Warbird Information Exchange

The most numerous Bomber built by far by the U.S.A. yet only 2 that are in flying condition. Yes there is Kermit Week's B-24 which could be made airworthy, but that seems to be it. Does anybody know of a B-24 Airframe that either some individual or Organization owns that might be a candidate to be put back into the air? It seems like I read somewhere some time ago of someone that was slowly collecting parts to take a stab at putting a B-24 together, but that is all I can remember. I know really vague on my part. I for one am looking forward to the movie Unbroken am reading the book right now.

None being restored to airworthy status, sadly. There is a group Down Under working to build up a B-24 that I believe they hope to taxi..it's made up of parts of several different airframes (and variants) but they've done a fantastic job.

Unfortunately there just aren't that many viable Liberator airframes around. There are some wrecks and pieces here and there, but there doesn't seem to be much interest compared to the B-17. There are several Fortress restorations going on that started with next to nothing, but nobody seems to be interested putting the effort and money into doing the same with a Liberator.

SN

And THAT ladies and gentleman... is the problem unfortunately. We have B-17 airframes being built from almost nothing. Wouldn't it be grand if some group decided to build a 24 like this? If it's already being done with the B-17, it can be done for the B-24. Its just a matter of interest and money. Sadly the 24 (Like the B-26) has never been as popular as the B-17 or B-25. Even though more were used in all theaters.

Like the gentleman down in Tennessee? who is building up enough parts and components for 5 to 7 B-17s? (Anyone have that info?) I hope a crazed B-24 fanatic will follow suit and do the same.

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Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

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The B-17 airframe formers are round in shape, and can be made with low-cost machinery and little effort. The wing is simply made of plate metal and extrusions.

The Liberator airframe design is primarily of aluminum stampings. This is the main reason why existing B-24 restorations are difficult to impossible. To make a static B-24 fly may require complete center wing section disassembly, to replace the rivets and to inspect the wing bulkheads and spars. To complicate matters worse, the wing bulkheads were I believe progressive stampings near the wing root.

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Volunteer
Yankee Air Museum

Thanks for the info, Chris. I knew the B-24 was a later generation and more technologically advanced than the 17, but I didn't realize how much more complex the structure was.

SN

Why won't the "Down Under" restoration be able to fly...?

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

I assume money and paperwork, but also as I mentioned above it's a composite of several airframes of different variants. They would probably have to replace a lot of the original structure they're using in order to make it airworthy..which would be prohibitively expensive and complex for a fairly small volunteer organization.


SN

Werribee (just west of Melbourne, VIC, Australia) Liberator webpage.
http://b24australia.org.au/home.html

Photos from my visit
https://www.flickr.com/photos/errolgc/s ... 598631326/

It is a great location to visit, very busy with volunteers working all over the hangar (itself historical) as you get a guided tour.

Another restoration challenge for any B-24 project is drawings. I consider B-24 drawings to be a project by itself. The B-24 is known as a forever changing design during production. Some sources claim 30,000 drawings were made by Consolidated. Ford then used the early Consolidated drawings from A-D models as a reference, to create their own set of 60,000 drawings. Anther interesting fact to note, Ford created a 3,000 page drawing list with informative annotates. Unfortunately, I do not have all the B-24 sets of Ford and Consolidated drawings from NASM.

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Volunteer
Yankee Air Museum

Kinda makes you wonder why no one cobbled a B-24 wreck to a surplus PB4Y-2 fire bomber to make a flyer.

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Keep your PDI centered!

Not many B-24s survived the 1960s. Now, if forward and aft sections of a B-24 were laying around since then, it might have been possible. A few forward bulkhead sections of a PB4Y-2 are "interchangeable" to a B-24.

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Volunteer
Yankee Air Museum

The Whittington's own the substantial remains of an LB-30 that is stored at Ft Collins downtown airport. This airframe is about the only viable project in civilian hands. All it takes is money. I recall Tom Rielly tried to export a wrecked B-24 airframe from Canada several years ago as well...never saw any photos of it or how much was actually there.

Jim

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www.spiritof44.com

I had a long talk with Ron Buccarelli at Reno. He told me he was actively gathering parts for that LB-30 project. I've seen him advertise for parts in trade a plane this last year.

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Brad

I would consider the LB-30 airframe mentioned not capable to be airworthy.

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Volunteer
Yankee Air Museum

Oh, it's capable.

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Brad