Consolidated B-24 Liberator B-24M

The B-24M was an improved B-24L with further weight savings. It used a lighter version of the A-6B tail turret, left the waist gunner positions open and reinstated the retractable Sperry ventral ball turret that the B-24L had deleted. From Block 20 onwards, Ford-built aircraft had a windshield with less framing for better visibility from the flight deck.

It was the Liberator's last production model. Of the 2,593 built, many arrived as the war in Europe was ending and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress had already left the bombers of 1942 technologically behind; a good number of B-24Ms flew only from the factory to the scrapyard.

The B-24 was rapidly phased out of US service after the war. Only the PB4Y-2 Privateer maritime patrol derivative stayed on the front line, with the US Navy, into the Korean War.