One of the main offensive assets the Allied air forces could call upon during the Second World War was the availability of large numbers of capable four engined heavy bombers. Both Britain and America introduced aircraft capable of carrying the fight to enemy occupied Europe, with the Luftwaffe’s inability to match them thought by many to be one of the most significant factors in them ultimately losing the war. Both Britain and America could call upon the destructive services of three different four engined heavy bombers during WWII, with the Avro Lancaster joining the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax in Bomber Command service, pounding countless German targets by night.

The Americans also had three such aircraft, the impressive late war Boeing B-29 Superfortress joining the B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator which were already in service, although as far as many people are concerned, this particular story started and ended with the Flying Fortress. For whatever the reason maybe, the B-17 seemed to capture the imagination of the world, and as such, is often regarded by many as the most famous and most important four engined heavy bomber of the war, even though the B-24 Liberator was produced in greater numbers and was arguably the better aircraft.

As we welcome what is just the second release from our new 1/72nd scale Consolidated B-24 Liberator tooling to the 2025 range, this latest update will help us attempt to redress this historic imbalance by discovering why the B-24 was much more than just an aircraft which served as a support act for the Flying Fortress throughout the USAAF daylight bombing campaign against Germany in WWII, and is deserving of much greater recognition than it usually receives.

A true WWII aviation heavyweight is under the Airfix modelling spotlight in this latest edition of Workbench.