B-24D Liberator: Hill Aerospace Museum

B-24D Liberator S/N 41-23908 is on display indoors at the Hill Aerospace Museum, Ogden, Utah ... but only after a long rest in the north country after crashing in 1943.

The plane was assigned to Great Falls Army Air Field, Montana, on November 21, 1942 and soon dispatched to Elmendorf AAF, Alaska, to assist American air, sea, and ground forces in repulsing the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands. The aircraft was then assigned to the 21st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) of the 28th Composite Group at a forward base on Umnak Island in the Aleutians.

From there the airplane was relocated to a small air base on Adak Island, even further west toward the Japanese-held islands at the western end of the Aleutians.

On January 18, 1943, Captain Ernest "Pappy" Pruett and his eight-man crew, along with the crews of five other B-24s, took off from Adak to locate and bomb three Japanese supply ships reportedly headed for the harbor of Japanese-held Kiska Island. The 500 mile trip to Kiska was made through deteriorating weather conditions. When the flight finally arrived over the target they were forced to abort the mission due to the weather and head for home.

Captain Pruett in the remaining aircraft, running low on fuel, radioed the Adak tower that he planned to put down on Great Sitkin Island about 25 miles northeast across the bay from the base. Capt. Pruett eased the B-24 onto the tundra at about 130mph, with the landing gear up to prevent flipping the aircraft. The B-24 slid about 1,000 feet over the mud and wet grass before it finally came to rest, passing between several large boulders at the foot of the volcanic mountain on Great Sitkin. The Navy ship USS Hurlbert picked the crew up later that same day and returned them to the base on Adak.

For the next 50 years the forgotten aircraft rested on that lonely, wind-swept plain on the uninhabited island. Then in the summer of 1994 it was located by a scouting party from the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah, searching all known Alaskan B-24 crash sites for a recoverable aircraft for display at Hill Aerospace Museum. An expedition was organized for the summer of 1995.

Pruett was contacted by members of the Heritage Foundation and asked if he would like to return to the island and assist the recovery team in plucking "his" B-24 from obscurity. He and several members of the Heritage Foundation, the 419th Combat Logistics Support Squadron, and the 67th Aerial Port from Hill Air Force Base labored in the harsh Aleutian weather for several weeks to completely disassemble the plane and maneuver it to a waiting recovery ship. It was then transported to a restoration facility in California.

The restored B-24 fuselage finally arrived at the museum on May 17, 2002 and the wing center section arrived in early November 2006. Final assembly is now complete, and the result is the beautifully restored B-24 displayed in an excellent diorama indoors at the Hill Aerospace Museum. See the photos below on this page.

B-24D Liberator Photographs

Diorama of Consolidated B-24D Liberator S/N 41-23908 at the Hill Aerospace Museum (Staff Photo)

Nose section and cockpit view of the restored Consolidated B-24D Liberator at Hill AFB

Consolidated B-24D Liberator diorama showing landing gear, damaged engine, at Hill Air Force Base

Consolidated B-24D Liberator gun turret, Ogden, Utah

List of Other Surviving B-24 Liberators

Of the massive numbers of Liberators that were built, only thirteen are known to exist around the world, either on display (10), under restoration (1), or airworthy (2).

In the United States, only two aircraft are airworthy, and six complete airplanes are on static display, for a total of eight B-24 Liberator survivors, shown below listed by state. Other Liberators are on display around the world.

In the United States
Model	S/N	Name	Location	Status	City	ST
B-24J	44-44175	Bungay Buckaroo	Pima Air & Space Museum	Static Display	Tucson	AZ
B-24M	44-41916	Shady Lady	Castle Air Museum	Static Display	Atwater	CA
B-24J	44-44272	Joe	Fantasy of Flight Museum	Static Display	Polk City	FL
B-24J	44-48781	Rupert the Roo II (former Louisiana Belle)	Global Power Museum Barksdale AFB	Static Display	Bossier City	LA
B-24J	44-44052	Witchcraft	Collings Foundation	Airworthy	Stow	MA
B-24D	42-72843	Strawberry Bitch	National Museum of the U.S. Air Force	Static Display	Dayton	OH
B-24A	40-2366	Diamond Lil	CAF at Dallas Executive Airport	Airworthy	Dallas	TX
B-24D	41-23908	Unnamed B-24	Hill Aerospace Museum	Static Display	Ogden	UT

In Other Countries
Model	S/N	Location	Status	City
B-24L	44-50206	Royal Air Force Museum	Static Display	London, UK
B-24M	44-51228	Imperial War Museum	Static Display	Duxford, UK
B-24L	44-50154	Canada Aviation and Space Museum	Static Display	Ottawa, Canada
B-24J	44-44213	Indian Air Force Museum	Static Display	Delhi, India
B-24M	44-41956	Former RAAF Werribee Aerodrome	Under Restoration	Victoria, Australia