BOAC Liberator II Landing At Prestwick

“ATLANTIC EXPRESS” – BBC Home Service radio programme – TX 14 November 1942

In its 12 November 1942 issue, FLIGHT magazine forewarned its readers about a radio programme to be broadcast in the BBC Home Service on the coming weekend.

The programme was entitled “Atlantic Express”.  Described as a “dramatic impression” of the work of R.A.F. Ferry Command, it isn’t entirely clear from the wording whether it was a drama or an exciting documentary. In 1942, I suspect the former.

The newspaper radio listings for 14 November 1942 show the transmission time as 8.00 pm. It looks as though it was a 30-minute programme, though the scanning of the newspaper was not done too well..

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE TWO RELEVANT “CLIPPINGS” [either as an inserted image or by clicking below – or both]

It is quite possible that the BBC Written Archives Centre at Caversham Park, near Reading, will have more information about the programme. If anyone lives near there or has access to the BBC archives, it may be worth checking out.

It is even possible that the programme as broadcast was recorded on a transcription disc.

NOTE: Since Key Aero no longer notes the number of persons visiting a thread, it is impossible to gauge the level of interest. I would therefore be grateful if you could post an entry, even if just to say “Saw it”.

MORE ON THE LIBERATOR-LINER

I do not know what materials you have in your files, 2nd Air Force, but here is a summary of what I have located in contemporary U.S. newspapers from the summer of 1944.

On 12 June 1944, the Liberator-Liner was shown publicly for the first time. This was reported in the press the next day but only in the form of a couple of paragraphs – no photos. The story was usually linked with the completion of the 5,000th Liberator, which was given the name “V-Grand”. At least one later report seems to have confused V-Grand with the Liberator-Liner. The first flight of the latter was given as 14th April.

On or around 19th June, a photograph of the Liberator-Liner was released. It showed the aircraft on the ground with someone up a tall ladder at the tail end.  One newspaper (the wonderfully named “Palladium-Item and Sun- Telegram” from Richmond, Indiana) showed it with the “First Photo of B-29 Taking Off To Bomb Japan”.

On the evening of Tuesday, 4th July 1944, the Liberator-Liner took off from Washington and flew to La Guardia, where it was viewed by military and airline officials the following day (as reported in the press on the 6th July). NOTE: I have yet to find anything about its flight from California to Washington.

On or around 10th July, a photo was released of the Liberator-Liner at La Guardia. It showed a woman about to board the aircraft and waving at the camera.

On 16th July, a Miami newspaper reported that it had been expected to tour “principal air centers’ around the country but “by Tuesday” (presumably 11th July) was returning to San Diego.

About a week later, a photograph of the aircraft in flight was being published and, about a week after that, a different photograph of it in flight was published.

I hope there is something of interest in the above.

Yes, it’s quite legible! Nice addition to the Liberator Liner file.

I do not know if this article will display nor, even if it does, whether it will be legible.

The main point, though,  was to show a different view of the Liberator-Liner.

Muncie is Indiana, I believe. The article was syndicated in May 1945 and appears in several newspapers. 

The attachment may be easier to read – or not, as the case may be.

Here’s something a little different. It’s from the small ads columns of a Baltimore newspaper in the summer of 1941,  That year, newspapers around there carried several  news and other reports about Pan Am’s Clippers and BOAC’s “giant flying boats”.  BOAC set up a base there that summer.

The BOAC ad,  which was repeated at intervals for a period,, was much less prominent than the image I’ve posted might suggest, since there were very many miscellaneous small ads on the page..

Can anyone suggested what might have prompted this advertising?

Yes, I agree. Consolidated must have been thinking in postwar terms when it came to designing the Liberator-Liner and the U.S. Navy gave them the impetus to actually construct the airframe. It wasn’t nearly as good a concept as the York but I reckon it’s all that Consolidated could come up with! 

Would it be fair to say that, conceptually speaking, the Liberator-Liner was like the Avro York – the wings of an existing bomber combined with a new fuselage to make a transport aircraft for the post-war age? 

Yes, indeed, the “Liberator-Liner”.

And you got it so quickly, too. I am mightily impressed. I was not familiar with this aircraft and it took me a while to pin it down.

As far as I can gather, after it had been evaluated and subsequently rejected by the U.S. Navy, American Airlines used it as freighter but only for about three months.

American Airlines named it “City of Salinas” after the Californian town of that name (perhaps more widely known though John Steinbeck) because it was used principally to carry agricultural produce from that part of California to rest of the USA. 

I found the photograph in a January 1946 article about an airport in Long Island.

[It was also pleasing to find that these pages are still being accessed  by folk]

Ahh…. answered my own question– it’s the AA airplane.

Great find, my friend!

Is that the U.S. Navy version or the American Airlines airplane? I have never seen this photo of the Liberator-Liner before!

I’ve been otherwise engaged of late and, since the new format does not show the activity level in any threads, I have no idea whether anyone has looked at this one in that period.

I thought, therefore, that I might try something different.  The question is: CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE AIRCRAFT IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH?

I was stumped when I first came across the picture but it does have some relevance to this thread.   I have removed the identifying wing markings but I can say that it is a one-off but in airline use. The photograph was taken in 1945.

I will attach the same image which should make the picture larger in size

This is a slight change of tack but still on the subject of transatlantic air services in WWII.

The thread started with an official photograph of Liberator AL528 about to land at Prestwick after crossing the Atlantic. It was one of several photographs given me more than half-a-century ago and only found again a few years back.

The photograph below shows Boeing 314A G-AGBZ “Bristol” and it is different from the AL528 photo in several respects. The original is much, much smaller, bears no rear stamps or identifying markings and showed a number of printing blemishes, which I have removed.  I have also cropped out some sea and sky but I have not changed the image in any material way. The photo was taken from a distance and, seemingly, just as ‘GBZ began to leave its moorings, so that it is not as sharp as I would have wished.  Nevertheless, someone may be able some questions

[1] Has this photo been published previously and, if so, where and when?                                                                                                                            {2] What did the caption say?                                                                                                                                                                                                                  [3] And, in particular, did it state or indicate the place where it was taken or the date?

NOTE: The photographed is attached as well as embedded and may be a little clearer as an attachment

I have assumed the photo was taken at Bermuda, based on the white uniforms and what I can make out of the flag at the nose of the aircraft. However, while Bermuda was a standard stopover on the southern route across the Atlantic, the aircraft sometimes called in elsewhere in the region.

I would welcome any guidance on this.

We were always led to believe that the Army Air Forces bailed ‘927 back to Consolidated due to it being heavily damaged in the accident. Some confusion existed(still exists) among our group as to who owned the airplane in the first place. My opinion was that it was officially an RAF aircraft loaned to TWA for the training role, others thought the U.S. Army was the true owner. Regardless, the airplane was saved!

Scott,

Even if TWA had responsibility for repairing AM927, I doubt its engineers would have had prior experience with a Liberator. Perhaps TWA called in Consolidated for assistance..

Given the immediate and pressing demands of the ferry crew training programme, maybe Consolidated provided TWA with a replacement Liberator and took AM927 back in exchange.

Just speculation on my part.

Ian,

The names correspond exactly with the history that the CAF has in their historical accounts of AM927.

We had always thought that Consolidated came out to Eagle Nest and inspected the airplane, then decided to temporarily repair it for a ferry flight back to San Diego for permanent repairs. However, the new info you’ve unearthed makes good sense also–that TWA was responsible for repairing the airplane since they had damaged it. Perhaps a decision was made at Kansas City that Consolidated should have this particular airframe bailed back to them and that’s when it became a company airplane.

Cheers, 

Scott

You’re welcome, Freecell49.  Another, slightly later report, said that the North-South runway   was completed (Probably in August 1941) and that, at 10.000 feet, was then the longest runway in the USA. It isn’t clear to me from the report whether this was an entirely new runway or the extension and improvement of an existing runway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As promised, 2nd Air Force, here is another contemporary report on the crash of AM927.

It provides more details of the circumstances, as well as the names of the crew.

IF AM927 was repaired at TWA’s Kansas City base, then I assume that there was some kind of temporary fix carried out in Albuquerque for it to fly between the two. Do you know if this is correct?

It is likely that the newspaper report was based on a press statement of some kind.  The brief article on the crash that I posted earlier came from the AP (Associated Press) news agency, as did a similarly brief report in another newspaper.  All three were published on 25 July 1941.  You may well find that other newspapers picked up the AP story, too, and, if you or others wish to pursue the matter, then that may be a route worth exploring.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have other (non-aviation) interests and it is likely that one of these will be taking precedence over the next week or so. I shall, nevertheless, keep an eye on this thread and may pop in from time to time.

Thank you Ian that is most helpful. Those dates fit better with the change in position of the USA with regard to the support to the transfer of aeroplanes to the RAF when the organisation ATFERO, which was civilian led by CPR, was changed to a service organisation under the RAF and Frederick Bowhill. Interestingly Bowhill as CiC of Coastal Command, prior to this appointment, had been one of the voices saying it was too risky to fly aircraft from Canada to the UK in winter and that the RAF should not be involved. This led to Beaverbrook establishing ATFERO  via his Canadian contacts as a Ministry of Aircraft Supply organisation outside of the Air Ministry in mid 1940. 

Freecell49 , further to my previous postings:-

1) On 14 June 1941, a Vancouver newspaper reported the appointment of Bowhill “to command a new organization to take delivery of warplanes from ‘a recently  formed flight ferry command of the United States Army Air Corps‘ and fly them to British bases“.

2) The TWA staff magazine said, “TWA in June was selected to conduct an extensive program to train Junior Army Air Corps pilots in special multi-engined operations for the Air Corps Ferry Command and to qualify commercial pilots for the British Trans-Atlantic ferry service”.

3) On 18 June 1941 newspaper in Clovis, New Mexico, based on statement datelined ‘KANSAS CITY, June 18‘ (so presumably issued by TWA) , said that the “organization …… was created today” and that “Interviews of applicants are planned at Los Angeles and Dallas”.

4) A newspaper in Albuquerque carried the headline “TWA Men Arrive For ‘Ferry School‘” in its 19 June 1941 issue

5) The TWA staff magazine said that the Eagle Nest Flight Center commenced operations on 23 June 1941, rather than 24 June 1941 as reported by that New York newspaper.

These reports provide a timeline, in outline at least, for the establishment of the ‘Eagle Nest Flight Center’., which was described as a “Division of Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc.” on the sign above the door to its Administration offices – which I hope will be clear enough to read, below.

Ian, 

Back when we were researching the history of AM927 we were able to confirm the accident date and location and that the airplane was repaired sufficiently to be bailed back to Consolidated. I did not know that TWA repaired the airplane in Kansas City–that is a good bit of info. 

We are no longer associated with the airplane or the organization that owns it, but I still get excited to learn anything I can about AM927.

Freecell49, there was a report out of New York published on 25 June 1941.

In this article, it says that TWA announced the opening of the Ferry crew training facility on 24 June 1941 and that the company was to interview prospective trainees on 25 and 26 June 1941 at the Lexington Hotel – not sure of its location but presumably New York.  Applicants had to have a minimum of 600 flying hours  (later increased to 750 hours, I believe) and prospective co-pilots a minimum of 400 hours.

 The article quotes TWA’s president, Jack Frye, in places. It states that “The government is to furnish an undisclosed number of planes” and goes on to list some of the types. It adds, “Six planes have already been received”

The article also states that, “Civilian applicants will be trained for the Atlantic Ferry organization” and “Younger Army officers will be trained as well to ferry bombers across the United States”.

I hope that this may help.