Interior Of A B-24 Liberator Bomber
Oct 19, 2018 17:19:29 #
Thanks for the photos, they are great! My stepfather flew waist gunner, mostly, with the 44th Bomb Group "The Flying Eightballs." I like the photo of the bomb bay catwalk. He had to walk out on it at altitude...here's his diary entry:
OCTOBER 6, 1944 HAMBURG
I flew with Capt. Clements' crew. Today we went to Hamburg, saw some flak but it wasn't so close. We flew Deputy Lead with four 500lb bombs and six smoke bombs. They float down by parachute and the rest of the ships drop their bombs on them. Just over the target we smelled something burning. I asked Little Joe if he smelled it, when the navigator yelled, "Get a fire extinguisher and put the fire out!" All this conversation was over the interphone.
I went out into the bomb bay to see if it was there. All I saw was a parachute wrapped around the controls, with a string out under the fuselage. I suppose the bomb was on the other end. Anyway, Jimmy (Bolger), the engineer, tried to close the bomb doors but the one side was caught by the cord from the chute to the bomb. I got a knife and went out again and cut the bomb loose. This unwound the chute bringing it inside. We intend to cut it up and make scarves for flying.
-0-
We had the scarf but my teenaged sister appropriated it and lost it sometime around 1948.
OCTOBER 6, 1944 HAMBURG
I flew with Capt. Clements' crew. Today we went to Hamburg, saw some flak but it wasn't so close. We flew Deputy Lead with four 500lb bombs and six smoke bombs. They float down by parachute and the rest of the ships drop their bombs on them. Just over the target we smelled something burning. I asked Little Joe if he smelled it, when the navigator yelled, "Get a fire extinguisher and put the fire out!" All this conversation was over the interphone.
I went out into the bomb bay to see if it was there. All I saw was a parachute wrapped around the controls, with a string out under the fuselage. I suppose the bomb was on the other end. Anyway, Jimmy (Bolger), the engineer, tried to close the bomb doors but the one side was caught by the cord from the chute to the bomb. I got a knife and went out again and cut the bomb loose. This unwound the chute bringing it inside. We intend to cut it up and make scarves for flying.
-0-
We had the scarf but my teenaged sister appropriated it and lost it sometime around 1948.
Oct 19, 2018 17:30:55 #
ken patton wrote:
James "Jimmy" Stewert was 6'3 when he flew B24's in WWII. Went on to make B. General. And a lot of great movies as well. After working on B52's myself while in the Air Force, it always seemed that the tallest aircrew members were assigned for either bombers or cargo/refueler types of aircraft. Fighter aircraft cockpits were too small for larger pilots. I could stand on the lower deck and look into the upper deck of a B52 without using the ladder. I'm also 6'3".
Thank you very much for this, Ken; yes, I'm a fan of Jimmy Stewart. He played a pilot in the 1955 movie Strategic Air Command.
Oct 19, 2018 17:31:40 #
trackmag wrote:
My late father-in-law was a 20-year=old 6-foot-5 guy that was the pilot in command on one of these for 35 missions . . . and shot down twice. Tough men.
They were heroes, all of them.
Oct 19, 2018 17:32:18 #
nimbushopper wrote:
Nice coverage Rob!
Thank you very much, my friend; I appreciate it.
Oct 19, 2018 17:32:23 #
Rob48 wrote:
Thank you very much, James, and you are quite welcome. yes, it's positively claustrophobic inside. I can only imagine what it was like during a bombing run at 30,000 feet.
Yes it was claustrophobic. My stepfather was just over 6 foot and usually flew waist. He couldn't fit in the tail or the ball but when it was an older model with a hatch he could fly that position. He told me they had on fatigues with the electric suit over that. Then there was the flak suit which was too much bulk for most of them. What many did in the Eighth AF was sit on the flak suit, or in the case of waist gunners they stood on it. That gave them two layers of protection and they had figured, from experience, that most flak came through the belly of the ship.
I noticed you tagged the top turret but to the men who flew the bombers it was called the dorsal turret.
Again, great photos!
An aside: He flew 29 missions which left him one short for a 6th Air Medal! I flew two Firefly night missions in Vietnam as an observer/journalist. They stopped me flying as I was getting too close to an Air Medal. I would have loved to come home to show him my own Air Medal, but it was not to be!
Oct 19, 2018 17:35:40 #
Jolly Roger wrote:
What a really cool set of images Rob, giving us a tour of the B-24.
Did you use a little HDR? I'm not a fan of it usually, as most people seem to overdo it. These however seem very good to me.
Did you use a little HDR? I'm not a fan of it usually, as most people seem to overdo it. These however seem very good to me.
Thank you very much, Roger; no, not HDR, but I tweaked it a bit. I use a program called Perfect Effects from On1 Software.
https://www.on1.com/
Oct 19, 2018 17:37:54 #
bw79st wrote:
Thanks for the photos, they are great! My stepfath... (show quote)
Thank you very much for this, bw; those men were all heroes.
Oct 19, 2018 17:41:05 #
bw79st wrote:
Yes it was claustrophobic. My stepfather was just ... (show quote)
Thank you again, bw, thanks for the correction. I couldn't find anything that referenced that position, so I just called it what I thought might e a logical term.
Oct 19, 2018 17:42:53 #
JayRay wrote:
Excellent photographs!
Do you have any photographs of the navigator's compartment? My dad was a navigator from 1944-1945 based in Grottaglie, Italy with the 449th Bomb Group.
Do you have any photographs of the navigator's compartment? My dad was a navigator from 1944-1945 based in Grottaglie, Italy with the 449th Bomb Group.
Thank you very much, JayRay; was the navigators compartment just behind the cockpit?
Oct 19, 2018 17:43:34 #
water falls wrote:
Great series!
Thank you very much, waterfalls; I appreciate it.
Oct 19, 2018 17:46:00 #
CLF wrote:
Rob, an awesome set of photos that are also unique.
Greg
Greg
Thank you very much, Greg, especially for the four thumbs up. Yes, I was fortunate to be able to photograph it all. I endeavored to photograph it sequentially from aft to forward.
Oct 19, 2018 17:46:54 #
Nancysc wrote:
Gorgeous, textured, almost painterly.
Thank you very much, Nancy; I appreciate the kind comments.
Oct 19, 2018 17:47:34 #
Mojaveflyer wrote:
Great photo tour... Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much, James, and you are quite welcome.
Oct 19, 2018 17:48:14 #
photophly wrote:
Excellent interior shots.
Thank you very much, photophly; I appreciate it.
Oct 19, 2018 17:49:22 #
Sylvias wrote:
Excellent and very interesting set Rob. 
Thank you very much, Sylvia, especially for the thumbs up.
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