Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express
1942 airlifter family
The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was a transport derivative of the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber built during World War II for the United States Army Air Forces. A total of 287 C-87s were delivered by Consolidated Aircraft from its plant in Fort Worth, Texas.
The plant also developed and delivered a USAAF flight engineer trainer designated the AT-22. Other versions included the AAF C-87A, an executive transport version; and the RY, a United States Navy VIP transport.
The Navy also ordered the RY-3, a Navy-contracted, single-tail version with an extended fuselage built in San Diego; the AAF also ordered the design under the designation C-87C. Those were cancelled and allotted to a Royal Air Force VIP transport designated the Liberator C.IX.
The C-109 Liberator was a fuel-transport converted from existing B-24s.
Design and development
The C-87 was hastily designed in early 1942 to fill the need for a heavy cargo and personnel transport with longer range and better high-altitude performance than the Douglas C-47 Skytrain, the most widely available United States Army Air Forces transport aircraft at the time. Production began in 1942.
The first C-87 prototype was 41-11608. The design included various modifications, including the elimination of gun turrets and other armament along with the installation of a strengthened cargo floor, including a floor running through the bomb bay. The glazed nose of the bombardier compartment of the B-24 was replaced by a hinged metal cap to allow loading the nose compartment, which in the bomber version can only be reached through a crawlspace under the cockpit floor.
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This entry incorporates text from “Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.