The B-24 Liberator in Combat Photographs

This book examines one of the two heavy bombers produced by the United States’ aviation industry during the Second World War. Prevailing theories of war, based on the outcome of World War One, which had only ended 25 years before, were focussed on the ability of a nation to extend its military strength to the enemy’s homeland through the use of precision daylight bombing, thus destroying the production of war material and shatter the morale of the people. The RAF decided to instead turn to mass night bombing for the destruction of entire cities, but the USAAF stayed with daylight bombing, relying on its Norden bombsight and its heavily armed aircraft bombers to protect its fighters. In that the bombing never achieved either of the aims against the enemy, it could be considered a failure, but that takes nothing from the courage and tenacity of the men and machines that fought the daylight bombing missions in the skies of Europe between 1942–1945. This beautifully illustrated book shows the B-24 in its various roles across World War Two and the results of a war where no quarter was given.