B-24

also called Liberator, long-range heavy bomber used during World War II by the U.S. and British air forces; 19,000 of them were produced, more than any other U.S. aircraft in the war. The B-24 first flew in 1939 and was operational in the Royal Air Force in 1941. The Lib was primarily a high-level bomber with a range of 1,590 miles (2,560 km; 40 percent longer than that of the B-17), a maximum speed of 295 miles per hour (475 km/h), and a ceiling of 28,000 feet (8,540 m). The Liberator's appearance was distinctive; it had a twin tail assembly and a boxlike fuselage slung low beneath its high wing. It had a retractable tricycle landing gear. The craft normally carried a crew of 10 and was armed with 10 .50-calibre machine guns mounted in pairs in the nose, tail, dorsal, and ventral turrets and singly in two waist ports. Its bomb bay accommodated four 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) bombs, and one 4,000-pound (1,814-kilogram) bomb could be mounted under each wing. The wings, which spanned 110 feet (34 m), contained 18 separate self-sealing fuel tanks. Of the 19,000 B-24s built between 1940 and 1945, 10,000 were made by the craft's designer, Consolidated-Vultee, and the others by Ford Motor Company, Douglas Aircraft, and North American Aviation. The B-24 saw service in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, where, because of its range, it virtually replaced the B-17.