At the start of 1939, the United States Army Air Corps wanted more of its favourite aircraft, the B17 Flying Fortress. Consolidated took one look at the B17 and decided they could do better. They responded with a proposal for a new aircraft which could fly faster, further, higher, and carry more bombs. The United States Army Air Corps could hardly refuse, and the prototype took flight in December 1939. Named for the role it was intended to play in the war to come, the aircraft would play a key role in America’s bombing effort around the world and become the most produced American military aircraft of all time. The B24 Liberator.

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B24 plan drawings courtesy of: Kaboldy, CC BYSA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

FOTO:FORTEPAN / ErkyNagy Tibor