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To: Kirkwood
It's STILL a B24 converted or not.

You can argue about all you want, it still has the same airframe as a B24.

54 posted on 08/01/2015 8:23:14 AM PDT by amigatec (2 Thess 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:)
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To: amigatec

Simply no. That’s like saying a 1963 Ford Falcon is the same as a 1966 Ford Mustang just because they are built on the same frame.

The LB30A was a Consolidated Model 30 pre-production prototype for evaluation (this is where the 30 comes from in LB30). The LB30As (including Diamond Lil) were made before the B24A even rolled off the production line. The LB30As were pulled from evaluation testing and sold to France. When France fell to the Germans before delivery could be made, the British took over the French order as part of the lend-lease deal since they were likewise short on aircraft. After delivery to the RAF, they found the LB30A to be totally inadequate for bombing because in fact they were never built to full service bomber specs (e.g., they didn’t even have self sealing fuel tanks because they were built as prototypes), so the LB30A (aka RAF Liberator 11) were all converted for transport and other non-combat duties (Churchill used one). Don’t you think that the British would have used them as bombers if they were in fact bombers? But they were useless as bombers because they were never made to B24A specs and the two were not comparable. The B24A is a different aircraft (a production Model 32, not a prototype Model 30) built to US combat bomber specs.

There is a lot of nonsense published online that the Diamond Lil is a B24A, but that information comes from ignorance and not speaking to the people who purchased and refurbished her. When you go to tour the Diamond Lil there will be her entire history available to read, and it will be clearly stated that she is not a B24A, but she was converted forward in time to outwardly look like the B24A. This was because there were no B24 airworthy airframes available at that time. So the decision was made to convert the airworthy LB30A forward to outwardly appear as a B24A. I was a member of the CAF for many years going back to when we were in Brownsville as the Confederate Air Force and I can assure you that the Diamond Lil has gone through many revisions since the time she was acquired by the CAF, with each revision bringing her closer in appearance to a B24A. But underneath it all, she is still a Model 30 prototype, not a Model 32 production model.


56 posted on 08/01/2015 11:38:52 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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