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B24D Strawberry Bitch


BushBrit66

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No photos that I have, but the SB was built with the ventral ball turret. I most recently saw her about 18 years ago so no clue if she now has a turret. Her original ball turret was used in a B-17 restoration.

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Beginning with the B-24D-140 block, the Sperry remote ventral turret was replaced with the Bendix manned ball turret, so 'Strawberry Bitch,' being a block -160 B-24D, would have left the factory with a ball turret fitted. This turret was retractable, and IIRC the Liberators that were involved in the Ploesti raid in 1943  had them removed, as they would be useless at the altitude that the mission would be flown. Block number information came from the Joe Baugher website. I would imagine that after the Ploesti raid, the turrets were most likely re-installed. Strawberry Bitch  flew numerous missions, but not the 1943 Ploesti raid, and survived the war to be placed in storage at Davis Monthan AB and flown to the Air Force Museum in 1959 by a B-47 pilot who flew Libs in WW2.

Mike

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2 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Beginning with the B-24D-140 block, the Sperry remote ventral turret was replaced with the Bendix manned ball turret, so 'Strawberry Bitch,' being a block -160 B-24D, would have left the factory with a ball turret fitted. This turret was retractable, and IIRC the Liberators that were involved in the Ploesti raid in 1943, including 'Strawberry Bitch,'  had them removed, as they would be useless at the altitude that the mission would be flown. Block number information came from the Joe Baugher website. I would imagine that after the Ploesti raid, the turret was most likely re-installed, as she flew numerous missions and survived the war to be placed in storage at Davis Monthan AB and flown to the Air Force Museum in 1959 by a B-47 pilot who flew Libs in WW2.

Mike

The SB did not participate in Tidal Wave. It arrived in theater afterwards. It may have participated in the subsequent high altitude attacks on Ploesti

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2 hours ago, Chuck1945 said:

The SB did not participate in Tidal Wave.

I didn't think so, either, but there was a statement in one of the Air Force Museum articles on her that stated she was a Ploesti participant, as well as an article on the Planes of the Past website that stated she was  survivor of the Tidal Wave raid. - maybe they meant the subsequent high altitude mission? I don't put too much credence in recent AFM written articles or restorations anymore, as their accuracy is not what it used to be- especially compared to other museums and restoration facilities. I'm glad you brought this up, as I had my doubts, but included the statement, as it was from the AFM. From what I have  found, she flew 56 missions beginning September 20, 1943 through June 19, 1944, so she could not have been one of the B-24's that participated in the first Ploesti attack. As an aside, I always wanted to do her as a model project, but shifted from her to doing 'Teggie Ann' or' Hail Colombia' because she was not a Ploesti participant.

Mike

 

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I was a 14 year old standing in the crowd back in 1959 when the ‘Strawberry Bitch’ landed at W-PAFB during the Armed Forces Day open house.

 

I am stalled at the moment working on a Hasegawa B-24D w/Eduard upgrades from their CC edition, to be finished as ‘The Sandman’. This is the aircraft pictured emerging from a black background of smoke and flames in what, to me at least, is perhaps the iconic photo of the Tidal Wave mission. For some reason I find it much easier to build single engine fighters than heavy bombers 😏

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That mush have been amazing Chuck. I love the old Monogram kits, (especially the heavies that when I was young in the late 70s/80s were exotic and expensive here in the UK where 72nd scale predominated then. When I got back into the hobby in the early 90s (ironically after a summer in the USA) Monogram kits be acquired cheaply in Europe so I stashed multiples of all of the good ones-a wise move. The B-29 is to be reissued this year by Revell Germany. Its about 140 dollars equivilant. Good luck with your B24. 

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11 hours ago, Chuck1945 said:

I was a 14 year old standing in the crowd back in 1959 when the ‘Strawberry Bitch’ landed at W-PAFB during the Armed Forces Day open house.

I was eleven when I read about her being flown to W-P; inspired me to get the Revell boxscale B-24 'Buffalo Bill' and build it! Several years ago I got to go inside the Collings Foundation's B-24, and it was an effort to move the waist guns around with the feed chutes attached standing still on the ground; I could only imagine what it must have been like with those bulky heated flying suits trying to manage a .50cal gun against that slipstream in a wildly bucking Liberator, at the same time being shot full of holes from fighters and flak. It was a very small claustrophobic airplane on the inside, and I can't imagine how anybody bailed out of one. Those were brave young men, and the best tribute we can give to them  is to  honor them with our models.

Mike

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Here's a photo of her departing Davis-Monthan AFB in 1959, on her way to the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  As you can see, she has the ball turret installed.  The ball turret currently isn't installed..it was removed shortly after she arrived at the museum and installed in their B-17, which didn't have turrets at the time.  The turret opening in the B-24 was covered with a rather crude sheet metal patch.  The B-17 with the B-24's turret was eventually transferred to another museum.  A few years ago the B-24's ball turret was returned, but hasn't been reinstalled yet.

 

SN

 

rmhEi0J.jpg

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2 hours ago, Steve N said:

Here's a photo of her departing Davis-Monthan AFB in 1959, on her way to the Air Force Museum in Dayton.

I would loved to have been there for that tower conversation..."Wright-Pat tower-  this is Consolidated 42-72843 requesting straight in approach; on final." "843- did you say Consolidated?"

Mike

 

Neat photo, Steve! There aren't very many WW2 types that flew out of the boneyard; I can only imagine what the emotions and memories of the ex-B-24 pilot who took her to the AFM on her last flight were.

 

See the link below for her history and AFM photos. The second link lists surviving intact and derelict B-24's from around the world. The third link has photos taken when she was flown to the AFM.

https://www.airplanesofthepast.com/b24-liberator-4272843-strawberry-bitch.htm

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Consolidated_B-24_Liberators

 

http://kammphoto.blogspot.com/2009/10/last-flight-of-strawberry-bitch.html

 

 

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What stays with me even today, 61 years after watching the ‘Strawberry Bitch’ land and taxi out at Wright -Pat was thinking, after seeing aircraft like the C-124, B-52, B-36, and C-133, how small she looked, how impressive it was watching her after all the newsreel footage of 8AF bombers on 1950s TV, and thinking ‘can they really display that name in public?’

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