Consolidated B-24 Liberator PB4Y-1

The PB4Y-1 was the designation the US Navy applied to navalised B-24s: 976 aircraft derived from the B-24D, J, L and M models built at Consolidated's San Diego plant, plus one North American-built B-24G. Later examples were fitted with an ERCO nose turret, different from those used on Army bombers.

The Navy operated these aircraft with only minor modifications on long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine work, a role in which — together with RAF Coastal Command's patrol Liberators — they proved decisive: they were the aircraft that closed the mid-Atlantic gap, the stretch of ocean beyond the reach of land-based aviation where German submarines had operated with impunity.

Specialised variants came from the same airframe: the PB4Y-1P photographic reconnaissance version and the BQ-8 conversions, radio-controlled flying bombs built from worn-out B-24Ds and B-24Js. On one such mission, Operation Anvil, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., elder brother of the future president John F. Kennedy, was killed when his aircraft exploded in flight. The PB4Y-1's success led the Navy to request a fully navalised design, the PB4Y-2 Privateer.