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U.S. NAVAL AVIATION RESOURCE CENTER > RECON/OBSERVATION/PATROL > PRIVATEER > PREVIOUS PAGE
Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer
Design & Development
The Privateer was externally similar to the Liberator, but the fuselage was longer to accommodate a flight engineer's station, and had a tall single vertical stabilizer rather than the B-24's twin tail configuration. The defensive armament was also increased to 12 .50-in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in six turrets (two dorsal, two waist, nose and tail), with the B-24's belly turret being omitted. Turbosuperchargers were not fitted to the engines since maritime patrol missions were not usually flown at high altitude.
The Ford Motor Company (which produced B-24s for the United States Army Air Forces) had earlier built an experimental variant (B-24K) using the single tail of a B-23 Dragon. Aircraft handling was improved, and the Air Corps' proposed B-24N production model was to be built by Ford, but the order was canceled on 31 May 1945 and the B-24N never entered production. The Navy's desire for substantial redesigns, however, had sustained interest in the new tail assembly.
The Navy eventually took delivery of 739 Privateers, the majority after the end of the war, although several squadrons saw service in the Pacific theater in the reconnaissance, search and rescue, electronic countermeasures, communication relay, and anti-shipping roles (the latter with the "Bat" guided bomb.)
A PB4Y-2 Privateer taking off with 2 ASM-N-2 Bat glide bombs attached.
(Source: U.S. Navy)
Sources:
Wikipedia
U.S. NAVAL AVIATION RESOURCE CENTER > RECON/OBSERVATION/PATROL > PRIVATEER > PREVIOUS PAGE
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