B-24 Liberator - Origins
In 1938 the AAC conducted a study on specific reasons why the performance of someforeign models exceeded those of the Air Corps. Comparison was made between the B-17, the latest German four-engine Junkers 89, and the Russian four-engine TB-6. Military intelligence reported that these foreign models had superior altitude and speed performance. These advantages were achieved by sacrificing crew comfort and eliminating gun protuberances to increase speed.
Foreign models used special engines producing more than normal rated power and high octane fuels, and these also contributedto better performance. However, the B-17 turbo-charger engine boosted its operational altitude to 20,000 feet, 6000 feet better than the German and Russian bombers. This was not enough to convince the Chief of the Air Corps, who believed that the American bombers under development fell short of the performance figures of foreign aircraft. He believed that crew comfort and convenience, although important for increased efficiency, should be sacrificed in order to increase aircraft performance. As a result, the Army Materiel Division became interested in the development of a bomber to serve ascompanion to the B-17 and capable of exceeding the performance of experimental foreign aircraft in the same class.
During the latter part of 1938, the AAC, aware of the growing possibility of a war in Europe, asked Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (CAC), of San Diego, CA, to consider becoming a second source for B-17 production. CAC was one of the leading companies producing long-range flying boats for the US Navy. CAC personnel visited the Boeing plant in Seattle to study the proposal, but they rejected the idea “on the basis that the B-17 design was incomplete and, in any case, would be hard to adapt to CAC buildingmethods.”
The company also recommended that a new and better airplane, both from a tactical and production perspective, be produced. In January 1939 the Air Corps again approached CAC but this time they were asked to produce a four-engine bomber with a speed in excess of 300 miles per hour, a ceiling of 35,000 feet, minimum cruising speed of 220 miles per hour, and an operating range of 3000 miles. In March 1939, CAC presented preliminary designs and engineering data for the XB-24, and by the end of the month the company received a contract for the prototype of the new model to beproduced in nine months. The XB 24 made its first successful flight on 29 December 1939.
After the first prototype contract was issued, the Army immediately negotiated acontract for 7 additional planes to be delivered starting in May 1940 and 3 per month thereafter until completion. The French also became interested in the plane and negotiated a contract with CAC for the procurement of 139 B-24 type airplanes. The contract was signed in June 1940. This was the first real production contract signed in support of the war since all previous contracts were for quantities too small in numbers to be considered production levels. When the Germans occupied France a few weeks later, the British took over the French contract, and the airplane was known as the LB-30. Thus, when the United States entered the war in December 1941, two long-range, high altitude bombers, the B-17 and B-24, were being mass produced.
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