B-24 Liberator

Reminds me of the Pilot's Notes for the Liberator I had once. The owner was Flt. Lt. R. R. Williams. He was Flight Engineer on a Liberator painted black that used to fly a Very Important Person to places like Yalta and Alexandria.
 
RRCo. said:
Reminds me of the Pilot's Notes for the Liberator I had once. The owner was Flt. Lt. R. R. Williams. He was Flight Engineer on a Liberator painted black that used to fly a Very Important Person to places like Yalta and Alexandria.
Click to expand...

Was that "Very Important Person Churchill"?

Ive got the book about the plane and crew.
 
RT said:
Was that "Very Important Person Churchill"?

Ive got the book about the plane and crew.
Click to expand...

"The Man Who Flew Churchill"? It's a good book. Yes, that's the plane. Fl. Lt. Williams photo is in the book.

The old boy had some guts flying around the coast of occupied France in a single, unarmed plane with no escort, not even a decoy plane.
 
Last edited:
Great pictures John! We are supposed to have either 1 or 2 B24's at our airshow next summer here in Hamilton along with 2 or 3 B17 and 1 B29 as well as our Lancaster. If you can make it it's on Fathersday week-end put on by Canadian Warplane Heritage
 
Taylor-Made said:
Great Photos John, Is that a female member of the aircrew beside your dad?
Click to expand...

They had no female aircrew in the RAF during WWII. There were some female pilots that delivered new planes from the factories to Squadrons, with no ammo in the guns! Much to the disgust of at least one pretty young Spitfire pilot who wanted to “dance” with the Luftwaffe. The photo certainly looks like a young lady has crept in, sadly I can no longer ask Dad, I will have to find a larger copy of that photo that has the crew names on the back, it is hiding somewhere, it may shed some light on who that is.

I found my list of crew names, that is no female crew member, he was their Mid Upper Gunner, came from London but his name is unkown to me. These were a bunch of boys, Dad was only 19 when the photo was taken.
 
Last edited:
Mr Wolverine said:
John-3-Web.jpg

Foggia, Italy

John-2-Web-1.jpg

Going back to base, somewhere over the Mediterranean, early morning.

John-1-Web.jpg

The crew

IMG_4849.jpg

Memories

IMG_4852.jpg



Cockpit-Merged.jpg


I had Andrea take two old photos and merge them to show the cockpit lay out so don’t look to close. The pilot is on the left, note that he is still wearing Sergeants’ stripes so this must have been taken early in his career. Dad as Flight Engineer flew in what we always call the Co-pilots seat, he also acted as Co-pilot, he loved those 4 engines, I think he understood them as much, if not more than the ground crew who serviced them. He had lots of stories about his engines.

Once, against all standing orders, they took their B-24 up to a high altitude (I forget the height) and then cut all four engines to see how they could handle her. Dad said she had all the glide characteristics of a brick. They had to start the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) first in order to fire up the first engine following by the remainder. I think they lost a lot of height before they regained full control, they never tried that again! I bet the beer tasted good in the mess that night.

More to follow as time allows.
Click to expand...

As well as change their shorts:D

Great pics, especially the inside. These guys took out several U-Boats off the east coast.
 
Mr Wolverine said:
I think he understood them as much, if not more than the ground crew who serviced them. He had lots of stories about his engines.
Click to expand...

This much remains true even today. All of our current FE's are ex-technicians and they know their aircraft inside and out.

Makes my job easy when they come in after a flight and the FE can tell me exactly what's wrong with the aircraft.

Thanks for sharing
 
Shep546 said:
This much remains true even today. All of our current FE's are ex-technicians and they know their aircraft inside and out.

Makes my job easy when they come in after a flight and the FE can tell me exactly what's wrong with the aircraft.

Thanks for sharing
Click to expand...

That reminds of another tale; On landing, at the most in opportune moment one of the engines raced away. I can’t remember if Dad said it was in the variable propeller pitch or in the throttle control, anyway it was almost a disaster. He wrote up the appropriate report. The mechanics found nothing wrong. On a later flight, it may have been the next, I can’t remember exactly, the same thing happened. Dad wrote up another report, again the mechanics could find nothing wrong. After the third time Dad wrote up the same report, the s### hit the fan. Dad was called in to report to the Boss. Either the Flight Leader or Squadron Commander. Dad was horrified when he entered the office to see his Boss in full flying kit, words to the effect of “Let’s go and see if you have a faulty engine or have you lost your nerve and need an excuse to stop flying”. No Post Traumatic Stress in Dad’s day it was called LMF. (Lack of Moral Fiber) he certainly wasn’t looking for that label. They took off, the Boss at the controls Dad said he was a good Pilot, that is until the landing, when Dad’s “Pet” engine went rogue again, much to Dad’s relief. The Boss taxied to a halt, looked at Dad “Good Job Flight Sergeant, that dam engine could get someone killed” and wiped the sweat of his forehead, “Any idea what caused her to do that?” Dad offered his opinion, he had figured out that there had to be a foreign object in a valve that under certain conditions caused this problem. The Boss had the engineers check out Dad’s theory and he was correct. Dad’s reputation as a top Flight Engineer went up a notch or two after that, I think this was one reason why this crew was selected for Path Finder training, only the best crews were selected. There are more tales, Dad thought nothing of them, as he once told me when his eyes were sparkling with the memories, “I wouldn’t want to do it all again, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!”
 
Mr Wolverine said:
That reminds of another tale; On landing, at the most in opportune moment one of the engines raced away. I can’t remember if Dad said it was in the variable propeller pitch or in the throttle control, anyway it was almost a disaster. He wrote up the appropriate report. The mechanics found nothing wrong. On a later flight, it may have been the next, I can’t remember exactly, the same thing happened. Dad wrote up another report, again the mechanics could find nothing wrong. After the third time Dad wrote up the same report, the s### hit the fan. Dad was called in to report to the Boss. Either the Flight Leader or Squadron Commander. Dad was horrified when he entered the office to see his Boss in full flying kit, words to the effect of “Let’s go and see if you have a faulty engine or have you lost your nerve and need an excuse to stop flying”. No Post Traumatic Stress in Dad’s day it was called LMF. (Lack of Moral Fiber) he certainly wasn’t looking for that label. They took off, the Boss at the controls Dad said he was a good Pilot, that is until the landing, when Dad’s “Pet” engine went rogue again, much to Dad’s relief. The Boss taxied to a halt, looked at Dad “Good Job Flight Sergeant, that dam engine could get someone killed” and wiped the sweat of his forehead, “Any idea what caused her to do that?” Dad offered his opinion, he had figured out that there had to be a foreign object in a valve that under certain conditions caused this problem. The Boss had the engineers check out Dad’s theory and he was correct. Dad’s reputation as a top Flight Engineer went up a notch or two after that, I think this was one reason why this crew was selected for Path Finder training, only the best crews were selected. There are more tales, Dad thought nothing of them, but as he once told me when his eyes were sparkling with the memories, “I wouldn’t want to do it all again, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!”
Click to expand...

Good story! Can't keep a good man down, for sure.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Again, thanks for sharing! :)

Did your dad ever do any missions over Germany? If so, he might have had some lead thrown his way from my dad (who, at the age of twelve was "volunteered" to man a flak battery and work at a luftwaffe airfield). :)

Remembrance Day 2011. Lest us not forget........
 
very good history documentation here to back it all up John, thats awesome. lets not forget to pass it on. lots of war memories in our family from ww2 to the cold war.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom