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Consolidated B-24 Liberator
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===Antisubmarine and maritime patrols=== [[File:B-24 Liberator Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth Texas.jpg|thumb|[[Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command|AAF Antisubmarine Command (AAFAC)]] modifications at the Consolidated-Vultee Plant, [[Fort Worth, Texas]] in the foreground in the olive drab and white paint scheme. To the rear of this front line are partly assembled C-87 "Liberator Express Transports".]] [[File:Leigh Light.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Anti-submarine warfare|Anti-Submarine Weapons]]: [[Leigh light]] used for spotting [[U-boat]]s on the surface at night, fitted to a Liberator aircraft of [[Royal Air Force]] [[RAF Coastal Command|Coastal Command]]. 26 February 1944.]] The Liberators made a significant contribution to Allied victory in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] against German [[U-boat]]s. Aircraft had the ability to undertake surprise air attacks against surfaced submarines. Liberators assigned to the RAF's Coastal Command in 1941, offensively to patrol against submarines in the eastern [[Atlantic Ocean]], produced immediate results. The introduction of Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators vastly increased the reach of the UK's maritime reconnaissance force, closing the [[Mid Atlantic Gap]] where a lack of air cover had allowed U-boats to operate without risk of aerial attack.<ref>Green 1975, p. 85.</ref><ref>Winchester 2004, p. 57.</ref> For 12 months, [[No. 120 Squadron RAF]] of Coastal Command with its handful of worn and modified early model Liberators supplied the only air cover for convoys in the Atlantic Gap, the Liberator being the only airplane with sufficient range. The VLR Liberators sacrificed some armor and often gun turrets to save weight, while carrying extra aviation [[gasoline]] in their bomb-bay tanks. Liberators were equipped with [[ASV Mk. II radar]], which together with the [[Leigh light]], gave them the ability to hunt U-boats by day and by night. Before the [[Leigh Light]], not a single enemy submarine had been sunk in over five months, but in combination with radar, it was so overwhelmingly effective that many German submarine crews chose to surface during the day so that they could at least see the aircraft attacking them and have a chance to fire their anti-aircraft weaponry in defense.<ref>Giorgerini, Giorgio (2002). Uomini sul fondo : storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. Milano: Mondadori. pp. 518β20. {{ISBN|8804505370}}.</ref><ref>The Secret War, by Brian Johnson, Pen And Sword Military Classics, 1978, {{ISBN|1-84415-102-6}}</ref> These Liberators operated from both sides of the Atlantic with the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] and the [[Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command]] and later, the [[US Navy]] conducting patrols along all three American coasts and the Canal Zone. The RAF and later American patrols ranged from the east, based in [[Northern Ireland]], [[Scotland]], [[Iceland]] and beginning in mid-1943 from the [[Azores]]. This role was dangerous, especially after many U-boats were armed with extra [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] guns, some adopting the policy of staying on the surface to fight, rather than submerging and risking being sunk by aerial weapons such as rockets, gunfire, torpedoes and depth charges from the bombers. American Liberators flew from [[Nova Scotia]], [[Greenland]], the Azores, [[Bermuda]], [[the Bahamas]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Cuba]], Panama, [[Trinidad]], [[Ascension Island]] and from wherever else they could fly far out over the Atlantic. The sudden and decisive turning of the Battle of the Atlantic in favor of the Allies in May 1943 was the result of many factors. The gradual arrival of many more VLR and in October, PB4Y navalized Liberators for anti-submarine missions over the Mid-Atlantic gap ("black pit") and the Bay of Biscay was an important contribution to the Allies' greater success. Liberators were credited in full or in part with sinking 93 U-boats.<ref>Garner, Forest. [http://uboat.net/allies/aircraft/b24.htm "The Consolidated B-24 Liberator."] ''uboat.net''. Retrieved: 16 August 2012.</ref> The B-24 was vital for missions of a radius less than {{convert|1000|mi|km|abbr=on}}, in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters where U.S. Navy PB4Y-1s and USAAF SB-24s took a heavy toll of enemy submarines and surface combatants and shipping.
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