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The Legendary B-24 "Liberator": Jokingly known by many as the "Packing box the B-17 came in", the first Liberators (the British name for the aircraft) to see service were 6 LB-30A's (the LB suffix standing for Land Bomber) but due to its lack of frontline suitability (no self-sealing fuel tanks) they were diverted to Ferry Command which later formed into Transport Command in 1943. The first "fully operational" Liberators, were 20 LB-30B's which were built for the USAAC but were diverted to the UK and first saw action with the RAF as the "Mk I" serial numbers AM910 - AM929. Number 120 Sqn Coastal Command began operations with the Mk.I's in Sept of 1941, from RAF Nutts Corner. 120 would go on to become Coastal's most successful squadron in the U-boat war, resultant from the combination of their extended time spent on suitable aircraft in high enemy contact areas with U-boats and their highly successful levels of training with a keen eye for accurate bomb drops. In the early days flying the Mk.I's the bombardier was required to drop the DC's by eye, with no aid of a bombsight (Peter Clare). The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is probably one of the best known American bombers of all time despite the fact that its role during WWII is vastly overshadowed by the "much prettier" B-17 Flying Fortress (according to some). The Liberator was the most produced American aircraft during the war and at its peak of production a new B-24 bomber was being made every 51 minutes. A total of 19,256 Liberator aircraft and variants were manufactured between 1940 and 1945. The B-24J Liberator circa 1944 was the most produced model with 6,678 built. The first B-24D (MkIII RAF) rolled of the production line on 22 January 1942 (which is the aircraft that 59 Squadron received in late 1942) and in total there were 2,696 B-24D's made. This was also the first model Liberator to have exhaust driven turbo-superchargers. The B-24H was the first production Liberator to roll of the line with a nose turret already installed (previously they were fitted out once in the UK). The Liberator was a rugged aircraft that regularly brought crews home despite extensive damage, so it was often assigned the toughest and longest missions. It is the only aircraft to have served in every theatre of the war, it was faster than the B-17, had a longer range and could carry a higher payload. On the downside, the Lib was said by some to be harder to manoeuvre and control (due to the wing type) and was thus unsuitable for formation flying and the Mk.I's turbo-charged Pratt & Whitney engines left a flame trail, making it unsuitable for night missions (Endurance, 1996). Further more, any damage to the specialised Davis Wing was a serious problem for Liberator aircraft and crews, and some sources will argue that the B-17 Flying Fortress could hands down take far more damage than the Liberator and continue operating. Indeed there seems to be a lot more pictures of severely damaged B-17's that have made it home (especially of those missing the nose section of the aircraft), than pictures of B-24's with similar damage.
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59 Sqn B-24 Liberator RAF GR.Mk IIIA-VIII: on 17th August 1942, 59 Sqn ceased operations to convert from the Hudson to the Liberator RAF GR.Mk III (with at least one IIIA, LV342 - V/59 which was in fact the squadrons first Lib) and they began training to join the U-boat war. Apart from a few months in early 1943 in which they were operational with the B-17 Flying Fortress (RAF I-II-IIA), they would fly the Liberator for the rest of the war. The first of the two images below (of a crew training on the Liberator), show the squadron code still with the prefix 'TR'. It would seem that once they became operational, the Squadron code became "1" (later becoming 'WE' and 'BY') accompanied by a single aircraft identification code letter. W/C Bartlett flew the first flight on the 21st of Aug. when he and his crew flew LV342 V/59 (ex A/120) from Ballykelly to North Coates. According to an account of the flight by W/C Bartlett in Endurance (Alwyn Jay), this was the first time that a four engine aircraft had been deliberately landed there. LV342 was flown to Thorney Island by S/L Dunkerley and crew on the 29th of August, from Waltham. By the 2nd of Sept the whole Squadron had relocated to RAF Thorney Island were they began training. According to AIR27-561 - It appears that at this time - 59 Sqn had on its strength two Liberator aircraft, however the second is unknown at this stage. On moving to Thorney Island, they still had 3 or 4 of the Hudson aircraft. On the above mentioned flight of LV342 from Waltham to Thorney Island, the squadron code is noted as "A" in the navigators log book (F/L Longmuir), perhaps this was a hang up from it's service with 120 Sqn as "A/120" and the code letter was yet to be changed on the fuselage. Liberator LV342 was part of a batch of 10 B-24D RAF MkIII's delivered to the UK that had been equipped with Mk.V ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) radar and then re-coded B-24D Mk.IIIA in June 1942. Prior to this, No. 120 Sqn had successfully tested the Mk.V radar for use in Coastal Command operations. The typical early model Mk.III aircraft was equipped with only Mk.II ASV (E Allen notes in his memoirs that initially the 59 Sqn Mk.III's had no radar) and the ORB for this period notes with all sorties flown "No. S.E Fitted"... but with the implementation of Metox (an ASV radar detection device) by the U-boat fleet in Sept of 1942, even those with Mk.II A.S.V soon saw it become virtually obsolete and in need of replacement... The answer existed in the Mk.III radar but Bomber Command had of course assumed priority over the already existing radar sets, initially releasing only 30 for use in the U-boat war. Often you will find that some sources will note the radar type used as Mk.III ASV and others as Mk.V ASV. They were in fact basically one in the same, only Mk.V was an American built version of the British Mk.III and was developed to speed up the delivery of suitable radar technology to Coastal Command aircraft. In order to speed up the delivery of the aircraft to Coastal Command squadrons the Mk.IIIA's kept their USAAF armaments but by late 1942, they had been modified to fit standard GR.Mk.III armament (for operations in the Atlantic or Bay of Biscay etc). The typical early model Mk.III aircraft was equipped with only Mk.II ASV but with the implementation of Metox (an ASV radar detection device) by the U-boat fleet in Sept of 1942, Mk.II ASV soon became virtually obsolete and in need of replacement... The answer existed hence the urgent need by Coastal for the new centemetric Mk.III or Mk.V radar... Training: The Month of Sept. '42 was spent training with no operations carried out. Throughout the month, the pilots attended courses at No. 1509 BAT Flight (Beam Approach Training - also known as Blind Approach).
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Liberator Mk.III Operations Begin: On the 24th of Oct 1942 (after nearly two months training) four crews were detached to RAF St. Eval to begin operations (whilst the rest of the Squadron continued to train). This sortie was undertaken by P/O H.A.L Moran & crew in Lib. MK.III - FL933 - S/59. From St. Eval the detachment flew anti-submarine sweeps and convoy escorts over the Bay of Biscay and as more crews reached operational standard, they too began to operate out of St. Eval. This continued until the 11th of Dec 1942 when the last Liberator mission of the year was flown by F/O A.R. Neilson & crew.
Top Secret Testing: For the first 3 weeks of Dec. 1942 and into the conversion period to the Fortress (see below), 59 Squadron crews were assigned by HQ. Coastal Command, the task of testing a new bombsight. F/L Allen recalls that these tests were "very hush-hush"... Wikipedia states the following...
On the 13th, the squadron began conversion to the B17 Flying Fortress... In March 1943, they would revert back to the Liberator but with an upgraded variant, the Mk.V VLR (Very Long Range).
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Liberator Operations Interupted: In the book "Boeing B-17 Fortress - in RAF Coastal Command", Robert Stitt states the following...
This predicament stretched the resources of 120 Sqn very thin, so 59's Lib's were reallocated to 120, to bolster their ranks... So from Dec. 13th 1942 till end of March 1943, 59 Sqn operated the B-17 Fortress. According to Robert, the original plan had been to re-equip 59 with new Halifaxes but enough Fortresses had become available to equip three squadrons. 59 were the third to operate the Fortress... 59 Sqn's C/O, W/C Bartlett A.F.C was not happy at all with the situation, having trained up on the Liberator Mk.III's only to have them realloacted very soon after and being forced back into training again on a new aircraft, this would have been very frustrating. He was visited by Air Chief Marshal Ludlow-Hewitt, who later wrote to Air Marshal Slessor stating...
59 were that squadron and once the task of re-configuring the Liberator Mk.III's to full VLR status was completed, they were back to operations on the Mk.V... READ MORE ABOUT THE FORTRESS OP'S
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Conversion to the Liberator Mk.V - VLR: In late Feb. 1943, whilst 59 were still flying the Fortress IIA's, their Lib Mk.III's were converted to Mk.V's and full VLR status, with the addition of Mk.III ASV radar (59 being the last of the frontline U-boat hunting squadrons to be fully equipped as such) and the removal/addition of armament as per required. On the 27th of March 1943, the Squadron relocated form RAF Chivenor to RAF Thorney Island and by early April 1943, 59 Squadron had reverted back to their newer look Liberators, now GR.Mk V's. The month of April was spent training on the new Mark.V and on May 7th, they went operational from St. Eval, on detachment. A Disastrous Start on the Mk.V: On May the 7th, the first operational sortie was undertaken in the new Mk.V Liberators. Four crews were sent out on a convoy escort. According to F/L Allen, they were told that they were to escort the Queen Mary and he vaguely remembers them being told that Churchill was onboard. The weather on this day was terrible with strong gale force conditions. Of the four aircraft sent out, all were recalled before the convoy could be met. S/L Cave & crew failed to return - F/O Wright & crew "walked out" over Blackburn, F/O Charlton & crew were diverted to Aldergrove eventually landing at Ballyhalbert and F/L Allen & crew luckily made it to Thorney Island. In their mission report (F/L Allen & crew) it is noted "Crew reported worst weather of their experience". According to F/L Allen in his memoirs, a member of Teddy Wright's crew, Rocky Livingstone had parachuted into water after they had "walked out". He inflated his persoanl dinghy and started to paddle only to bump against a wall a few minutes later. He thought he had landed in the Irish Sea, only to discover he was in a static water tank in Blackburn! Allen recalls this mission as "pointless", given that they lost two aircraft, 8 experienced airmen and that the Queen Mary was capable of out-running any U-boat doing her 24 knots...
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Off to Northern Ireland: In May 1943, they were posted to RAF Aldergrove were they joined 86 Sqn and these two formed the only line of defence against the U-boats in the mid Atlantic at the time, comprising of 15-20 planes (Alwyn Jay, Endurance). They would remain at Aldergrove till Sept, when they were posted to RAF Ballykelly, where they would remain for the rest of the war, although detachments were posted to places such as Iceland, Reykjavik (30/09/43 - 06/11/43), Keflavik (04/08/44- 06/09/44) and Gibraltar (01/05/1943 - 09/1943). In his memoirs, F/L Allen also makes mention of the Mk24 torpedo's, code named "Oscar" being carried by 59 Squadron Liberators in June (1943) when he attacked U-600. Alwyn Jay (Endurance) notes that the first Coastal op to use the Oscar was by B/86 on May 12th 1943 (severely damaging U-457) and on May 14th U-266 was sunk by a Liberator of 86 Sqn, believed at the time to be the first outright U-boat kill for a RAF aircraft. Oscars were regarded as top secret, and crews were advised to not keep the weaponry in open view to be photographed by enemy recon aircraft and if diverted to an alternate airfield, the crew were to mount an all night vigil to guard the plane (which usually consisted of one crew member left out in the cold all night). The Oscar had to enter the water at a specific angle and this was vital to its ultimate success, so they were released with a parachute attached to control the angle of decent. Thus it was only allowed that an Oscar be used against an already submerging U-boat so the parachute would not be detected. Crews who carried them were also required to take on oath prior to a mission, swearing that they would not discuss the weapon outside of the operation rooms and according to HF Tuckwood, they were also issued with pistols (for night lookout). Whilst the Oscar was a successful weapon against the U-boat, it was an acoustic torpedo that homed in on the sound of a U-boats propellers (or the loudest sound in the vicinity), thus they could only be used when there were no Allied ships within range of detection, so their use was somewhat limited on convoy patrol. EE Allen notes in his memoirs, that captains and crews carrying the Oscar were warned that any failure to adhere to the guidelines of usage would result in a Court Martial... F/L Allen also notes that the 59 Sqn Mk V (full VLR) Liberators had the front and top turrets removed to save weight and also the oxygen systems had been totally removed. This meant that if a crew were forced to fly above 10,000 ft for an extended period of time (due to bad weather, evasive action etc) they risked blackouts and irrational behaviour through lack of oxygen. The lack of front armament was however a major issue for crews, and since the arrival of the Liberator Mk.V's without them (April 1943), there had been continuous complaints by 59 crews and it was decided by those in command that all aircraft would have the front turrets put back on once they had reached there time for routine service overhaul... In June, after an air gunner was seriously wounded during a U-boat attack.. the C/O (W/C Gilchrist) grounded all aircraft until they had their nose turrets re-installed... There were no complaints... The First Captain/Navigator! On 30/12/1943 - in Liberator BZ712 - D/59 - An ANTI-SHIPPING PATROL was undertaken with the Navigator as the Captain. A side note in the ORB states that this was the first time this had happened on the Squadron. The Navigator/Captain was F/O Short. December 1944 also saw the standard crew size (8) increase (over the coming months) with the introduction of a 2nd Navigator. Two Australians were the first of the new recruits to begin op's, with F/O A. Edgar out on the 18th, with F/L E.E. Brown DFC & crew in Liberator V. FL990 "A". The following day F/S D.G. Howard joined F/L I.C. Henry & crew in Liberator V. FL989 "L" and so the trend continued. It had become apparent that the workload of the single navigator was far too demanding and operational fatigue was rampant. With the addition of a second, the workload could be shared and undertaken in 4 hour shifts. By May, all crews have converted.
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Operation Cork: Protect The Fleet! The roles of the Coastal Command squadrons were threefold, the first being Operation Cork. This comprised continuous day and night air patrols between Southern Ireland, the Cornish Peninsula and Brest Peninsula with the aim of preventing U-boats from breaking into the Channel and coastal waters around the South of England. Secondly, Coastal Command were to assist the Allied navies in protecting convoys against E-Boats and enemy light surface craft. Thirdly, the strike/attack squadrons were to cut enemy coastal supply lines. During these operations, aircraft of Coastal Command flew 2,197 ASW (Anti-submarine Warfare) sorties in the Channel and Western Approaches. 72 submarines were sighted, 40 were attacked. Coastal Command anti-shipping and strike squadrons flew 1,672 reconnaissance and 315 strike sorties. (www.raf.mod.uk) The next day (7th of June) the aircrews were assembled to be told the invasion had begun. The Group had already started its operational plan to protect the landing fleets - operation CORK. As the enemy had concentrated the bulk of his operational U-boats in the French ports, it was expected the U-boats would put to sea to attack the ships supporting the invasion. To prevent such attacks air patrols were organised to cover the approaches to, and in, the western English Channel. The plan was that a plane would observe with its radar every part of the CORK area, from southern Ireland to the mouth of the Loire, 20,000 square miles, every 30 minutes, day and night for an indefinite period. Thirty minutes was chosen as a U-boat was believed to use, in a crash dive, about as much battery energy as could be charged into the batteries in 30 minutes on the surface. If a U-boat had to crash dive every 30 minutes it would show no net gain from charging its batteries while on the surface between dives. It would arrive in the fighting-zone with its crew exhausted, little compressed air to surface and its batteries flat. (www.combinedops.com) 59 Sqn CORK operations: Endurance (Alwyn Jay) states that although 59 Sqn was the only frontline U-boat hunting unit not trained in the use of the Leigh Light in early June 1944, they still took part in operation CORK. Joe Collins, who was Radar Leader for 59 at the time, notes that between the 6th and 24th of June, 59 Sqn flew 92 sorties. Some in support of cross Channel convoys and others in Cork or other similar patrols. This was an average of one sortie every 3 days for each crew. Collins also took part in 6 Cork missions, in which two U-boats were sighted and one attacked unsuccessfully..
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1944 - A dark year for the 59 Sqn Liberators: By 1944, the "happy times" for the Ubootwaffe was certainly over and the Allies had once again gained the upper-hand in the Atlantic, although with the aid of the Schnorkel the U-boat threat was far from over... Even so, the Liberators had helped close the gap with their long range air cover, depth charge attacks and their ability to spot U-boats unawares track them with sonobuoys and flame floats and call in the naval support, who would then hunt them down relentlessly. With the crews becoming more experienced and the equipment more proficient it is not surprising that the loss of aircraft had lessened towards the end of the war for 59 Sqn and indeed many coastal command Squadrons but this is not to say that the element of danger was any less, there was still a war being fought nonetheless. With this in mind, it appears that poor weather conditions were equally as great of a threat to aircraft as enemy contact... Out of the 14 Liberator losses (not all with casualties) I have so far found for 59 Sqn, 10 of them were due to, or partly due to poor weather conditions. Four aircraft failed to return (missing), four crashed on landing for various reasons including weather and five crashed due directly to poor weather and the crew of one "walked out" in zero visibility and the aircraft crashed into the sea. It is highly possible that any of the missing aircraft and crews also fell victim to the weather... but we may never know. Six aircraft were lost in 1944, four with all crew lost, one with a sole survivor and one with all crew safe. Three were lost with all crew in June of 1944 after the Allied invasion of Europe. This accounted for about a third of all Coastal Command losses for the month of June (10 aircraft and 80 airmen). One was lost in August, one aircraft was DBR when it crashed landed due to engine failure and blew up (crew survived). One went missing with all crew lost when they failed to return from an escort patrol in Feb. Wes Loney stated (in regards to the weather in the North Atlantic, in Endurance, Alwyn Jay), "There is no doubt in my mind that Mother Nature claimed as many Coastal Command aircrew as did enemy action, if not more...". The fact that over 75% of 59's Liberator losses were due to inclement weather, would seem to support this view. Weather reports: Lightning!
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Conversion from Mk.V to Mk.VIII: ORB summary for March 1945 states the following - "The chief event of the month... was the conversion from Mark.V VLR Liberators to the Mark.VIII Liberators, without the petrol in the very long range fuel tanks. The chief item was a completely new radar set, Mark XA (also called Mark XVA) giving for more detailed & flexible radar contacts and demanding even greater skill in the operator then the old Mark.V. Crews generally prefer the different layout of the aircraft & its lightness of control compared with the Mark.V. The front gun turret is a popular feature. The conversion was carried through in relatively quick time, less than a fortnight between March 12 & 23rd at as busy a time as Coastal Command has had in the Anti U-boat War". 59 Squadron continued to fly the Liberator till the end of the war sinking five U-Boats. (three of which were in the same convoy battle over a two day period). They would go onto to fly the Mk VIII's (late model B24J's and B-24L) in the later stages of the war and then post war with Transport Command, they would fly the Mk VI (B-24H and early B-24J's) refitted for duties on ferry duties. During the war the majority of these later models went directly to the Far East were the RAF's final campaign in Burma during 44-45. The B-24M did not see service with Coastal Command, although it was used widely in the PTO (Pacific Theatre of Operations) and in Werribee (Melbourne) there is the restoration of RAAF B24M Consolidated Liberator A72-176. I recommend a visit to see this bomber if you live close by or you are in Melbourne for a visit. It really puts the size of these machines and their capabilities into perspective. Side Note: The "GR" in front of the Mk III-V denoted that it was an aircraft re-equipped for Coastal Command service. Upon delivery to the UK, they were known as Liberator B.Mk III or V etc (and kept this prefix if they were assigned to Bomber Command) but depending on where they were sent this was reflected in the prefix change, ie "GR" for Coastal and "C" for Transport Command. I believe that the G.R stood for "General Reconnaissance"...
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The Leigh Light: According to Alwyn Jay in Endurance, the 59 Liberator fleet would eventually be fitted out with the Leigh Light (pictured below) during the later months of 1944 (once again being the last U-boat hunting squadron to be so equipped) but in his memoirs, Ken Regan notes that in April of 1943, they were doing training exercise's with the Leigh Light at Thorney Island. He also notes that on an A/S patrol (Fortress IIA) on the 24th of Jan 1943, that the "Leigh Light" worked well... It seems a little odd (if this is correct..). that 59 were operating on B-17's with the Light (in Jan-March '43), were training with them on Liberators in April.. but did not receive them for over a year... especially if they had used them on the Fortress? I guess however, that training is one thing and availability and designation of equipment is a whole other story... Further more, the ORB summary for March 1945 notes that, during this month, "two crews were trained for Leigh Light work at night (whether this policy will be followed up) remains to be seen..." So it appears that Leigh Light operations were not a frequent occurrence for 59 Sqn crews right up until the end of the war in Europe. At any rate, according to the Encyclopedia of Aircraft of WWII, No. 53 Sqn is noted as having been the first equipped in Oct 1943. The Leigh Light was used for mainly two purposes on night missions. Firstly it was used (by the bombardier) to correctly sight and position a U-boat just prior to the release of the depth-chargers (D/C's) and secondly to momentarily "blind" the U-boat gunners (during the attack run) and disrupt the delivery of AA fire. The 59 Mk.III's had only a single 5in Browning machine gun fitted in the nose, whilst the Mk.V's had none, so on approach I guess one had to pray that the boat gunners were off target or having mechanical problems... This was the case when in Jan 1944 Wes Loney and crew made four attack runs on U-621 causing severe damages to the boat. According to German war records and personnel accounts, the AA guns had jammed and fired only one or two rounds intermittently. The cause was noted as either sea damage to the ammunition, as reserve ammunition had special outer storage areas that often got wet or damage from MG fire. Although the Light was not used in this attack as it was made at approx 1520hrs, the captains log did make note of "something under the wings, maybe detection apparatus..." Initially the Leigh Light was a successful addition the the Lib's bag of tricks but eventually the German gunners adopted the use of welding goggles to combat the intense light burst. Thus by the time 59 Sqn was fitted out with them (if it was indeed during the latter stages of 1944), the surprise element of the Light had certainly been lost but it still remained an essential tool. Such was the intensity of the Light it was only capable of delivering two 30 second "bursts" before needing to be recharged. According to an account (Endurance, Alwyn Jay) dated 18/09/1944 on U-1228 by a 224 Sqn Lib, the Light was switched on at a range of one mile and it illuminated the surfaced U-boat. In later model ASV Mk VII radar, it became possible to calculate the position and angle that a Light should be used at before being switched on during the attack run.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armament: This varied depending on whether aircraft were used in the Atlantic or the Bay of Biscay. The aircraft operating in the Biscay had the upper turret (just aft the cockpit) left on as enemy fighter contact was deemed more likely in that region than for patrols made in the Atlantic. Also waist gun armament varied depending on Command of service. The RAF Coastal Command Lib's were fitted with the following:
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The Coastal Workhorse: The B-24 made a massive contribution to Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-Boats. The decision to allocate some Liberator I's to Coastal Command in 1941 produced immediate results, with 120 squadron operational on Lib's from Sept. The Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators "almost doubled the reach of Britain's maritime reconnaissance force". This added range enabled Coastal Command patrols to cover the Mid-Atlantic gap, where U-boats had operated with near impunity during what is commonly known as the U-boat "happy time". For twelve months, No. 120 Squadron RAF with its handful of much patched and modified early model Liberators (15-20 aircraft), supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap. In late 1942 the Mk II and III's began to filter through to Coastal Command. The Mk II's by and large made there way to Bomber Command. Originally it had been planned that the Mk I's would join B.C but the needs of Coastal were deemed more urgent... amazingly... So although some Mk II's saw service with Coastal, it would be the B-24D (or B.Mk III) that would be widely introduced and used. The VLR Liberators sacrificed some armor and often some gun turrets to save weight while adding extra fuel in bomb bay tanks. Liberator I's were equipped with ASV Mark II radar and the Leigh light on later Mk's gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and night. They were operated from both sides of the Atlantic with the RCAF to the west and the RAF from the UK and Iceland. This role was dangerous, especially after many U-boats were armed with extra Flak guns and adopted a policy of staying on the surface to fight. U-441 was the first VIIC to be fitted out with flak guns, C/59 attacked U-441 in early march 1943 causing minor damages. According to Franks/Zimmerman, all flak U-boats were reverted back to original status after U-441 was later strafed by three RAF Beaufighters of 248 Sqn, sustaining 10 dead and 12 wounded, including all the naval officers onboard in July of 1943. The sudden and decisive turning of the Battle of the Atlantic in the Allies' favour in May 1943 was the result of many factors. However, it was no accident that it coincided with the long delayed arrival of many more VLR Liberators for maritime patrol. Liberators were credited in full or part with 72 U-boat kills. In addition to very long range patrols, the B-24 was vital for patrols of a radius less than 1,000 miles (1,600 km), in both the Atlantic and in the Pacific where B-24s and PB4Y-1s took a heavy toll of Japanese shipping. A total of 977 USN PB4Y-1s were used in the Pacific Theater in VB and VPB squadrons. (wikipedia)
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This site was created by and information compiled by L.Del Mann - © 2008 |