B-24 Liberator
by Staff EditorAlthough not as famous as the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator had tremendous influence in the early years of WWII, and it was manufactured in great numbers. A total of 19,256 B-24 bombers of all variants were produced, which is more than any other US warplane of any era. Liberators are recorded as having dropped over 630,000 tons of bombs, while several thousand enemy aircraft fell to their guns. Some were converted to carry the first US air-to-surface, radar-guided missile, called the Bat. After the war the Liberator continued to serve with the United States forces, notably as an air rescue and weather reconnaissance aircraft with the Coast Guard in the 1950s.
B-24 Specifications
| Manufacturer: | Consolidated |
| First Flight: | 12/1939 |
| Wingspan: | 110 ft. (33.5 m) |
| Height: | 18 ft. (5.5 m) |
| Length: | 67.1 ft. (20.5 m) |
| Payload: | 28,000 lbs. (kg) |
| Top Speed at Altitude: | 290 mph (467 km/h) |
| Ceiling: | 28,000 ft. (8,540 m) |
| Range: | 1,863 nm (3,540 km) |
| Crew: | Ten |
