Three quarter view
- This side is in shade, unfortunately.
Ball turret hydraulic lift
- On a B-17 the ball turret was fixed, but on B-24s they were retractable, being lowered
after the ship was airborne. Late in the War the 453rd, among other Groups, removed its ball
turrets to save weight (read: carry another bomb!). The yellow gizmos are oxygen bottles.
Notice the little access door, through which the ball gunner entered. Claustrophobia city!
Bombardier's window
- Note the wiper and the Norden bomb sight. The bomb sight communicated electrically
with the autopilot, making corrections automatically. During the bomb run, which lasted several
(tense) minutes the bombardier flew the plane through the bomb sight and the pilots were
supposed to keep their hands off all flight controls.
Cockpit
- taken from bomb bay. I wanted some close-ups of the "dash", nose interior and top turret,
but you're not allowed forward of the bomb bay, disappointingly. At the top of the photo you can see a
lot of electrical plugs. These are connected to the under side of the top turret seat.
Fuselage, seen from the right rear
- Some have called the B-24 a "pregnant guppy". They carried half again as many bombs as
their more photogenic older sister, so that's expected! Anyway, Liberators photographed beautifully from
above, from which you had the best view of that graceful Davis wing.
Nose turret
- Al Blue kindly recommended the
Navy Lib Turret info site which has information on six different turrets, of which the
Consolidated (nose & tail), Emerson (nose & tail), Martin (upper) and Sperry (ball) were used by the 453rd.
Port main gear
- The rubber hoses are hydraulic brake lines. The brown doohickey attached to the engine nacelle
just over the words "Honor Crew" is the turbo-supercharger. It spun the gas/air mix going to the engine
cylinders for better combustion at high altitude.
Port full view
- Notice the "catwalk" - the narrow floor running the length of the bomb bay. If one of the bombs hung
up in the racks someone had to stand on the catwalk with the bomb bay doors open and pry the bomb out
with a screwdriver, or something. This was reportedly not a lot of fun at 22,000 feet in a 220 mph wind when
the wind chill was 50 below.
Besides the danger of falling, there was sometimes the possibility that the bomb might explode. After takeoff
the Bombardier removed cotter pins from each bomb to arm it, but there were still safety cables running from
the rack to another pin that blocked rotation of a metal "pinwheel" in the fuse. When the bomb dropped from
the plane this pin was pulled by the immovable cable, the pinwheel was rotated by the wind, and the fuse was
activated. If the bomb fell just enough for the cable to yank the pin, but didn't fall free of the rack the gale in
the bomb bay could spin the pinwheel, activating the fuse and the bomb could then explode. As if flak and
fighters weren't enough...
Prop hub
- Engines consisted of two banks of seven radial cylinders with 1830 cu. in. displacement. Remember
Ford 302 and Chevy 305 V-8 car engines? Each engine on a B-24 had the displacement of six of those car engines,
and there were four of them. The two "crescents" in the cowling were air intake ports. The oval decals on each
propeller blade say "Hamilton Standard", the name of the manufacturer.
Schlitz gal
- These photos are historical documents, in a sense, because this paint job no
longer exists.
Starboard fuselage
- In emergencies waist gunners bailed out through the hatch though which you see people entering the
plane.
Starboard main gear well
- In front of it is a sealed-beam retractable landing light. There is an identical one on the port side.
Just forward of the engine nacelle you can see that the cowl flaps are open. The engines were air-cooled
and when cylinder head temperatures went a little high the cowl flaps were opened to give the engines more air.
Starboard tail fin
- This marking is for a Group in the 15th AF. Note the wind deflector just forward of the waist window.
The waist gunners could adjust its angle from within the plane.
Starboard waist gun
- Note the waist window opened up and secured to the "ceiling". It's an interesting fact
that while Consolidated continued to use these open windows with a wind deflector well into the J
variant series, Ford used
closed plexiglass windows, which did a lot to keep down the incidence
of frostbite.
Port tail fin
- With old and new style 453rd Group markings combined.
Tail gun
- If you look closely you can see the trim tab in the elevator just over the NX224J FAA number.
Tail turret
- taken from the waist. The little green egg on the left wall is a walk-around oxygen bottle. The
nickel plated chutes to the left at hip level were ammo chutes that fed the tail guns. The
50 cal. machine gun cartridges were linked together in long belts by little steel clips.
Top turret motor
- Under which is the Radio Operator's desk and chair.
View from Waist Gun Window
- while in flight. What a sight! Photo taken by, and courtesy of Rick Webb,
who had this to say: "This is a picture I took during my flight on a B-24.
It was taken from the waist of the only B-24 in the world that is
still in flying condition".
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