Coastal command aircraft code

From Air Britain’s Liberator book:

Bulloch attacked German warships 13/12/41 flying AM928 OH-L, which was a Mk.I with round nacelles and the short nose, fitted with ASV Mk.II (stickleback aerials) and 20mm cannon. Later he attacked U89 when flying AM917 OH-F, another Mk.I to the same fit. He had flown this on 22/10/41 when carrying out the first squadron attack on a U-boat. On 3.8.42 he sank U597 flying AM929 OH-H, . Another Mk.I, this time without the cannon. With 224 Sq he sank U-514 on 8.7.43 flying Mk.V BZ721 coded R. The Mk.Vs had a longer nose than the Mk.Is and went through a range of modifications states, but probably will have had the chin dome for the later ASV, probably no dorsal turret and possibly BP tail turret.

There may be more, that there’s an awful lot of Liberator histories to plough through, so I think that should be enough to be going on with.

Just had a chat with a friend and he was told by Mr Bulloch himself that although he flew the 224 Sqn ‘speared shark’ Mk V he was actually officially still with 120 Sqn – so just seconded to 224 Sqn. The stickleback was a Mk I from when he was a Flight Lieutenant with 120 Sqn

Think there are details in the Crowood Press book Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Aviation Series)

Chris

🙂 Thanks for you help chaps,hopefully Gollum [the artist ] will keep an eye or even pop in here,Thanks 🙂

Which action is being depicted?

So far as I can see S/L Bullock flew with 224, 120 and 86 Squadrons. The records I can find in various books seem to show his successful U-Boat attacks being flown in Liberator IIIa and V – both of which have the earlier ‘glass’ nose, not the turret.

Just noticed CAF-UK’s post. All the Lib’s with 86, 120 and 224 by the time Bullock was a S/L would have had the oval, supercharged engines.

Hi Trumper

I have details for two of the Liberators that Squadron Leader Bulloch flew

A ‘stickleback’ variant was coded H-OH, serial AM929 of 120 Sqn and a large chin (don’t know if it has a proper name) variant coded ‘R’ with a serial BZ721 with 224 Sqn

BZ721 had a speared Shark nose art and I think rocket rails – have seen a picture of this somewhere with him posing by the nose art and I guess standing on the rocket rails.

Looking at the pencil drawings I am not sure the current nose works for either of the above aircraft and you might also want to check out the engine shape as well as I think the earlier ones were more round (as the CAF’s Diamond Lil) and am not sure when they changed to the more oval shape

Hope that helps

Cheers
Chris