Customer Reviews

Consolidated B-24 Liberator (American Bomber Aircraft, Vol. 1)

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Unlike Schiffer's "Ultimate Look" series about the B-32 and B-29,

this book is devoid of any narrative. It is a collection of captioned

photos, mostly black and white.

There is no development history or diagrams/photos of any of the

B-24's systems - engines, armament, bombing equipment, etc. If I had

the opportunity to browse through it in a bookstore, I would not have

purchased it.

CONSOLIDATED B-24 LIBERATOR is the first volume in (what was a short-lived) "American Bomber Aircraft" series of photo scrapbooks by John and Donna Campbell. Published in 1993 by Schiffer Publishing, it's basically a 255 photo-history of the B-24, the most-produced American warbird of all time.

The Campbells and Schiffer have collaborated before and this volume has all the pluses and minuses of those books. You get a ton of b&w photographs, 500 or so. There's also 26 color pages showing vintage and warbird Libs and five pages of color side-profiles. Photo quality is generally good. Captions are uneven. Most give basic information although many lack dates. A few feature very skimpy captions.

The photos are lumped into the following sections: B-24s on the Move; Navy, Coastal Command Liberators & Privateers; The Price of Victory (damaged and shot down Libs); B-24 Nose Art (at 120 pages, the biggest section of the book); and Final Disposition. I say 'lumped' rather than 'organized' because I don't see any logical order to the pix in each chapter.

If you're just looking for lots of B-24 pix, AMERICAN BOMBER VOLUME I, CONSOLIDATED B-24 LIBERATOR is what the doctor ordered. Considering the large number of photos, I guess the $39.00 price tag isn't too exorbitant. In any case, Liberator and bomber buffs will enjoy the Campbells' book. Recommended.

A nice collection of photographs of B-24 Liberators and Privateers. It's more like a scrap book than anything else. Divided into somewhat arbitrary sections dealing with combat shots; nose art; the Navy uses; a post-war section about scrapping and colour shots including a sub-section on the Lady Be Good.

There is no context whatsoever relating to development of the Liberator. For example, no explanation is given for why the B-24N and the Privateer have a single vertical stabilizer. Perhaps tha authors assumed buyers with have such knowledge or they felt any such explanation was not part of the book.

My copy also included what I call the usual Schiffer typos and grammer errors.

As I was looking for a design history, this book did not fulfill my needs.