if you like warbirds
 

Enjoy!

Consolidated B-24 Liberator ... a look inside


Click a red ball, get a pano camera view from that position.

Cool - I got to do a walk-through of the Collings Foundation B-24. I know the pilots may not have felt the same way during the war but I like it better than the B-17 (from an observers stand point - never flown one...).

My dad flew both. He said the 24 would wear you out, needed constant attention where the 17 would let you back off a bit.

A local guy owns one (the Naval edition with single tail plane) and flew it in last week to a local fly in/ car show....the Wickenburg newspaper has a nice pic and spread.

(In nearby SE Michigan)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Run
Ford produced half of the 18,000 total B-24s at Willow Run, and the B-24 holds the distinction of being the most produced heavy bomber in history."

They were rolling off the line at one per hour at peak.
Tucker(of the Tucker Auto) produced bubble canopies out his garage I think.

Yankee Air Museum | Where History Takes Flight located there has a B-17(yakee lady) and a B-25(yankee warrior) and many other non-flyables. But no B-24 Liberator.

I got to look around a B-17 a few years back.....it was tucked beneath the tail of a 747.

While wandering around in the guts of it, I got to thinking about flying in it while about a million guys tried to kill you. The thing was tiny....those that flew in it in WWII were better men than me.

Meet my uncle Bill Lentz (my mom's older brother). B-17 pilot, shot down and killed over Germany in 1944 on his 33rd sortie out of the base in northern England. His entire crew survived after bailing out. He was 6' 6" and weighed 170lbs. He steered the crippled aircraft away from homes allowing his crew to parachute to safety. At his size, getting out of a B-17 cockpit with a parachute was about impossible.

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