Source for B-24A Photo

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Mike Wenger

Airman
41
121
Feb 4, 2023
Does anyone have a source for this photograph of a B-24A (location unknown), circa 1941? I have chased this Great White Whale, off and on, for decades. First saw it in a book in grade school back in the 1960s. As many times as I have conducted research trips at NARA II in DC, I either forgot to poke through the finding aids there, or have gotten so involved in other projects that I couldn't afford time to go chasing the whale in record group 342-FH.

Anyway, if you have any information, or an original print that you might scan at hi-def, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Best,
Mike Wenger
Raleigh, NC
 

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  • B-24A.jpg
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Caption:"Airmen and ground crew look on as a convoy of twin-engined bomber planes takes off from a portable landing field in North Carolina, November 20th 1941. The landing field, called a 'Marston Strip', is composed of separate sheets of metal mesh and is suitable for use by heavy bombers. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)"
 
Thanks a lot for this. Could you point me to the URL, etc.? I tried searched in Getty, but couldn't find anything.
 
fubar57 said:
About a third of the way down..... Getty Images
Click to expand...
Thanks so much! Speaking of "yikes".... for $300 I could drive up to Washington from NC and try to find it there. On the other hand, of course, NARA II might not have the print, and I would have been better off with the Getty instant gratification. Decisions, decisions.
 
Given the short nose, camouflage and US markings it can only be one of 10 aircraft.

YB-24A serial 40-702 delivered May 1941 which spent its life at the USAAF Ferrying Command Training School; or
B-24A serial numbers 40-2369 to 40-2377 delivered 16 June to 10 July 1941, which again went to Ferrying Command (with 3 later going to Consairways for runs to the South Pacific from April 1942)

AIUI the large US flag markings on nose and upper fuselage date the photo to pre-Pearl Harbor for aircraft flying overseas, so probably the photo is of one of the B-24As. These aircraft carried RAF style camouflage as built.

"Two B-24As (40-2373 and 40-2374) were used to transport the Harriman Mission to Moscow in September of 1941 via the United Kingdom. The last leg of the flight to Moscow involved a nonstop distance of 3150 miles, and from Moscow one of the USAAC B-24As continued on around the globe via the Middle East, India, Singapore, Darwin, Port Moresby, Wake Island, Hawaii, and back to Washington. The other B-24A returned to the USA via Cairo, Africa, the South Atlantic, and Brazil."

Some individual aircraft history here (the last 40-2377 seems to be missing)

The rest of the YB-24 and B-24A built were delivered to the RAF in 1941, in lieu of later long nosed LB-30 from the French order.
 
Last edited:
Just to add, that second link has video footage of the B-24A landing, taxiing, and of that same flyby of the A-20s over the B-24A! Click on "VIDEO EXCERPT FROM (YOUR ARMY IN THE MAKING - CAROLINA MANEUVERS NOVEMBER 3-30 1941"
Also amusingly earlier in the video if you take the narration at face value an A-20 lands, transforms into a B-18A, turns around, then transforms back into an A-20 before taking off again.
Doesn't help with identification, but still very cool to see.
 
I don't think it is less cropped, but a different image, as the 3 F4F's? are missing that are trailing the A-20's int the picture in the 1st post. Or were they Censored out?
 
cammerjeff said:
I don't think it is less cropped, but a different image, as the 3 F4F's? are missing that are trailing the A-20's int the picture in the 1st post. Or were they Censored out?
Click to expand...
It's the same film frame. The posture of the guy closest to the camera is exactly the same even though he's clearly in motion, walking away. All of the other people are in the exact same posture in both images, and the A-20s are identical in both. I'll bet that both the cropping of the RH side and the airbrushing-out of the F4Fs were done for Service reasons, i.e. to remove the Navy aircraft and leave only the Army ones. That would be consistent with an image being prepared for use in an Army publication, for example.

 
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