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XB-41 Liberator

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XB-41 Liberator
Type Escort bomber
Manufacturer Consolidated Aircraft
Introduced 1942
Status Cancelled in 1943

The Consolidated XB-41 Liberator was a single Consolidated B-24D Liberator bomber, serial 41-11822, which was modified for the long-range escort role for U.S. Eighth Air Force bombing missions over Europe. Outfitted with fourteen .50 caliber weapons, paired in two upper turrets, nose, tail and ventral turrets plus a pair at each waist window, the XB-41 carried 11,000 rounds of ammunition, stored in the bomb bay. It was powered by four 1,250 h.p. Pratt & Whitney R-1830-43 Twin Wasp radial engines. It received limited testing but stability problems, coupled with the unsatisfactory performance of similarly-converted YB-40 gunships derived from the B-17 Flying Fortress in actual operations, led to no further conversions of the Liberator as gunships. The XB-41 was never flown operationally.

Specifications (XB-41)

General characteristics

Performance

Armament


References and external links

  • Andrade, John M. (1979). U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Earl Shilton, Leicester: Midland Counties Publications. ISBN 0-904597-22-9. 
  • Birdsall, Steve (1973). Log Of The Liberators. Garden City: Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0-385-03870-4. 

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