Out of the Big Three WW2 bombers (B-17, B-24, Lancaster), was the Flying Fortress the most redundant? (3 Viewers)

[EwenS]

Liberators became a major type for the British in Burma starting in early 1944, swiftly replacing a bunch of dive bomber, level / night bomber and fighter bomber types in six squadrons.

Of the Liberator squadrons in India / SEAC none started life as dive bomber units. Brief histories are:-

159 from Sept 1942 in India - bomber unit (see above)
160 from Feb 1943 in Ceylon - General Recce (see above)

215 from Aug 1944 in India - bomber. Converted from Wellington and then became a transport squadron in April 1945 with Dakotas
99 from Sept 1944 in India - bomber. Converted from the Wellington
These two squadrons had been sent out to India in early 1942 as part of the reinforcement of that theatre.

200 in India from March 1944 in GR role. Renumbered 8 squadron on 15th May 1945. Transferred to India from West Africa with Liberators as part of the response to possibility of an IJN raid in Indian Ocean in early 1944.
354 formed in India on Liberators in May 1943 - GR squadron. Disbanded May 1945
355 formed in India in Aug 1943 as a Liberator bomber squadron
356 formed in India in Jan 1944 as a Liberator bomber squadron
357 formed in India in Feb 1944 with a number of types including Liberators in the Special Duties role
358 formed in India in Nov 1944 as a Liberator bomber squadron but quickly began to fly Special Duties operations.

The four RAF Vengeance dive bomber squadrons in India converted onto Mosquitos between Feb 1944 & Feb 1945, while the two Indian AF squadrons converted to fighters, July to Nov 1944.

It was the RAAF dive bomber squadrons that saw their role and equipment changed and which began operating Liberators in 1944/45. 21, 23, & 24 were withdrawn from operations in April 1944, 12 in July. They were reduced to cadre status and then rebuilt for the heavy bomber role. Finally 25 had never left Western Australia and was reorganised as a heavy bomber unit from Jan 1945.

24 RAAF - reformed May 1944. RAAF's first Liberator squadron.
21 RAAF -reformed Sept 1944
23 RAAF - reformed Nov 1944
25 RAAF - reformed Jan 1945
12 RAAF - refomed Feb 1945 flying first operations in May.

And two entirely new squadrons that never reached operational status.
99 RAAF - formed Feb 1945
102 RAAF - formed May 1945

RAAF personnel began flying in USAAF B-24s in early 1943 with numbers ramping up from early 1944 to allow them to gain experience. The first RAAF Liberators were 8 war worn hand me downs from the USAAF in Feb 1944. The RAAF's new Lend Lease aircraft began to arrive in June 1944.

 

[SaparotRob]

Did the Boeing built B-24 have the Boeing logo on the yoke?

 

[EwenS]

Actually, the British had the Liberator in service before the U.S., but oddly enough, used it as a transport for the most part! This of course, changed as the war gained in intensity.

Further to my previous post, the use of some early Liberators in the transport role is not that odd in the circumstances. While the early LB-30A/B had many shortcomings as potential bombers, they had one great advantage - non-stop trans-Atlantic range at a time when very few aircraft did.

In Nov 1940 aircraft from US manufacturers, delivered to the RAF in Canada, began to be flown across the Atlantic with multiple stop offs across Canada, Greenland and Iceland to land in Scotland. Most were flown by civilian crews including from the US. Hudsons were some of the earliest deliveries by this route. Initially organised by CPR, it became the RAF Atlantic Ferry Organisation (ATFERO) in early 1941 and Ferry Command in July 1941. Those crews required to be returned across the Atlantic to pick up the next batch. Return by ship was a slow process.

The arrival of these early Liberators allowed the creation of a Return Ferry Service to return these aircrews much more quickly thus speeding up the whole process. Many of the Liberators involved were flown by BOAC crews.

Ferry Command's role eventually expanded well beyond the early trans-Atlantic route.

Another aircraft in 1941 with similar trans-Atlantic range was the Boeing 314 Clipper. BOAC acquired three of these from Pan American in Aug 1940 but used them on routes to West Africa. Similarly BOAC stopped using a couple of its modified Empire flying boats on trans-Atlantic routes in 1940. The latter type had been designed to serve the route East from Britain to the further reaches of the Empire and making multiple stops along the way. As such long range was not a priority.