Hey Gary, check this pic out...

[Second Air Force]

The production jigs were stout, that's for certain! The photos of the production line at Fort Worth were probably taken in August of 1942 judging from the newness of everything, and the airplane components were most likely shipped to Texas from the home plant in San Diego. There are more Fort Worth photos here:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?a ... +industry+))+@FIELD(COLLID+fsac)) for anyone interested.

Scott

[Django]

You'll like these pics!






















This one is pretty funny since the national insignia is obviously sprayed, not brushed on.

[retroaviation]

Hey! What are those women doing out of the kitchen?!?

Okay, okay, only kidding. Just couldn't resist.

Gary

[Elroy13]

.......and then there was silence.....and the thread died! just kidding

[retroaviation]

By the way, that last picture isn't a B-24....not unless it's a rounded off one with a single vertical fin.

Gary

[Django]

Aw c'mon, there is nothing hotter than a woman that can fabricate better than I can!

Yeah, the last 2 aren't B-24, and neither is the one with the woman in the wing. Two of them are A-20 and the National Insignia pic is Vultee, but they were too cool not to share.

[Shay]

So here's a question for Gary or anyone.

In the picture above you can see that the nose and cockpit are mated to fuselage as one assembly. Does this possibly mean that 927's cockpit and nose are from different "serialed" Liberator?

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Second Air Force]

Shay,
When Gary and his helpers were in the early stages of the makeover they found this in the nose section of Ol'927:

I think the picture was posted on page 25 or 26 of the "Lil" thread.
There were 34? (some references say 37) RY-3 airframes completed, so the 38 fits right in to the Consolidated assembly line numbering system, and 927 became the recipient of a nose for an airplane that was never built. Used up spare parts and modernized the company airplane at the same time!

Scott

[retroaviation]

An interesting footnote to that picture Scott just posted is that on that same nose section that's painted RY3-38, it's stamped RY3-37. It seems that the workers didn't have their numbering system quite worked out. We also have "Ship #19" written on the inside of the nacelles of Ol' 927, but it is actually (LB30) Ship #18, or the 25th B-24 built. Confused yet?

Gary

[phil65]

I was inspecting a F-119 fan case yesterday and the fan case number went from 91 to 97 then back to 95 so its still common to swap parts around.
Good thing we write those numbers in magic marker until the engine is complete.

Phil

[Django]

Wow, it took forever to find this thread!

Here's a neat shot. Some assembly required.

[rwdfresno]

Yeah, the C-87's (at least some of them) apparently had their own tail gunner's position for self defense. It's a different position from any of the other B-24 mounts, including the "A" model. Thanks for posting your picture. It's always neat to see those factory shots.

Here's a look at the finished product. Looks like a lot more room than ours has......




Gary

My father and I pulled about 20 of those twin .30 cal mounts out of a junk yard. We ended up selling most of them but we still have one and also a PV-1 Ventura twin .30 mount we got from the same place.

Ryan

[Second Air Force]

Here is the correct single fifty caliber gun mount for a production C-87

The shot Gary posted is of a Liberator II that was built to RAF specifications but taken by the USAAF. The tail gun set-up was evidently designed by AAF folks. This old girl ended up at Walnut Ridge and was salvaged after the war.

Scott

[Robbie Roberts]

Wow, it took forever to find this thread!

Here's a neat shot. Some assembly required.

I TOLD YOU not to park your Liberator in CAMDEN(NJ)!

Robbie