B-24 Liberator

[GunnerySgtJackson]

I would love to see some photos of her 50s if you've got them. How did they hold up after all those years exposed? Did you get any photos of ammunition?

Sorry Petrock, no pictures of the guns. They were removed several years ago by University. They were rusted, bent. Most wrecks around here after discovery by Mil pers, they removed (for lack of better nomenclature) the breach block then dented the receiver with a mallet then left then gun insitu. Remember it was wartime and the loss of men and material was an every day event and in a very remote area. The recovery team on the crash to my understanding went in by dog team and snowshoes led by the trapper that first discovered it... This next picture may give you some idea as to the violence of this particular crash. Crew seat. What is left of the fabric seat belts is still on the waist attachments and indicate tensile separation.

[GunnerySgtJackson]

I would love to see some photos of her 50s if you've got them. How did they hold up after all those years exposed? Did you get any photos of ammunition?

This is the closest thing to ammo or guns.....the feed guide(i'm guessing at the name but you will recognize it for what it is).....just as shiny today as they were 60 plus years ago

[Mr Wolverine]

I have added a couple more photos.

[44Bore]

B-24's turn up id odd places--in May of 1977 I was waiting in the departure lounge at Edmonton International airport and a B-24 came in and landed. 4 0r 5 guys got out of it with briefcases and went into the terminal building. It was in the evening and I couldn't get a clear look at the markings but it was of couse non-military at that time.

[Mr Wolverine]

This morning I walked into the office and received the following e-mail:

Hi John,

My niece has just informed me of the Canadian gunnutz website and sent me the link to the B24 Liberator thread.

To say I’m gobsmacked is putting it mildly. The pilot in the pictures of the crew and the cockpit is my father, Frederick William (Bill) Thorpe. He has a copy of the pic of himself – and your father – in the cockpit, but I’ve never seen the crew picture before.

I see in the caption to the crew picture, you ask how old those guys were……well, coincidentally, yesterday was my father’s 90th birthday, so if the crew picture was taken in early 1944 he would have been 20, going on 21. He’s still alive and kicking by the way…..and this coming weekend we’re taking him to Rand Airport here in South Africa where we’ve booked him a flip in a Tiger Moth, the plane he learned to fly on back in 1942 or thereabouts.

South Africa you ask?… well after the war, my dad went back to university in Nottingham – where he met my mother – and both qualified as architects. He decided he was tired of the cold and wet – and the politics – in England, and the family emigrated to SA in 1970. He and my mother still live in their house in a place called Halfway House, appropriately halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. My sister and I live in Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively.

Best wishes – and hope to hear from you….

Jeremy Thorpe

I leave for SA on 14 July, the thought of meeting Dad’s pilot leaves me speechless.

[skrypnyk]

Thought it was a new gun on the market.. booooo

[reid134]

That is really cool john

[ianfroese]

Thanks for sharing! Really enjoyed those pictures.

[NavyShooter]

Wow John,

That's a spectacular e-mail. Wow.

NS

[RRCo.]

Great story in every way. "The Caravan...", that's an interesting address. The man who was the Flight Engineer on Churchill's Liberator ended up dying in a caravan. That was his last home.