Under the Southern Cross: B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific by Bob Livingstone

Description: Under the Southern Cross The B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific By Bob LivingstonePublished by Turner Publishing, 1998 Pictorial hardcover, like new, no writing or marks, an excellent copy! Description Just a glance at this book is sufficient to impress the reader with the amount of time, effort and trouble to which Bob has gone to produce it. The B-24 or Liberator arrived in Australia about the turning point of the war against Japan and enabled attacks to penetrate deep into Japanese held territory. The 90th Bombardment Group arrived in Australia with their B-24s in October 1942, and in April 1943 the 380th Bomb Group began reinforcing them. Replacement aircraft and Liberators destined for the Royal Australian Air Force arrived in increasing numbers up to August 1945, firstly under American command, and then in 1944 Australian crews were trained to man our own squadrons. In early 1945 the American units moved north to the Philippines. Our squadrons were manned with some of our most experienced operational crews. These were backed up by dedicated ground staff who worked long hours day and night servicing and repairing, a never-ending job.I am not sure of the best feature of the B-24. Was it those four dependable Pratt & Whitney 1200 hp turbocharged engines the knife-blade Davis wing, the roomy fuselage or the overall strength? All four played an important part in the dependability of the aeroplane. The Photo on Page 73 of Harold Mulhollen's machine graphically illustrates the latter characteristic. Apparently extreme evasive action caused a stall and spin which was converted into a vertical dive. During the pullout the outer wing panels bent up, but they were able to return to base. Our machine had the port main tyre shot out. On touch down, full power on the two port engines, opposite brake and rudder kept us reasonably straight, but I happened to glance at the wheel to see it vibrating backwards and forewards through an arc of about half a metre. Why it didn't tear the leg right out of the wing I don't know. Those of us who were picked to fly the B-24 were indeed fortunate. -Ken G. Bowman Shipping We will ship anywhere in the USA and Worldwide! Please contact us if you have questions about shipping multiple books to the same address. We combine rates to save you money.

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