B-24 Liberator

Consolidated B-24 Liberator B 24J, B-24L

Amongst the outstanding collection of historic aircraft at Rockcliffe airport on the eastern outskirts of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, is an ex-Indian Air Force Liberator (HE 733), itself the former United States Army Air Force aircraft B-24L (44-50154). Tracing its flight from Poona to Rockcliffe is a record of this sturdy aircraft’s reliability but also bears testimony to the skill and ingenuity of the I.A.F. maintenance men who kept the aircraft in flying category two decades after it had been consigned to the bomber’s graveyard. Patched up, re-built and pressed into service, HE 733 was one of the forty-five odd B-24s reconstructed from forlorn hulks and which provided, first, the I.A.F’s heavy bomber element and performed, latterly, the maritime patrol function along the Indian coast.

In August 1947, the R.A.F. relinquished much of its hardware used in war against the Japanese, and included in this assortment was the huge Care & Maintenance Unit Depot at Cawnpore (Kanpur). Here, amongst the various trapping of the late air war, mouldered the remains of nearly a hundred B-24s. Some were mere shells, other had been cut into two; wings and tail assemblies were scattered about in lonely repose while a few were spared intact.

The Royal Indian Air Force, keen to establish a bomber force, had been offered Lancasters being disposed by the R.A.F. but it was decided to obtain fighter aircraft instead for the same money and, instead, reclaim some Liberators from within the country. Hindustan Aircraft Limited was given the job and parts began to arrive at this facility from Kanpur and then from other parts of Asia as the story of the project spread across the land. At the time more than one U.S. and British adviser was sceptical but with the energy born of pride and necessity, take shape they did and by November 1948, the first six reconditioned B-24s stood ready for action. No. 5 Squadron was formed on the 17th of that month, and gradually made up its 16 aircraft UE as HAL turned out the Liberators and substituted their powerplants.

Most of the aircraft had been put together with whatever component was nearest at hand. Some originally had been painted the old U.S. Army olive drab while others had been left unpainted in keeping with U.S. policy of the latter war years. “When the first test crew took off in that modified job, it looked like such a patchwork thing that we could’nt believe it would stay in the air”. Stay in the air it did and was soon joined by increasing numbers of B-24s. Later, in early 1950, No. 6 Squadron was reformed, at Poona to receive B-24s and No. 16 Squadron established to provide back-up training on the type.

During the Second World War R.A.F. Liberator VIs, their long range combined with a reasonable weapons bay, had roved over the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean seeking enemy submarines and hostile surface, craft. Indian Air Force Liberators, fitted with an early model ASV15 radar in a retractable radome and bomb bays containing sunobuoys and depth charges, carried out maritime reconnaissance for nearly two decades after.

In 1957, Nos. 5 and 16 Squadrons were re-equipped with Canberra jet bombers, leaving No. 6 Squadron to continue with the Liberator. In the weeks preceding “Operation Vijay”, marking the end of Portuguese colonies in India, Liberators of No. 6 Squadron from Poona and Jamnagar where intensively engaged in MR and Surveillance and during the brief action, dropped flares at night to assist in identification of coastal traffic at the approaches of Diu & Daman. The B-24s assisted mopping-up operations by the Army near Marmagao and on the 18th December 1961, dropped call-to-surrender leaflets all over Goa.

The Indian Air Force has long sung in praise of the gallant old warrior, two decades of pilots, engineers, navigators and signallers have trained and patrolled in these aircraft which, during service, had contributed 200-300 flying hours every month. It was a Liberator (HE 712) that flew over the Everest massif on a photographic mission on 6th June 1953 and Liberators have assisted vessels in distress in the Arabian Sea. The last operational flight by a Liberator, a mission of mercy, was flown on 31st December 1968 or almost after exactly twenty years of first line service with the I.A.F.

Notes :

Design work on the aircraft, which was to evolve into the B-24, began early in 1939, the object being to produce a bomber with better performance than the Boeing B-17. The B-24 was destined to serve with great distinction during World War II in many different roles. The production pool, consisting of Consolidated’s San Diego plant, Ford’s Willow Run plant, North American’s Dallas facility, the Douglas-operated Tulsa plant and Convair’s Fort Worth plant, turned out 18,181 B-24 Liberators from June 1942 till June 1945, the largest number of one bomber ever built. First action was when B-24’s struck at the oil installations at Ploesti in June 1942 and by 1943 there were enough Liberators to support the war against Japan, from the Bay of Bengal to Hawaii. The B-24J and B-24L (Liberators VI, VIII) were received by the R.A.F. under the lend-lease agreement and operated by heavy bomber squadrons of the Air Command, South East Asia from Eastern India during the years 1943-45. The R.A.F. Coastal Command also operated Liberator Is carrying an early type of ASV radar. The B-24J Liberator had a crew of 8-10 and was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1830-65 engines, each developing 1200 h.p. at 25,000 feet.

(Image from internet)