{"id":531,"date":"2013-09-18T14:49:39","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T18:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/?page_id=531"},"modified":"2013-09-18T17:06:51","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T21:06:51","slug":"1944-consolidated-b-24j-liberator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/aircraft\/currently-not-showing-in-museum\/wwii\/1944-consolidated-b-24j-liberator\/","title":{"rendered":"1944 Consolidated B-24J Liberator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A total of 18,481 examples were built, making it the most widely produced U.S. military aircraft to date.<\/p>\n<p>It served on all battlefronts in various roles that included bombing, mine laying, photo-reconnaissance, cargo, and transport duties. It was particularly well suited for service in the Pacific theater where its long-range capability proved of value.<\/p>\n<p>This particular aircraft is one of 1,278 delivered to the RAF and Coastal Command as part of lend-lease. Known as a Liberator Mark VI in the RAF, it is believed to have been delivered in August 1944 to 215 Squadron RAF in Kolar, India, as a replacement for the Vickers Wellington bombers, which were being phased out.<\/p>\n<p>If this were the case, the aircraft would have participated in the long range bombing missions the squadron made into Burma to destroy the infamous Siam-Burma railway bridges that the Japanese built at the cost of over 24,000 Allied prisoners\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n<div class='slider-gallery'><div class='images'><div class=\"image\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sstbB24JGallery189288.jpg);\"><\/div><div class=\"image\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-content\/uploads\/sstbB24JGallery224939.jpg);\"><\/div><\/div><!-- images -->\n\t\t<div id='gallery_nav'>\n\t\t<a href='#' id='back'>Back<\/a>\n\t\t<a href='#' id='next'>Next<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div><!-- gallery_nav -->\n\t\t\t<div class='clearfloat'><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class='clearfloat'><\/div>\n<div class=\"specs\">\n<h3>Specifications<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Year Built \u2014 1944<\/li>\n<li>Wingspan \u2014 110&#8242;<\/li>\n<li>Cruise Speed \u2014 215 mph<\/li>\n<li>Top Speed \u2014 287 mph<\/li>\n<li>Gross Weight \u2014 65,000 lbs<\/li>\n<li>Engine Type \u2014 Four Pratt &amp; Whitney R-1830 (1200 hp)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Kermit&#8217;s Comments<\/h2>\n<p>After WWII, the RAF destroyed most of their lend-lease aircraft, and the newly independent government of India received some salvageable aircraft. This aircraft is one of four surplus Indian Air Force B-24 bombers acquired by collectors in the early 1970s, and I subsequently acquired it. The aircraft was flown to Fantasy of Flight in the early 1990s and will undergo a complete restoration before it flies again.<\/p>\n<p>There was always a rivalry between the B-17 and the B-24 crews during World War II as to which four-engine bomber was better. While the B-24 crews would always say that their aircraft could fly faster and further, the B-17 crews would reply that their aircraft could take more punishment and the B-24 was just the box the B-17 came in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The B-24 Liberator was designed in 1939 as a replacement for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Its roomy fuselage and high aspect ratio Davis wing enabled the B-24 to fly higher, farther, and to carry a greater bomb load than the B-17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":533,"parent":118,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-531","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","1944-consolidated-b-24j-liberator"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531\/revisions\/534"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}