B-24 Liberator I AM929 A Biography.

B-24 Liberator I AM 929 a Biography

AM 929 is a Mark I Liberator of Coastal Com­mand, powered by Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp engines. She is approaching her third birthday and has flown a distance equal to eight times the circumference of the world. Ninety per cent. of this flying has been in operations against the enemy. She has flown over 60 sorties in the North Atlantic and has escorted convoys bound north, south, east and west. She has been damaged by the enemy's fire, but she has given far more than she has taken. Her depth charges have sent to the bottom four U-Boats for certain and she fias attacked and damaged many more. In all she has sighted 27 U-Boats. Almost all these have been shadowing our convoys and on seeing the Liberator they have crash-dived deep into the Atlantic where they lose contact with their prey.
AM 929 (Makers' No. 20) was built by Con­solidated at San Diego, California. She was com­pleted on May 26, 1941, and flown to La Guardia Field for tests. Thence she went to Wright Field, Daytona, and from there to Dorval, Canada, via La Guardia Field. On August 20 she flew the Atlantic and landed at Prestwick.
From August 20-29 AM 929 remained at Prestwick in the hands of Scottish Aviation, Limited, and underwent preliminary modification, that is, the first stage in her transformation from a United States B 24 heavy bomber into a first-line Liberator of Coastal Command. Next she flew to Boscombe Down where the R.A.F. gave her a type .test. This consists of every kind of performance trial, and takes some time. AM 929 was ready by January, 1942, and returned to Prestwick for the major part of her conversion into a Coastal aircraft. This work, much of which was concerned with the installation of four 20-mm. forward-firing cannon, took over seven months because the necessary spares were very difficult to get : for more than three months the work hardly progressed at all as the spares were not to be had in this country. Eventually, however, the bottle-necks were straightened out, the supplies came through and AM 929 was ready to take her place in the line.
On August 1, 1942, A.M. 929 was flown to 120 Squadron at Ballykelly and was given the letter H. The beginning of her operational career was not auspicious. The first trip on August 9, a 15-hour. convoy escort, was uneventful, but on her second trip she developed a petrol leak, and this, combined with poor visibility, caused her to return to base early. The next sortie began badly. The pilot found immediately after take-off that one of his engines was giving trouble and circled the airfield for 35 minutes before setting off on his mission. This was an important sortie to find the survivors of the troopship Letitia reported torpedoed and sunk on August 9, 610 miles west of Blacksod Bay. As it was then the 16th the 600 troops on board, if they had survived, would have been in the boats for seven days.- But H did not find them. She cannot, however, be blamed for this as on the same day Letitia steamed safely into Halifax harbour after an uneventful crossing.
After this H's luck changed. On her next trip. she joined naval vessels and a Catalina in a U-Boat hunt, and finding a most suspicious patch of air bubbles, dropped a stick of depth charges, across it. When she left, the surface craft were still harrying the enemy, and it is believed that the U-Boat was eventually sunk.
This was at least action, and better was to follow. On her next trip, on August 19, H escorted convoy SL.118 and saw her first U-Boat. The captain went straight in to attack while the enemy was still on the surface. The U-Boat shuddered and remained surfaced for five seconds after the attack and then submerged steeply. This was described by the Naval Staff at Coastal Command-as " an excellent attack," and was assessed by the Admiralty as " probably slightly damaged." It is certain that that particular U-Boat did not molest SL.118 again. Later in the same day H saw another U-Boat and attacked it with cannon and forced it to submerge. Three attacks in two sorties was too good to last, and the next trip produced nothing more exciting than a lot of French tunnymen. On August 28 H had an interesting day but was unlucky not to have a sighting. The convoy she was escorting had been attacked the night before and H did useful work in helping the stragglers to return to the fold. If encouragement was needed, the sight of a • listing merchantman limping along with a torpedo in her side must have provided it. While she was with the main body of the convoy the S.N.O. sent her to investigate a suspected U-Boat some dis­tance away. While H was on this search another U-Boat attacked the convoy and succeeded in torpedoing another ship. H did not find her U-Boat and soon afterwards had to return to base.
She was not able to have her revenge for some, time, but she was soon translated to a more vital area of operations. After three uneventful sorties she was detached to Reykjavik and began to operate in support of the famous Russian convoys. In company with the other Iceland-based aircraft valuable cover was given to thek convoys Whose story would have been different had it been possible to give them, all through their Journey, the same cover which they receiveefrom Iceland in the initial stages. During this time (September, 1942) H sighted three U-Boats near the, convoys, she was protecting and though she was unable to attack any of them they were all put down below the surface where they could do neither damage nor shadowing. On September 23 H saw an enemy aircraft for the first and last tittle in her career. The enemy, whose type was not identi­fied, was shadowing the convoy when H appeared. Shots were exchanged and the enemy was glad to take refuge in a cloud rather than face H'S four cannons. H was not hit. At the end of the month she returned to Ballykelly.
October, 1942, was an exciting month: On the 10th she returned to Iceland and two days later made two attacks. The U-Boats were shadowing convoy ONS. 136 and one of them was the' victim of H's first definite kill. A stick of depth-charges was dropped across the enemy vessel and the explosion of the third depth charge was so close to the hull that chunks of metal flew into the air in all directions. One big piece flew past the astonished eyes of the gunner in the rear turret. He reported that the U-Boat was completely covered in the explosions and lifted out of the water so that the whole deck was clearly visible, with water pouring off it. After the attack a big cylindrical piece of wreckage studded with bolts came to the surface and floated for over half an hour in the middle of a wide patch of oil. Three days later H attacked again. Three U-Boats were sighted this time around convoy SL.104. In the first attack two U-Boats were sighted and while running in to attack the further one, the nearer one was treated to a burst of cannon fire which he was glad to escape by submerging. The second German was attacked with depth charges and severely shaken up. This attack was extremely difficult for H as she was unable to get low enough to drop a really accurate stick. Later another U-Boat (or one of the two previously attacked) was seen nearby and attacked with depth charges. Though none of these U-Boats was much more than badly shaken, it is certain that they were discouraged from pressing their attentions on SL.104. The next day H completed the hat-trick with her third action in three sorties. This U-Boat also escaped serious damage but was forced to submerge.
Even this did not finish H's account for the month. After two uneventful sorties, on the second of which she did valuable work in re­. forming a scattered convoy, H again saw three U-Boats round a convoy. One was attacked, though probably not damaged, and the other two escaped by crash diving. H was beginning to make a speciality of sighting three U-Boats at a time and on November 5 she did it again. They were all around convoy SL.107 and the first one certainly never worried convoys again for she achieved momentary fame as H's second kill. When the depth charges exploded, instead of throwing up the usual vivid white plume, the columns of water were dark and dirty. The U-Boat's stern rose to an angle of 50° and the screws revolved aimlessly in the air. Soon after she sank, a wide patch of air bubbles foamed on the water for about eight minutes. The second U-Boat of the trio went under before she could be attacked, but the third received H's remaining depth charges. There was not enough evidence to assess the damage.
When H took off on her next trip on November 20 it was intended that she should return part of the way home to America. However, the weather in Newfoundland closed in and the crew's hopes of unlimited silk stockings and American cigarettes were deferred for several weeks. Her last trip in November was without incident, but in December her first sortie was one of those solid, colourless and glamourless achieve­ments which may be boring in the extreme to Coastal crews, but which have made possible our success in the Battle of the Atlantic and possibly in the whole war. It was a straightforward escort of Convoy HX.217 and was devoid of incident. Yet this is what the Admiralty said of it in a signal of congratulation : " The six hours escort given to HX.217 on December 7 by H/120 at a distance of 800 miles from its base, certainly saved this convoy from serious casualties the following night." Attacks on U-Boats are the highlights of the work of Coastal Command aircraft : but it is the long unwearied escort that brings home the much-needed bacon.
Of the four remaining sorties of 1942 three were uneventful—though one may have been slightly alarming to the crew : No. 3 engine developed an oil leak when the aircraft was a long way from base, but H brought the crew safely home on three engines. The other trip produced two attacks. The first, with a full stick of depth charges, damaged the enemy and a good deal of oil was seen. The remaining depth charges may have damaged the second U-Boat but the evidence is insufficient. The men of Convoy HX.218 were probably quite satisfied with H's efforts.
H began the New Year with a useful sortie on January 1 which rounded up a scattered convoy, and 10 days later she sighted a U-Boat near another convoy but was unable to attack before it dived. The next two trips were without incident : and on January 25 H returned to her native continent. When a long way from her base in Iceland, the pilot was diverted to Bluie West 1 in Greenland, and set course for that base. He was probably relieved to receive another signal telling him that he could land at Gander if he preferred it. He landed at Gander.
H was then very nearly due to have her engines changed. The originals (R.1830-33, Nos. 5830, 5831, 5019, 5833) had done fine service for nearly two years and there had been only two failures, both of a minor kind. At Gander it was decided that the engines could be most easily changed at Dorval in Canada, and H accordingly flew there. While she was at Dorval her new engines were fitted and at the same time a major inspection was done. After tests H returned to Gander and was ready for operations again.
On April 5, 1943, H returned to her accustomed area. She took off from Gander on a sweep to Reykjavik and sighted a periscope, but it dis­appeared before an attack could be made. This incident began a period of ill-luck for H. On her next trip, on April 22, she sighted no fewer than four U-Boats, but each time she tried to attack the depth charges hung up. Perhaps, however, the rage of the crew was somewhat mitigated by the novelty of landing at Goose Bay in Labrador. The aircraft returned to Iceland three days later and had poor luck and uneventful trips for the next two months. Several of the sorties were curtailed or spoiled by bad weather and low visibility. During this time nine sorties were made.
On June 24 H made ,.fitting come-back. The Coastal Command Review for June, 1943, describes the action thus : " While en route to carry out anti-submarine escort to Convoy ONS.11, a fully surfaced 740-ton U-Boat was sighted 75 miles north of the convoy. The U-Boat and aircraft must have seen each other simultaneously for the enemy began to take violent evasive action. The captain dived straight in to attack and opened fire. The U-Boat was then putting up consider­able opposition and as the captain released the depth charges, a cannon shell entered the star­board side of the nose wheel compartment and rendered all the hydraulics useless. This caused the bomb doors to ' creep ' so that only two depth charges were released. These straddled the U-Boat just forward of the conning tower and it is estimated that. No. 1 exploded almost under­neath, just aft of the conning tower. The U-Boat was not visible after the explosion subsided, but about 20 seconds later, 15 ft. of the bows appeared at a very steep angle and then slid under again. The captain did not realize that the hydraulics were out of action and he attempted to attack with one depth charge which did not release. On tracking over the position air bubbles and oil were seen coming to the surface, and from 12 to 15 survivors had appeared, clinging to a long cylindrical object.
" In addition to the shell which put the hydraulics out of action, a second shell entered and exploded in the port wing, outside the outer port engine. A serious petrol leak was also started in the star­board tanks, by machine gun bullets. The remaining depth charge load was jettisoned and the aircraft set course for base. A considerable amount of petrol flooded the interior, but the leak stopped when the petrol reached' the level of the hole.
" On arrival at base the undercarriage and flaps were lowered by emergency methods and for three-quarters of an hour the crew tried to repair the brake hydraulic pipe lines. This was impossible and the captain then decided to land in tail down attitude. The whole crew, except the flight engineer, took up station in the rear of the aircraft together with all ammunition and movable gear. The mirror camera was removed from its mounting to prevent damage.
"A perfect approach was made at very slow speed and a three-point landing made, touching down within a few feet of the end of the runway. Immediately the aircraft touched, the two inboard engines were cut, the two outer ones being kept in case a swing developed. After running 1,000 yards most of the speed had been lost but a swing to port had begun. This was checked by opening up the port outer engine, and the aircraft was eventually brought to rest. The damage from landing was confined to slight buckling of the underskin of the fuselage. The only member of the crew injured was the flight engineer whose neck, back and legs were struck by pieces of shrapnel."
After this magnificent action H was transferred to 43 Group for repair. A month later she was in the line again but bad weather and poor luck dogged her on the next few trips, several of which had to be cut short. During August and Sep­tember the U-Boat killing business was bad in the North Atlantic and H did seven trips without excitement. Then on October 17 she got another kill. H saw the enemy at much the same moment as another Liberator and both aircraft attacked. On her first run H did not drop any depth charges, but turned steeply and came in for another attack in which the stick of depth charges straddled the enemy. The other Liberator followed and also got a straddle. On every run the U-Boat put up intense anti-aircraft fire, but both Liberators replied and caused casualties among the German gunners. The U-Boat was by then crippled and H delivered the coup de grace. The bows reared up and the enemy vessel sank immediately, leaving many survivors in the water. H was suitably revenged for the damage she had received in her earlier action.
In November, 1943, H returned to her friends, Scottish Aviation, at Prestwick. She was due for a large-scale overhaul after her long exertions. When this is finished she will go once more into the Battle of the Atlantic. It will be a different battle from the one to which she was brought at the beginning of her career. Then she formed part of the only Liberator squadron in Coastal Command ; the only squadron (No.120 Squadron) whose aircraft could reach the real battle ground between surface ships and U-Boats. But even she and her col­leagues could not always effectively close the notorious Atlantic gap where the enemy destroyed so many men and ships and cargoes. The battle was critical and very hard. Facilities, weapons, training, and above all numbers were insufficient for Coastal to give the protection which was needed. But H and her sister Liberators with the naval escorts and shorter range aircraft staved off the disaster which was threatening. Each one of those sorties which the records classify as " uneventful " was an important part in the battle. To be in the air at all often meant flying through the gales and bitter weather of the North Atlantic winter, and when aircraft are patrolling, U-Boat men are anxious. We know this because so many of them have told us so.
But the new battle which H will fight is more a pursuit than a battle. The enemy is routed and we have now to deal with a series of rearguard actions. Instead of one Liberator squadron we have many : we can now flood an area with Liberators where in the past H would have operated alone. That curious German strategy of " elastic defence " is being stretched to bursting point and at the ceremonial fly-past over the German naval base at Kiel it would be fitting for H, an American aircraft with a British crew, to lead the Allied formations.


Liberator I AM929

Ex 40-2368

Arrived UK 20 August 1941

Served
120 Squadron RAF Coastal Command

AM929 remained with 120 Squadron until 1944 when she went to Scottish Aviation, Prestwick and her armament was removed and the aircraft modified for transport work. In March 1945 AM929 was taken on charge by 231 Squadron. She was to see little more service for on 9 April 1945 she crashed at St. Simone, near St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada.