Goodyear Litchfield Park Privateers

[Steve Nelson]

Where would the prints / drawings for the Privateer conversions have ended up? Would they still be maintained in a Navy archive?

I don't think any Privateers were converted from B-24s (other than maybe one or two prototypes) They were new-build aircraft, specifically designed to meet Navy requirements. Aside from the tail, turret and engine differences, the fuselage was stretched by seven feet ahead of the wing. Partly to compensate for the loss of weight when the turbosuperchargers were deleted, and to add space for a dedicated flight engineer station and all the electronic equipment required for maritime patrol/ASW operations.

SN

[jdvoss]

As a point of interest the first three PB4Y-2's were delivered to the USN with the standard twin tail of the Liberator (Bu Nos 32095, 096 and 086). The aircraft were eventually returned to Consolidated for the installation the revised single tail. Photos of these early -2's are rare but Allan G. Blues book "The B-24 Liberator" illustrates one of these on page 75. Interestingly the -2's were originally named the "Sea Liberator" but obviously the name didn't stick.

[seabee1526]

Conversions would be the mount for the addition of the Erco 250 ball turret? Electronics?

[ChrisAldridge]

I'm aware of B-24 conversations with the ERCO bow turret, but the modifications are not the same as applied to the Privateer. The San Diego Air & Space Museum has a select few Naval archival resources of the modification. The National Archives do have archival resources of the Privateer and the B-24 (PB4Y-1), with the possibility of Navy modification archival records.