Shipping Strike in the Flores Sea, 1944

The subject of this painting is a Liberator B24J, “G” George, serial No A 72-38, which took part in convoy strikes on Japanese shipping. Typically, as part of 24 Squadron 82 Wing, RAAF, on 10th November 1944, it was one of six aircraft to attack shipping on a sweep covering Bali, Lombok and Soemba. The skipper was Flt Lt. Alan Hawkford, with Jim Swan, Martin Mc Donald, Fred Neilsen, John Davidson, Gordon Ashcroft, Bob Emmett, “Mac” McGregor, Ted Atkinson and Max France as crew.

Of the one hundred or so attacks made by 24 Sqdn on shipping, only two Liberators were lost.

Australia took delivery of four types of Liberators from February 1944 through to August 1945. The most numerous were the later B24J and B24M models. In all, nearly 19,000 were produced in America, of which 287 served in Australia with the RAAF. The famous Consolidated B24 Liberator heavy bomber fought in many theatres of war and was produced in greater numbers and was a far more effective aeroplane than the Boeing “Flying Fortress” which gained so much wartime publicity. Its most noticeable feature for a large aircraft designed in the late 1930s was its super-efficient high aspect-ratio wing of 33.5m (110ft). This long, narrow wing was able to retain its stiffness despite the high wing loading.

One of the earliest Liberators made aviation history in 1941 by flying non-stop East to West across the North Atlantic. This was a significant event because no aircraft had been able to fly this hazardous route both ways winter and summer. Through the drive and imagination of Australian, Don Bennett, of later ‘Pathfinder’ fame, who flew the first of these flights, a vital link was created in the regular ferrying of American combat aircraft across the “Pond” to Britain during WW2.

As with so many fine WW2 aircraft which served with the RAAF, “G” George, was eventually taken to Tocumwal, the huge airbase in the Riverina from where she had been delivered to 24Sqdn in the first place. There, in 1952, she was ignominiously scrapped. Today, Tocumwal aerodrome is the very antithesis of its former bustling RAAF station. The great, noisy four-engined bombers have been replaced today by sleek, silent sailplanes because Tocumwal has become one of the world’s best soaring centres. The enormous wooden hangars built for the Liberators, to the orders of General McArthur, can still be seen, but the only noise is of glider-tugs hauling elegant sailplanes into the blue sky, sailplanes that sport very efficient high-aspect-ratio wings like their monster forbears.

Above: an impression of Australian Don Bennett's Liberator over the control tower at Gander, Newfoundland, having completed the inaugural flight of a non-stop service across the North Atlantic.