Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express

The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was produced in response to a USAAF request for long range transport aircraft. The C-46 and C-47 were excellent medium range transport aircraft, but lacked the range for some of the longer routes. Consolidated responded by modifying a damaged B-24D to perform the transport role. To do this they removed all of the armament and bombing systems, fairing over the gun turret positions and fitting a floor in the bomb bay. The glass nose was replaced by a hinged metal cap to allow easy loading of heavy loads, while a cargo door was added to the port fuselage, just forward of the tail. Finally a row of windows was fitted along the sides of the fuselage. The C-87 could carry between 20 and 25 passengers or 12,000lbs of cargo.

C-87 Liberator Express

Six of these aircraft were converted to the C-87A standard, to act as VIP transport aircraft. These aircraft were given better quality seating for sixteen passengers, and could carry up to six .50 calibre machine guns in single mountings, to protect the valuable passengers.

As is so often the case, different sources give different production figures for the C-87 and its variants, but the most reliable figures suggest that Forth Worth produced 278 C-87s, six C-87As, five AT-22 trainers and eight RY-1/2 Navy transports while five aircraft were given the single tail of the PB4Y-2 and the Naval designation RY-3. The RAF received 25 C-87s, giving them the designation Liberator VII.

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.

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