Editing Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express (section)

==Operational history==
[[File:Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express.jpg|thumb|C-87 Liberator Express takes off from Fort Worth, Texas on a test flight in October 1942.]]

Most C-87s were operated by the [[Air Transport Command (United States Air Force)|U.S. Air Transport Command]] and flown by formerly civilian crews from U.S. civil transport carriers. The planes were initially used on transoceanic routes too long to be flown by the C-47. After the [[Japanese invasion of Burma]] in 1942, the C-87 was used for flying war material from India to American and [[China|Chinese]] forces over "[[The Hump]]", the treacherous air route that crossed the [[Himalayas]]. When the route was established, the C-87 was the only readily available American transport with high-altitude performance good enough to fly this route while carrying a large cargo load.

The C-87 was plagued by numerous problems and suffered from a poor reputation among its crews. Veteran airline pilot and author [[Ernest K. Gann]], in his 1961 memoir ''[[Fate is the Hunter]]'', wrote: "They were an evil bastard contraption, nothing like the relatively efficient B-24 except in appearance." Complaints centered around electrical and hydraulic system failures in extreme cold at high altitudes, a disconcertingly frequent loss of all cockpit illumination during takeoffs, and a flight deck heating system that either produced stifling heat or did not function at all.<ref>Gann, Ernest K. (1961), ''Fate is the Hunter'', Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-671-63603-0}}, pp. 214–215</ref>

The C-87 did not climb well when heavily loaded, a dangerous characteristic when flying out of the unimproved, rain-soaked airfields of India and China; many were lost on takeoff with the loss of just a single engine. Gann's book recounts a near-collision with the [[Taj Mahal]] after takeoff in a heavily loaded C-87 when full flaps had to be hastily deployed to increase the aircraft's altitude to avoid the edifice. The aircraft's auxiliary long-range fuel tanks were linked by improvised and often leaky fuel lines that crisscrossed the crew compartment, choking flight crews with noxious [[gasoline]] fumes and creating an explosion hazard. The C-87 also had a tendency to enter an uncontrollable [[stall (flight)|stall]] or [[spin (flight)|spin]] when confronted with even mild [[icing conditions]], a frequent occurrence over the Himalayas. Gann said they "could not carry enough ice to chill a [[highball]]".<ref>Gann (1961), p. 214</ref>

The aircraft could also become unstable in flight if its [[center of gravity]] shifted due to improper cargo loading.  This longitudinal instability arose from the aircraft's hasty conversion from bomber to cargo transport.  Unlike a normal cargo transport, which was designed from the start with a contiguous cargo compartment with a safety margin for fore-and-aft loading variations, the bomb racks and bomb bays built into the B-24 design were fixed in position, greatly limiting the aircraft's ability to tolerate improper loading.  This problem was exacerbated by wartime exigencies and the failure of USAAF Air Transport Command to instruct [[loadmaster]]s in the C-87's peculiarities. The design's roots as a bomber are also considered culpable for frequently collapsing [[landing gear|nosegear]]; its strength was adequate for an aircraft that dropped its payload in flight before landing on a well-maintained runway, but it proved marginal for an aircraft making repeated hard landings on rugged unimproved airstrips while heavily loaded.

Despite its shortcomings and unpopularity among its crews, the C-87 was valued for the reliability of its Pratt & Whitney engines, superior speed that enabled it to mitigate significantly the effect of head and cross winds, a [[Ceiling (aeronautics)#service ceiling|service ceiling]] that allowed it to surmount most weather fronts, and range that permitted its crews to fly "pressure-front" patterns that chased favorable winds.<ref>Gann (1961), pp. 216–217</ref> The C-87 was never fully displaced on the air routes by the [[Douglas C-54 Skymaster]] and [[Curtiss C-46 Commando]], which offered similar performance combined with greater reliability and more benign flight characteristics. Some surviving C-87 aircraft were converted into VIP transports or flight crew trainers, and several others were sold to the Royal Air Force.