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The B-24E was the designation given to B-24Ds built by Ford at their Willow Run plant. Production of the B-24E began in the summer of 1942, nearly a year and a half after the contract to built Willow Run had been signed.
The B-24E was very similar to those late production B-24Ds that carried the tunnel gun, lacking any form of belly turret. The only other visible difference was the use of a slightly different design of propeller. At total of either 791 or 801 B-24Es were built (sources differ), with some being completed at the sub-assembly plants at Tulsa and Forth Worth.
The B-24E may have been supplied to the RAF as the Liberator IV in small numbers. The USAAF used the B-24E as a training aircraft, making the lack of the belly turret of limited significance.
Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Crowood Aviation), Martin W. Bowman. A well balanced book that begins with a look at the development history of the B-24, before spending nine out of its ten chapters looking at the combat career of the aircraft in the USAAF, the US Navy and the RAF.
