B 24 Liberator: 3 Major Design Flaws – Video
B-24, also called Liberator, long-range heavy
bomber used during World War II by the U.S. and British air forces. It was
designed by the Consolidated Aircraft Company (later Consolidated-Vultee) in
response to a January 1939 U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) requirement for a
four-engined heavy bomber.
The B-24 was powered by four air-cooled radial engines and had a spacious boxlike fuselage slung beneath a high wing, a tricycle landing gear, and a twin tail assembly. The first prototype flew in December 1939, and, by the spring of 1941, B-24s were being delivered to the British Royal Air Force on a cash-and-carry basis.
Sjekk video her: https://tinyurl.com/2p8f4dzt
Early models of the B-24 lacked
self-sealing fuel tanks and the heavy defensive armament deemed essential by
the USAAF for a strategic daylight bomber; therefore, they were used primarily
to transport high-priority cargo and VIPs (British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill used one as his personal transport) and for anti-submarine patrols.
Anti-submarine B-24s, some fitted with
radar, played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic and were instrumental
in closing the mid-Atlantic “gap” where German U-boats had previously operated
with impunity.
Alongside the B-29 Superfortress and the
B-17 Flying Fortress, the Liberator gained a distinguished war record during
its service in the European, Pacific, African, and Middle Eastern theaters. The
B-24’s longer range and higher bomb load capacity helped bring the Axis forces
down to their knees.
However, despite being the most produced
American wartime aircraft, the Liberator was not as popular as its
contemporaries. The media and many airmen preferred the B-17 Flying Fortress,
which was supposedly inferior to the B-24.
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