B 24 Liberator Memorial Restoration Fund

Background

287 American-made B-24s were flown by the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War. They were used to equip seven bomber squadrons, an operational training unit and two independent flights. They were operated as bombers, used in covert operations, and after the war were used to repatriate prisoners of war to Australia. The RAAF flew B-24s until 1948. In due course the Liberators, as with many other ex-military aircraft, were often sold for scrap or for their new owners to use as sheds.

Liberator A72-176

A72-176 (RAAF number) / 44-41956 (USAAF Number) was a B-24M Liberator delivered to the RAAF. It was not used in combat, but was used at RAAF Station Tocumwal as a training aircraft for new B-24 crews. It was scrapped in 1948 and it was sold to George Toye, a Moe photographer who transported the fuselage to his property in Moe, Victoria to live in while he was building his home. He later used the fuselage as a wood shed, and after that it simply sat in his backyard.

Liberator "Bunny Hop/Flying Wolf" 42-41091

42-41091 was a B-24D Liberator built in San Diego by Consolidated. It was flown to Australia via Hawaii, and then deployed to New Guinea for the campaign against the Japanese. On an armed reconnaissance over Wewak it was attacked by two Japanese fighters and force-landed at Faita Airfield. It was stripped of usable equipment.

Founding of the Liberator Memorial Fund

In the 1980s former RAAF Liberator radio operator Eric Clark suggested to his former pilot Bob Butler that a national Liberator memorial be created. In 1988 a two-day meeting was held at RAAF Base Wagga by the "B-24 Squadrons of Australia" discussing the idea and the idea of acquiring a Liberator for public display was made. A decision was made to form the "B-24 Liberator Memorial Fund Incorporated", was formally incorporated in December 1989 as a non-profit organisation. The word "restoration" was added in 1997.

Acquisition of Liberator

The first part of the Liberator was a hubcap found at the former RAAF Station Tocumwal in New South Wales. In 1989 the group became aware of the Moe Liberator fuselage and after negotiations to purchase it the fuselage of the Liberator was acquired in 1995. The tail and wings of Liberator 42-41091 (USAAF number) were recovered in the late 1990s.

Museum

In 1993 the group began using an aircraft hangar that was built by the United States Army Air Force during the war on the Werribee Satellite Aerodrome. The land had since become part of the Western Treatment Plant owned by Melbourne Water. In 2012 Melbourne Water gave Places Victoria the rights to build public housing on the site, with a school planned to be on the hangar's location. In October 2014 it was announced that an agreement between the Victorian Government, Melbourne Water and the group had signed an agreement where Melbourne Water would transfer 1.475 hectares of land through the government to the group.

Restoration

The restoration of the aircraft has been ongoing since 1995. As of 2015 work on refurbishing the airframe was almost complete, and work was being done on the nacelle cowling panels and electrical work was ongoing.

Other projects

An Airspeed Oxford trainer is also under restoration at the hangar in Werribee. It was imported from New Zealand.

CAC Boomerang fighter A46-147 under restoration by its owner Nick Knight was moved to the Liberator hangar in 2015 after he ran out of space in his garage.