in May 2018.
Apparently Lassie just stepped out of the shower, and is a bit surprised to see her guy. This was based on a famous pinup in Yank magazine, and reproduced several times in nose art.