B-24 any being restored long term to flying condition?

[Mike]

Jim,

I'm curious as to the ratio of rides sold in the B-24 against the B-17. When I lived in the Bay Area, it seemed as though the B-17 was making 2-3 flights for every B-24 ride flown. And that was after a couple of other B-17s had already been through the area selling rides in the previous year.

Possibly one other reason why it makes economic sense to restore a B-17 to fly, but not a B-24?

[JimH]

That is about right Mike, 2-3 to 1. Unfortunately, to this very day, the general public has little knowledge of the B-24. The B-17 is in all the movies and all the press.

Jim

[Warbird Kid]

That is about right Mike, 2-3 to 1. Unfortunately, to this very day, the general public has little knowledge of the B-24. The B-17 is in all the movies and all the press.

Jim

I'd be curious to see if the B-24 does any better for the 2015 tour with the movie Unbroken coming out. Maybe a few more flicks with B-24s in them will change the opinion.

[phil65]

Make a movie about the Ploesti Air Raid....

Phil

[Pat Carry]

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.

Thats going to be one fine looking B-24 when they are all finished with it.

[Pat Carry]

Doesn't the Yankee Air Force have substantial pieces of a B-24 now?

[Chris Brame]

Make a movie about the Ploesti Air Raid....

Phil

Or just untangle the rights issues and re-release Winged Victory.

[Ed Likes]

Brad and Jim H thanks for some interesting information on the LB-30. Brad is Ron Buccarelli trying to buy this project from the Whittington Brothers? Now that you have mentioned Ron's name Im quite sure he is the guy I was referring to when I first put this post on WIX. I know it would be a tremendous challenge. However one never knows what might happen. Thanks to everyone that has posted so far.

[p51]

I'm curious as to the ratio of rides sold in the B-24 against the B-17. When I lived in the Bay Area, it seemed as though the B-17 was making 2-3 flights for every B-24 ride flown. And that was after a couple of other B-17s had already been through the area selling rides in the previous year.

I used to always make myself available when the Collings folks came through my hometown (hardly any of the public ever showed up so it was always considered a maintenance stop for them) and after a few years they started taking me to their next stop if there was room, which there usually was. The first year, i was given the choice of either the 24 or the 17. I'd never flown on either type at that time; what a choice to have to make! I told them I'd fly in the 24. Most of the crew smiled at that decision and one of them asked why that one, I said, "No offense to any of you folks, but it only takes one bad landing or FAA inspection and I might not ever get the chance to ride a Liberator again, but I'd probably get another chance at a B-17 if I really wanted one, later." Nobody argued with that logic and I never regretted the decision, especially once I got a ride on their B-17 the following year. The year after that, I got a ride in the B-24 all by myself. I was the only passenger on that flight, something several people simply refuse to believe today. All the paying seats were filled on the B-17 that same day, too.

So yeah, I'd agree that for donors, tours and flights, a B-24 couldn't be the financial draw a B-17 is...

[wendovertom]

Brad is right - the air frame in Colorado is definitely viable. It will take a Terex dump truck full of money and a good crew but it could be rebuilt and flown. When Wendover air museum looked into it about 8-9 years ago the seller at that time was offering to include a good Davis wing along with it as I recall. Sadly it was just more than our then fledgling museum group could afford then (or now).

Tom P.

[Redtracer]

I love the B-24! I know the B-17 gets all the glory but the B-24 gets the job done. As the guy running the back on all of the Bomber Camp missions in both planes, I find the B-24 easier to work with. It's easier to load the bombs in the B-24, and has much more room in back making it easier to move about. Yes you have to raise and lower the ball turret in the B-24 but once you get the hang of it it's a pieace of cake and can be done in a couple minutes.

Taigh likes the front of the B-17 over the B-24 for dropping bombs. It's harder to get to the nose of the B-24 and is much more cramped, especially with more than one person.

One strange thing I've noticed is the way both planes react when the waist guns are fired. In the B-24 with the open waist windows the firing of the 50s is loud but the plane doesn't seem to react at all. In the B-17 with the closed waist window the firing of the 50s seems so much louder and seems to ripple through the whole plane in a way it doesn't in the B-24. When the firing starts in the B-17, even when you know it's coming you are taken by surprise no mater where you are in the plane.

If I had to choose between the B-17 and the B-24, I'd choose the B-17 to get me gals but the B-24 to get me home.

Most of you have seen these videos but for those of you who haven't, here ya go,

http://youtu.be/3ueUJPqWWbY

http://youtu.be/RcPTnsAP9wU

http://youtu.be/Cb5robvS9Xw

[Matt Gunsch]

If I had to choose between the B-17 and the B-24, I'd choose the B-17 to get me gals but the B-24 to get me home.

That's kind of opposite of what 4 different Luftwaffe aces have told me over the years, they preferred going after the 24s as they were much easier to shoot down.

[Firebird]

That is about right Mike, 2-3 to 1. Unfortunately, to this very day, the general public has little knowledge of the B-24. The B-17 is in all the movies and all the press.

Jim, bring the 24 over to the UK then for a tour of the old 8th AF Lib bases - plenty of Lib love over here, and given the new CAA rules that will now allow experience flights I'm sure you'd fill every flight

The 24 would have been my preference for a flight when I met up with you at Moffet back in 2007, but I was happy with what ever was available that met my schedule and the flights in the 17 and 25 more than made me happy

[Dave Homewood]

Have those new CAA rules superseded the EU rules that saw all the DC-3's stop taking rides a few years back because they didn't have oxygen masks, escape chutes and the likes? Or would a B-17 and B-24 run into the same trouble?

Did the USAAF Liberators arrive in Britain later than the first Flying Fortresses? I'm just wondering if a Liberator had made the first 25 trips (like Memphis Belle) would the type now be the glory bomber rather than the B-17?

[Warbird Kid]

Doesn't the Yankee Air Force have substantial pieces of a B-24 now?

Im pretty sure the intention is to restore the pieces to static display and erect them in a 1:1 diorama / vignette of the assembly line.

What of this LB-30? Is the long-term plan to restore her as an LB-30? Don't think she would have much excitement factor out on the circuit if she is just a transport. Hopefully she'll be converted to a B-24A or better yet, a D model.