Consolidated B-24 Liberator variant
Consolidated B-24 Liberator PB4Y-2 Privateer
Fully navalised patrol bomber derived from the B-24: lengthened fuselage, single tall fin, two dorsal turrets and non-turbosupercharged engines. 739 built, in service into the Korean War.
Consolidated B-24 Liberator sheet
- 739
- Units built
History
The US Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1, and that experience — along with RAF Coastal Command's maritime patrol Liberators — showed the type was highly effective in the role. A fully navalised design was the logical next step, and in 1943 Consolidated developed a purpose-built long-range patrol bomber: the PB4Y-2 Privateer.
The Privateer was visually distinguishable from the B-24 and PB4Y-1 by its longer fuselage, a single tall vertical stabiliser instead of the Liberator's characteristic twin tail, two dorsal turrets and teardrop-shaped waist gun blisters similar to those of Consolidated's own PBY Catalina. Its engines dispensed with turbo-superchargers, saving weight and optimising performance at the low to medium altitudes of maritime patrol.
The Privateer's single fin was inspired by that of the XB-24N, the redesigned B-24J that never reached production. A total of 739 Privateers were built, and the type also spawned the RY-3 transport, designated C-87C by the Army and Liberator C Mk.IX by the RAF. When the B-24 was rapidly phased out of US service after the Second World War, the Privateer carried on with the Navy and saw combat in the Korean War.