Tulsa's a possibility if it was a B-24. The aircraft was designed by Consolidated and manufactured at their plants in San Diego and Fort Worth. They were also built by North American in Dallas and Douglas in Tulsa. The biggest production facility was Ford's gigantic Willow Run plant which turned out 428 B-24s a month.
Submitted by ChefBoyRV on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 9:06pm.
External changes included the elimination of gun turrets and the bombardier’s plexiglass nose position, which was covered over; the addition of seven windows cut into each side of the fuselage and a large cargo door at the rear of the port side; and the elimination of bomb-bay doors. The C–87 carried a five-man crew—pilot, copilot, navigator, radio operator, and crew chief—along with twenty-five passengers or a cargo of twelve thousand pounds in certain conditions
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 9:16am.
...that is, if these are indeed C-87's. As for the fuselage trim difference between it and the B-24 Liberator, some of that was done after these planes were assembled on the basis of being made as B-24s. I believe my late brother in law flew on C-87s as a Weather Observer in the CBI theatre over the Hump. He was also active with B-25's there, but I'm not sure there was room for a Weather Observer on the Mitchells.
I'm not convinced that these are C-87's if only because the aircraft behind the tail of the aircraft in the foreground have tarps over a "bump" in the top of the fuselage which would indicate the top turret. Also, there were windows and a hatch in the side of the Liberator on either side of the air force insignia, the hatch serving as the opening for the side gunners. In the photos of the C-878 I've seen the windows are forward of the air force insignia and much lower than the middle of the star..
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 4:23pm.
My first guess was B-24's. But then noticed the windows and door at the rear. So they would seem to be C-87 transports, a variant of the B-24 Liberator bomber.
