ot, loading a b-24

ericlb · Apr 18, 2016

i saw a picture of the b-24 at the air force museum, i know this is a high wing and low to the ground plane compared to the b-17, or b-29, but unless the nose gear on this one has partially retracted over time, it doesnt look like a bowling ball would roll under the plane,so how were the bombs loaded in the plane ??

gtractorfan · Apr 18, 2016

That's a good question. Not the same kind of plane but I remember seeing the Enola Gay B 29 was backed over a pit to load the "big bomb".

ericlb · Apr 18, 2016

yes, whats neat is one of those pits is still there on the island and has been made into a memorial, also google earth will let you see it, with up close pics ,and also runway "able" where the enola gay as well as bockscar took off since this base was abandoned after the war the paving whats left of it, is the actual paving used

Cold Beer · Apr 18, 2016

It had 4 bomb bay doors, think garage door, they rolled up on the outside of the fuselage. Bombs were loaded from the side.

gtractorfan · Apr 18, 2016

Google is your friend, I googled this, didn't find any pictures directly showing bombs being loaded, but this one shows a little more space beneath than you suggested.

ericlb · Apr 18, 2016

this one does appear to be at least 6 inches higher in the nose, i guess the one on display is "sinking' the main gear cant but the nose gear must be slowly retracting

ericlb · Apr 18, 2016

looks like one of the doors cold beer mentioned is open on this one just behind the main gear wheel

crawlerjohn · Apr 18, 2016

I found this. Carts are really low.
Untitled URL Link

crawlerjohn · Apr 18, 2016

Diagram of bomb load.
Untitled URL Link

jacksun65 · Apr 18, 2016

The landing gear is like a large nitrogen charged shock, over time the nitrogen bleeds away and you have to recharge it.

GVSII · Apr 18, 2016

(quoted from post at 05:50:14 04/18/16) The landing gear is like a large nitrogen charged shock, over time the nitrogen bleeds away and you have to recharge it.

Thats pretty much it.

D beatty · Apr 18, 2016

The B24 carried a lot larger pay load than the B17 but the B17 could take more hits than the B24 and still come home. The B24 was nicknamed the flying boxcar .

Goose · Apr 18, 2016

Not about the bomb load, but I heard the B-24's were notoriously clumsy on the ground. Someone said if you could taxi one, you could fly it.

Bill(Wis) · Apr 18, 2016

You're mistaken. The Fairchild C-119 was called the "Flying Boxcar". It was a cargo airplane. The B24 was called the "Liberator". It was a bomber.

D beatty · Apr 18, 2016

They (B-24) were called the "Flying Boxcar" and the "Flying Coffin" by their crews during WWII. My dad spent a little over 4 years in England as ground crew with 8th Army Air corp.

old-9 · Apr 18, 2016

A lot of history in that airplane. My father flew 22 missions in one of those as the tail gunner. His plane got back on all but one mission , due to damage had to land at another field, repairs later flew back to Foggia Italy. 459th Bomb Group 15th Army Air Corp.

Dachshund · Apr 18, 2016

CORRECT! The "Flying Coffin" was the B24....SOME crews MIGHT have called it the Boxcar, but the C-119 was the "official" Boxcar....

D beatty · Apr 18, 2016

All the years that my dads buddies got together and I listened to them talk about the bombers and those were the two names they always brought up. If you look up the history of the B24 they list them as the nickname for the B-24. They also talked about how much more damage that a B-17 could take and still make it back from a mission.

Fordfarmer · Apr 18, 2016

My wife's grandfather was part of a B24 bomber crew in the 389th Bomb Group. His plane, the Screamin Mimi, was later transferred to the 492nd and renamed the Worry Bird.

Deere54 · Apr 18, 2016

Interesting anecdote about the B24: at the beginning of the war we gave some to the Brits for Lend Lease. In one unit, they reported consistently that the bomb bay doors would not open at altitude. Once the plane landed and an American crew took it up, it worked flawlessly. Then the Americans landed it and the Brits took it up again, and they still couldn't get the bomb doors to open. Then the Americam crew chief thought he'd go up with the Brit crew to see if it was somethbing they were doing. What he saw was that once the plane reached cruising altitude, the Brit crew members, having drank a lot of tea and coffee before takeoff, now had to off-load said cargo. They, one by one, went aft and relieved themselves in the bomb bay. At altitude, it was so cold that the "used coffee" instantly froze and the resulting ice jammed the doors. They were of the "roll-top" desk variety so a little ice could jam the mechanism. The cure for that particular bomb door problem, was for the crews to bring a bucket into the airplane like the Americans did.

JMS/.MN · Apr 18, 2016

Yes- on the nomenclature- it was the "flying boxcar". Had one jump out of one...straight out the rear. When sitting, waiting for the jump, then hooking up- you"d swear your head is going to get clipped by the stabilizer. Didn"t happen tho.

JerryS · Apr 18, 2016

I believe this is the "roll-top desk" bomb loading door on the B-24. And, since Deere54 brought up the subject of off-loading used tea or coffee, also shown is a nozzle protruding from the B-24 that drained said liquid from the plane. This was explained to me by an old veteran friend of mine who flew 30 missions as a top turret gunner in the in the B-17 and the B-24. He said the guys would often try to "hold it" until they got over Germany.

GarryinNC · Apr 18, 2016

Jerry, I think that is a picture of the trailing radio antenna, not the relief tube. Most relief tubes are a 'venturi'. The antenna had a weight on the end of the wire to make it stream properly. Enjoyed this thread.

The man that got me started flying was a B-24 Flight Engineer in the 20th Photo Mapping Group, in the Pacific.
Garry

2x4 · Apr 19, 2016

Dad was a belly gunner on B-24, 5th AAF in the Pacific. He strafed a Nip float plane once & the tailgunner confirmed smoke rising from the island they'd just flown over.

ot, loading a b-24

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