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I announced the discovery of this B-24 at the Yankee Air Museum, Willow Run Airport 7 Oct 2015. My presentation will be on youtube shortly.
History of the last true Canadian B-24 Liberator in existence
Built by Consolidated, Fort Worth, Construction #: 1603
USAAF B-24J-95-CF, Serial number: 44-44308
Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Liberator model B. Mk. VI
RCAF assigned serial number: KK237
Detailed history thanks to Canadian Michael DesMazes
USAAF aircraft destined for RAF use, re-directed to the RCAF for use to train RAF personnel (aka The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan) according to the Ogdensburg Agreement.
November 22nd, 1944, Taken on Strength (T.O.S.). Delivered to Boundary Bay, British Columbia (B.C.), Canada and placed in Western Air Command (W.A.C) storage.
December 11th, 1944, issued to the # 5 Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.), assigned aircraft code “BI”.
KK237 was one of 59 other B-24J's T.O.S. at No. 5 O.T.U. and was one of six B-24’s in the KK series that were used by No. 5 O.T.U. The Liberator was used at both Boundary Bay and Abbotsford Detachments depending on the maintenance rotation and training requirements. KK237 was used for all aspects of operational training including bombing runs, formation flying, cross country flights, and fighter aircraft affiliation training.
March 21st, 1945, photograph shows KK237 with the code letter ‘BI’ on flight line
Between March 21st and April 24th 1945, KK237 was stripped of its camouflage paint and was assigned new code letter ‘VU’. Liberators were stripped of their O.D. to bare aluminum because of weight and visibility. The lead paint accounted for several hundred pounds which hurt fuel consumption and the polished aluminum improved visibility to locate the aircraft if it crashed in the forests of British Columbia.
October 16th 1945, KK237 was Struck off Charge (S.O.C.) from No. 5 O.T.U. pending disposal. KK237 had been used by the #5 O.T.U. for operational training for approximately ten months and logged 596 hours.
October 31st, 1945, six weeks after the Japanese surrender, No. 5 O.T.U. was officially disbanded, however; KK237 never left the #5 O.T.U. Abbotsford Detachment location.
November 27th 1945, reported stored at Abbotsford B.C.
February 1st, 1946, reported on strength with the No. 7 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Satellite, (R.E.M.S.) and later the No. 7 Reserve Equipment Maintenance Unit, (R.E.M.U.) at the Abbotsford Aerodrome.
October 8th, 1946, KK237 was S.O.C. and was reported for sale by the War Assets Corporation. It was stored at Abbotsford until it was broken up 1946.
Late 1946, at Abbotsford a scrap metal merchant was hired and a large guillotine was brought in. The aircraft was chopped into bite size chunks that could be easily trucked off to the smelters. There was also a huge surplus sale and it seems that most of KK237 was sold to someone with a bold idea. The story goes that a fellow in Chase B.C. who bought it had an idea to open a burger joint or perhaps a chain of establishments called “Bomber Burger”. The fellow in Chase is reported to have had two Liberators.
KK237 was later reported sold to another farm owner in Celista B.C. (about 31 miles NW of Chase). Reportedly the sale included a nose section, tail fins, and turrets.
1971, KK237 Hulk was recovered from a farm in Chase, B.C. and advertised for sale. Sold to an unnamed American museum.
1977, Featured in Air Classics Magazine story? (I'm looking for a copy of it)
1983, KK237 nose section was acquired by the U.S. Air Force for use in a developing Air Force Museum, possibly the Travis AFB Museum, who was looking for a B-24 at that time. 2 Photographs shows it on an USAF shipping pallet. The nose section was officially "accessioned" or added to the USAF Museum inventory in 1983 as confirmed by the inventory tag 1983-237-3 and aircraft number 44-4308 translating to USAAF B-24J-95-CF serial 44-44308, ex RAF KK237 hanging from the artifact. This also makes me believe that the -1 and -2 artifacts may be the tail fins and turrets.
2012, Discovered in storage at Barksdale AFB Museum hidden from the public. Barksdale AFB has another B-24J, serial number 44-48781 “Louisiana Belle II” at the Barksdale Global Power Museum. It appears they were using #44-44308, (KK237) for spare parts for their static display B-24J. I was told that Barksdale also has boxes of parts that go with the nose section. I was granted special access to view the nose section due to my connections with the military.
I believe it is not fair that Barksdales AFB has two B-24s. One should go to the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run for their new home in the old Ford Bomber plant.
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B-24 wreck nose travis museum photo 2 edit.jpg [ 70.57 KiB | Viewed 4491 times ]
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B-24 wreck nose travis museum photo 1 edit.jpg [ 64.74 KiB | Viewed 4491 times ]
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McKay 5 OTU ADG 61 compressed.jpg [ 72.46 KiB | Viewed 4491 times ]
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