Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express

Le dérivé du B-24; le Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was a transport derivative of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] heavy bomber built during [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

A total of 287 C-87s were factory-built alongside the B-24 at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] plant in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Converted former C-87s were the basis for a USAAF [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] trainer designated as the AT-22, a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] VIP transport designated as the RY, and a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] VIP transport designated as the Liberator C.IX.

Design and development


The C-87 was hastily designed in early 1942 to fulfill the need for a heavy cargo and personnel transport with longer range and better high-altitude performance than the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the most widely available [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] transport aircraft at the time.

The first C-87 prototype was based on a damaged B-24D, serial #42-40355, that crashed at Tucson Municipal Airport #2 on 17 February 1943.

Six Consolidated Aircraft employees riding as passengers were killed and several others were injured.

The prototype was converted into a transport configuration by various modifications, including deletion of the gun turrets and other armament along with the installation of a strengthened cargo floor, including a floor running through the bomb bay.

The glassed-in bombardier compartment of the B-24 was replaced by a hinged metal cap to allow front cargo loading.

A cargo door was added to the port side of the fuselage, just forward of the tail, and a row of windows was fitted along the sides of the fuselage.

The C-87 could be fitted with removable seats and racks to carry
personnel or litters in place of cargo. In its final configuration, the
C-87 could carry between 20 and 25 passengers or 12,000 lbs of cargo.

Because of war production bottlenecks and shortages, many C-87 aircraft
were fitted with turbosuperchargers producing lower boost pressure and
power than those fitted to B-24s destined for combat use, and ceiling
and climb rate were accordingly adversely affected.

C-87A VIP transport

In 1942 and 1943, several C-87 aircraft were converted into VIP luxury passenger transports by adding insulation, padded seats, dividers, and other accommodations. The modified aircraft was capable of carrying 16 passengers, and given the designation C-87A.

One C-87A in particular, Number 41-24159, was exclusively converted in 1943 to a presidential VIP transport, the Guess Where II, intended to carry President Franklin D. Roosevelt on international trips.

Had it been accepted, it would have been the first aircraft to be used in presidential service, i.e. the first [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

However, the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], after a review of the C-87's controversial safety record in service, flatly refused to approve the Guess Where II for presidential carriage.

^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]} The Guess Where II was then used to transport senior members of the Roosevelt administration. In March 1944, the Guess Where II transported [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on a goodwill tour of several Latin American countries.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

Operational history

Most C-87s were operated by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and flown by civilian crews from U.S. civil airlines.

The planes were initially used on transoceanic routes too long to be flown by the C-47.

After the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1942, the C-87 was used for flying war material from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to besieged [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] forces over "[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]", the treacherous air route that crossed the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

When the route was established, the C-87 was the only readily available American transport with high-altitude performance good enough to fly this route while carrying a large cargo load.

The C-87 was plagued by numerous problems and suffered from a poor reputation amongst its crews. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] said, "They were an evil bastard contraption, nothing like the relatively efficient B-24 except in appearance.

" Complaints centered around the clumsy flight control layout, frequent engine problems, hydraulic leaks, and a disconcerting tendency to lose electrical power in the cockpit during takeoff and landing.

The C-87 did not climb well when heavily loaded, a dangerous characteristic when flying out of the unimproved, rain-soaked airfields of India and China; many were lost in collisions with terrain soon after takeoff. Ernest K. Gann's book
recounts a near-collision with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] after takeoff in a heavily loaded C-87.

The aircraft's auxiliary long-range fuel tanks were linked by improvised and often leaky fuel lines that crisscrossed the crew compartment, choking flight crews with noxious [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fumes and creating an explosion hazard.

The C-87 also had a tendency to enter an uncontrollable [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] or [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in the event of inflight [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], a frequent occurrence over the Himalayas in the days before accurate [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Gann said they "...could not carry enough ice to chill a highball").

The aircraft could also become unstable in flight if its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] shifted due to improper cargo loading.

This longitudinal instability arose from the aircraft's hasty conversion from bomber to cargo transport.

Unlike a normal cargo transport, which was designed from the start with a contiguous cargo compartment with a safety margin for fore-and-aft loading variations, the bomb racks and bomb bays built into the B-24 design were fixed in position, greatly limiting the aircraft's ability to tolerate improper loading.

This problem was exacerbated by wartime exigencies and the failure of USAAF Air Transport Command to instruct loadmasters in the C-87's peculiarities.

The design's roots as a bomber are also considered culpable for frequently collapsing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]; its strength was adequate for an aircraft that dropped its payload in flight before landing on a well-maintained runway, but it proved marginal for an aircraft making repeated hard landings on rugged unimproved airstrips while heavily loaded.

The C-87 was rapidly displaced on the front lines by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],
which offered similar high-altitude performance combined with greater reliability and more benign flight characteristics.

Some surviving C-87 aircraft were converted into VIP transports or flight crew trainers, and several others were sold to the Royal Air Force.

Variants


C-87

USAAF transport variant of the B-24D with seats for 25 passengers, 278 built.

C-87A

VIP version for 16 passengers, three for the USAAF and three to the United States Navy as RY-1.

C-87B

Proposed armed variant, no built.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}

C-87C

Proposed USAAF variant of the RY-3, designation not used.

RY-1

United States Navy designation for three former USAAF C-87As fitted for 16 passengers.

RY-2

Five former USAAF C-87s fitted for 20 passengers, a further 15 were cancelled.

RY-3

A C-87 with the single tail and seven foot fuselage stretch of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. 39 were built, and were used by the RAF Transport Command No. 231 Squadron, U.S. Marine Corps, and one was used by the RCAF.

RY-3

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir cette image]