Aircraft

The early development and operational history of the B-24 is well documented elsewhere, so instead lets look at Salvo Sally herself and what she was like to fly and operate.

Sally was a B-24H-15-FO, built by the Ford Motor Company at Willow Run, Dearborn, Michigan in late 1943. She was one of 1780 "H" models built by Ford and was allocated the serial number 42-52697.

Click on image

Sally was issued to the Creasman crew at Harvard, Nebraska in February 1944 and was promptly given her name in honour of the pilot's baby daughter and the Navigators 6-year-old niece. The crew flew her in training, took her across the Atlantic to the MTO, and flew her operationally until the end of their combat tour. Her 6' high nose art was taken from the February 1944 issue of Esquire magazine and was painted on by a pilot from another squadron at a cost of $20 divided between the crew. Sally soldiered on with other crews until she was lost on 28th August 1944 on a mission to the Budapest Marshalling yards whilst being flown by the Abbot crew. Heavily damaged over the target, she was limping home on two engines and was unable to maintain sufficient altitude to clear the mountain ranges on the route. The crew were forced to bail out and Sally crashed into a mountainside.

Click on image

Nose Turret

The most obvious difference over earlier models was the presence of an Emerson nose turret mounting two .50 M2 Browning machine guns. Earlier models had a large clear perspex nose which afforded the bombardier unobstructed vision on the bombrun, but left the front of the aircraft susceptible to frontal fighter attacks. The new turret gave greater protection, but at the expense of working space for both the Bombardier and Navigator. In addition, the seal around the turret wore easily letting in a freezing blast of air on either side. Ammunition belts for this and the other 3 turrets comprised 2 ball rounds, 1 armoured piercing round and 1 tracer round consecutivly.

Nose Compartment

The nose compartment housed the Bombardier and Navigator. Their working space and visibility was severely restricted by the presence of the nose turret. As a result Sally's navigator usually positioned himself on the flight deck immediately behind the two pilots whilst in flight and worked from the Radio Operators desk, (but this was a personal preference). For lead crews, the arrangement was wholly different (see the Lead Navigators story). Getting into and out of the nose for the Bombardier, Navigator and Nose Gunner was usually achieved by crouching down under the fuselage and crawling through the Nose wheel door opening, not an easy task in bulky flight clothing. The nose wheel itself was one of the B-24's weak areas, being particularly prone to collapse when overstressed from hard landings, strong crosswinds and rough runways.

Flight Deck

Click on image

Moving back to the flight deck, the controls and instruments were fairly well laid out and space adequate by the standards of the day (unless you happened to be Co-pilot Ed Ripple, who's size necessitated the removal of his seat armrests just to allow him to get in and out of his position). The controls were heavy and the aircraft was notoriously difficult to trim and keep in formation necessitating constant throttle changes. The fuel lines for the heating system passed through the cockpit bringing with them an ever -present smell of aviation fuel. The fuel gauges were 40" long boiler type units and required level flight in order to be read correctly (a problem since the B-24 flew in a slightly "nose up" attitude). The two pilots were the only members of the crew whose positions were equipped with a safety belt, the others being expected to hang on as best they could. Access to and from this part of the aircraft was via the open bomb bay doors.

Radio Operators Position/ Top Turret

Immediately behind the flight deck was the Radio operators desk, not always occupied as he was also required to serve as a waist gunner. Next to this was the top turret, occupied by the Flight engineer. Traditionally, the Flight Engineer was also the senior enlisted man in the crew.

Bomb Bay

Moving backwards, you now entered the bomb-bay (which was nearly twice the volume of a B-17's). Uniquely, the B-24 was equipped with roller shutter doors which ran up either side of the fuselage. Whilst very compact, they were also prone to problems (see the Lead Navigators story). Another common problem encountered by B-24 crews was frozen bomb shackles. The ones mounted lower down near the bomb-bay doors would freeze and the bombs not release, however the ones mounted above would release and jam up on the frozen units. Linking the front and rear of the aircraft was a narrow metal catwalk, barely wide enough to walk across when the aircraft was stationary on the ground and positively dangerous when airborne.

Rear Fuselage

The rear section of the fuselage housed two waist gun positions, the Ball turret and a tail turret. The waist guns were both single mounted .50 Browning M2's with open windows, the Ball turret was a Sperry model housing two .50 M2's.

Tail Turret

The rear turret was a Consolidated model mounting a further 2 .50 M2's. Access to the rear of the aircraft was either via the bomb bay or a small inward-opening hatch located under the fuselage.

In the B-24's favour, it could fly faster, further and with a heavier bombload than it's main counterpart, the B-17. It was also manufactured in far greater numbers. But for the B-24 crews, there were other factors to be taken into consideration. Flying lower than the B-17, the B-24's were more susceptible to flak. The B-24 was more frequently involved in flying accidents than the B-17, and these accidents were invariably more serious. And for crews regularly flying across the Adriatic, there was also the problem of the B-24's poor ditching capabilities. 62% of B-24's broke up upon contact with the sea and only 27% of crewmen survived the ditching. The ditching and parachute exits from the aircraft are reproduced below.

Click on image

Click on image

Finally, some statistics and dimensions;