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B-24 Liberator Bomber
 Our department worked around the clock. If there
were no squawks, an airplane could be accepted on the first flight. Our
preflight inspection took one and a half to two hours. In the air, we
checked out all instruments and the long-range radios, feathered the
props [shut off the engines that powered the separate propellers], and
recorded the time required to extend and retract both the flaps and the
loading gear. On some of the airplanes we test-fired the machine guns
over Lake Huron with live ammo and dropped dummy bombs.
Wiley Reel, flight test copilot, Willow
Run
B-24 Specifications
Maximum
speed |
290 miles per hour |
| Engine |
Four 1,200-horsepower
Pratt & Whitney engines built by Buick |
| Top altitude |
28,000 feet |
| Length |
67 feet |
| Wingspan |
110 feet |
| Crew |
Six to ten men |
| Fuel capacity |
2,400 gallons |
| Bomb capacity |
8,000 pounds |
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engine
 Buick Motor Division in Flint built a record-breaking 310,000
automobiles in 1940. Even before the United States entered the war, some
Buick plants retooled to make Pratt & Whitney air-cooled radial
aircraft engines. Buick produced 133,000 aircraft engines by the war's
end. The Pratt and Whitney aircraft engine can be seen in the exhibit case
behind the Jeep.
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