The Navy's acquisition of the B-24D as a long range patrol bomber/sub hunter (PB4Y-1) and as a long range photo recon platform (PB4Y-1P) marked a major shift in patrol doctrine and the eventual end to the flying boat patrol plane. The Navy Liberators became a one ship strike force as they roamed thousands of miles on sector searches and destroyed more than 1,000 ships and hundreds of aircraft. The original under-gunned early B-24Ds were up-gunned with bow turrets from Consolidated, ERCO, MPC, and Emerson and with Sperry ball turrets in their bellies when search radar was not fitted. The B-24Ds were replaced with B-24Js, B-24Ls, and B-24Ms all designated PB4Y-1/1Ps. The PB4Y-1P photo planes were used to map and survey Japanese strongholds before invasions and discover new airfields and fleet movements. No mission was too far or too dangerous. It was in a remote control PB4Y-1 flying bomb that Joe Kennedy was killed over England. After the war, photo squadrons continued to operate the photo version into the early 1050s. The book covers all engineering details and structures and covers all the PB4Y-1 squadron's history and most combat operations.

An illustrated exploration of the dramatic aerial combats between the US Navy's long-range bomber and Japanese flying boats in the Pacific War. Edward Young explores these rarely written about combats, examining the aggressive and strategic tactics deployed by both US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and analyzing the technical improvements installed throughout the war. The PB4Y-1/2 Liberator/Privateer was the US Navy's first four-engined, land-based bomber, adapted and allocated to fight the U-boat menace in the Atlantic and protect the vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean. The long range, speed, armament and bomb load of the PB4Y-1 enabled the US Navy's Pacific squadrons to adopt more aggressive tactics. The PB4Y-1, and its follow-on PB4Y-2, engaged in dangerous bombing missions against Japanese installations, shipping strikes, and air combat. On the other side, with its doctrine of making the first strike against an enemy fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy recognized the vital importance of maritime reconnaissance, relying on carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, ship-borne floatplanes and, for long-range maritime patrol, flying boats. The Japanese would continue to develop their aircraft throughout the war, resulting, among others, in the H6K 'Mavis' and the H8K2 'Emily', which despite never achieving a victory, was regarded by the Allied pilots as the most difficult Japanese aircraft to destroy. Enriched with specially commissioned artwork, including armament and cockpit views, battlescenes and technical diagrams, this title analyses technical specifications in detail. By including first-hand accounts, aviation expert Edward Young provides a detailed account of these one-sided yet dramatic and aggressive combats.

Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation's (Convair) attempt to make a few design changes to its famous B-24 Liberator for the U.S. Navy in 1942 eventually evolved into the PB4Y-2 Privateer, a 70,000-pound patrol bomber equipped with state-of-the-art electronics gear, armed with twelve .50-caliber machine guns, and the capability to deliver bombs, depth charges, and guided missiles. Beginning with the development and production of the aircraft, this book presents an in-depth examination of the patrol bomber's entire operational history from 1942 to the present. Containing over 260 photographs and line art, the book covers the PB4Y-2's service with the U.S. Navy, French Aéronavale, Republic of China Air Force, various countries of Latin America, and finally as a slurry bomber for aerial fire fighting companies.

Alan Careys new book, his fifth on USN and USMC bomber units of the Second World War, is the story of U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing Seven (FAW-7) and the men who flew the Navy version of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber out of Dunkeswell and Upottery, England during World War II. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator squadrons were unlike their counterparts in the U.S. Armys 8th Air Force, who battled their way through thick flak and swarms of German fighters while flying to and from targets in continental Europe. The job of U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Liberator aircrews was to keep German U-boats from successfully operating in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel by going out day after day, often in miserable weather conditions, on unrelenting search and destroy missions. During the war, FAW-7 Liberators were responsible for the sinking of five U-boats and damaging many more.

Never-before-told story of the 868th Bomb Squadron, the Nightstalkers, who paired cutting-edge technology with daring—launching single-aircraft night-time missions stalking the Japanese in the Pacific. In August 1943, a highly classified US Army Air Force unit, code-named the “Wright Project,” departed Langley Field for Guadalcanal in the South Pacific to join the fight against the Empire of Japan. Operating independently, under sealed orders drafted at the highest levels of Army Air Force, the Wright Project was unique, both in terms of the war-fighting capabilities provided by classified systems the ten B-24 Liberators of this small group of airmen brought to the war, and in the success these “crash-built” technologies allowed. The Wright airmen would fly only at night, usually as lone hunters of enemy ships. In so doing they would pave the way for the United States to enter and dominate a new dimension of war in the air for generations to come. This is their story, from humble beginnings at MIT’s Radiation Lab and hunting U-boats off America’s eastern shore, through to the campaigns of the war in the Pacific in their two-year march toward Tokyo. The Wright Project would prove itself to be a combat leader many times over and an outstanding technology innovator, evolving to become the 868th Bomb Squadron. Along the way the unit would be embraced by unique personalities and the dynamic leadership, from Army Air Force General Hap Arnold through combat commanders who flew the missions. In this account, the reader will meet radar warfare pioneers and squadron leaders who were never satisfied that they had pushed the men, the aircraft, and the technologies to the full limit of their possibilities. Comprehensive and highly personal, this story can now be revealed for the very first time, based on official sources, and interviews with the young men who flew into the night.

Ever present in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to VJ-Day, the B-24 Liberator proved to be the staple heavy bomber of the campaign. From its ignominious beginnings in the Allied rout in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, the bomber weathered the Japanese storm with a handful of bomb groups, which played a crucial role in checking the enemy's progress firstly in New Guinea, and then actively participating in the 'island hopping' campaign through the south-west Pacific.

Above an Angry Sea chronicles USN B-24 Liberator (PB4Y-1) and PB4Y-2 Privateer operations in the Pacific. The author's previous book, We Flew Alone, discussed the Navy's use of the B-24 Liberator from February 1943 to September 1944. He now examines in dramatic detail the use of the B-24 and PB4Y-2 during the last eleven months of the war against Japan. The author has collected personal stories, over 200 photographs, a tabulation of all aerial kills credited to PB4Y patrol plane commanders, a roster of all personnel killed in action or in the line of duty, individual squadron records, and a list of all known B-24 Liberators and PB4Y-2 Privateers assigned to the Pacific between 1943 and 1945.