Thanks, ericmunk, for the additional images and thanks, Matt, for trying to track down what happened to AL595 before it came across to Britain. The latter is a little puzzle that, I hope, future researchers will be able to solve.

This being a holiday weekend, I shall be very busy indeed, so probably not contributing much for a few days. Nevertheless, please keep the comments, images and information coming. I shall be keeping an eye on this thread with interest.

Meanwhile, as promised, here’s the list of BOAC Liberators, as given by Peter Moss in a 1975 article (it excludes the 1946 conversions):

EDIT : THE FOLLOWING RELATES ONLY TO POSTS #109, #110 and #111

Again,thank you very much, ericmunk, for both of the extracts and for the images. Are those books only available in Dutch or has an English-language version of either ever been published?

The image of the passengers loading was, by the weather, taken in Canada. It is noteworthy that the Liberator in question is in bare metal and thus post-WWII. AJ Jackson wrote that “seven former R.F.S. Liberators retained by B.O.A.C. were converted for Atlantiic freighting at Montreal in 1946 and flew in shining metal …. on the London Airport-Prestwick-Montreal service for several years“. He also gives their registrations but notes that one, G-AHYB, “had airline windows“. A few sentences later, he added, “G-AHYB, B.O.A.C.’s solitary passenger version“. The Liberator in the photograph is therefore G-AHYB, which is shown in the other image you posted. It was formerly AM920 and apparently went on, in later life, to become the personal aircraft of Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam.

The RFS Identity Card seems to have been issued on a “one use only” basis – in this case, on 13 February 1943 for a flight with AL627 – but was then used for later flights, with the original date and ‘AL627‘ having been crossed out. It was next used fin connection with a flight on AL528. Then, ‘AL528‘ was crossed out, so that the card could be used yet again, this time in connection with a flight on AM258.

According to the A J Jackson book:

>>> the last named (AL528) was the G-AGEM that crashed at Charlottetown on 21 February 1946
>>> the middle one (AM258) was one of thirteen Liberators first allocated to BOAC but not one of the six also with a civil registration
>>> the first-named (AL627) is not listed by Jackson at all [It is, however, given by Peter Moss, writing in AEROPLANE MONTHLY, as one of the BOAC Liberators that did not get a civilian registration]

I never thought to check the Peter Moss articles and he has a page devoted to BOAC’s Liberators. If I can do so, I’ll scan the list of Liberators it contains and post it at a later date.

Thanks, Matt. That strongly indicates that the photograph was taken at Dorval between late April 1942 and late May 1942.

I assume that “c/n 93” suggests it was manufactured in San Diego and, if the date of its first flight is not known, is it possible to estimate roughly when that first flight would have taken place?

From that and the Dorval dates, we would roughly know the period when it might have served in the USAAF.

And, if it did so serve, was “c/n 93” allocated a USAAF serial number? And if not, does this suggest (and it sounds unlikely), that it served in the USAAF with an RAF serial number?

R.A. Saville-Sneath, in his “AIRCRAFT of the UNITED STATES – VOLUME ONE” (published in June 1945 but correct to November 1944), reported that the XB-24, “passed its type tests in 1939 and in modified form was released for export to France and Great Britain. Deliveries began in 1941, those originally intended for France being diverted to Britain“. [The ostensible purpose of this series of books was aircraft recognition, by the way, so historical accuracy may not have been paramount].

What did “retained in the USA following Pearl Harbor” actually mean in practice? Of course, it meant that AL595 did not get delivered to Britain straightaway but what was the thinking behind this delay? Did it just sit around (with others?) awaiting a decision? The photograph at Dorval suggests otherwise, in which case, where was it based and what sort of duties did it perform?

Ericmunk, there is no great rush. Anything that you are able to contribute would be much appreciated, I’m sure.

I’m afraid that, sadly, my Dutch is zero, ericmunk.

When I was in my mid-teens, I flew to Schipol for the day (I come from a modest background but my mother worked for BEA so i got the benefit of staff travel rates) and, whilst there, I bought a copy of a Dutch aircraft magazine (COCKPIT, was it?). It was an issue with a feature on the Belgian Air Force, as I recall. I was perusing this magazine on the flight back and my neighbour started speaking to me in Dutch. That’s about the nearest I ever came to conversing in Dutch.

Does either book have photographs relevant to this thread that you could scan and post here?

Many thanks, Ross. Your explanation was all new to me (I was definitely one of the ‘unwary’) and it suggests that the photograph may not be an example of ‘fake news’ after all.

With this in mind, I have tried to ‘tweak’ the date at the top of the ‘MOVEMENTS BOARD‘ visually to see what I can make of it. It is impossible to arrive at anything definitive but I am going to have a go anyway. This is what I’ve come up with:-

>>> There is a ‘smudge’ at the start, followed by what appears to be (but may not be) a ‘9’.

>>> There is then a long ‘smudge’ where the month should be. This looks to me like “MARCH” followed by some rubbings-out, which could be the end of the (longer) previous month which has been rubbed out but not erased.

>>> Finally, the ’42’ is clearer than the rest but, again, I stress that this may not be correct.

Those of you of a certain age will recall chalk and blackboards from your school-days and may remember that, if the blackboard were not properly ‘cleaned’, a layer (maybe several layers) of residual chalk dust would remain on the surface and ‘fog’ what is written on top of it. Using this ‘logic’ (?????) my conclusion (ill-founded, I concede) is that the date is 9 March 1942.

Does the information on that board fit with the dates for trans-Atlantic flights at this time?