WOW173 – B-24 ‘Dragon Tail’

Description

WOW173 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was a WW2 American heavy bomber designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego California. Right from its inception the B-24 was considered a modern design featuring a highly efficient shoulder mounted high aspect ratio Davis wing. This type of wing design gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, range and large bomb load carrying ability. However the B-24 was not without its faults, having a lower ceiling than the B-17 and was considered less robust. The B-24 was used in every branch of the American armed forces and was utilised by several Allied air forces, seeing extensive service with the RAF. Along with the B-17 the B-24 was the mainstay of the US strategic high altitude bombing campaign on the Western Front. Due to its long range it was also used in the Pacific theatre and the bombing of Japan. There were other variants which included an anti-submarine variant and also a transport version the C-87 Transporter. Over 19,000 B-24’s were produced and it still holds the record as the most produced American heavy bomber in history. Our 1/32 scale B-24 ‘The Dragon and His Tail’ this aircraft flew with the 43rd bomb group 64th Squadron on 85 missions in the Pacific theatre. Because of its striking colour scheme the pilot Joseph Pagoni stated they were always the Centre of attention for Japanese pilots, who wanted to be the one who downed this magnificent bird. Miraculously despite all this unwanted attention the original Dragon survived the war, only to be scrapped later on despite a concerted effort to preserve her. A replica of her flies to this day with parts taken from an RAF liberator (amongst others) abandoned at Khanpur India at the end of the war. This limited edition model comes with a free USA012 ground crew figure.