B-24 Liberator

I have been doing some research and was amazed at the B-24's accident
rate. From April 10, 1944 to August 31,1944, the Replacement Training
Unit at Chatham AAF, Savannah, Georgia had 23 accidents. In those
accidents, nine of the B-24 were destroyed and there were 54 deaths.
My question: Was the B-24 particularly difficult to fly? How
difficult was it in relation to the B-17?

The comments about this being a Naval Aviation News Group are, of course,
well taken, but I trained in and flew the Navy version of the B-24 in
Hutchinson, Kansas, over fifty years ago, immediately after basic training
in the SNJ (T-6). I guess we didn't know any better but I don't recall it
being an exceptional challenge or a particularly dangerous or accident prone
aircraft. It was, however, a damn truck at first, until you got used to
it - and I think someone else has commented on its taxi and climb
characteristics. I recall it as an easier aircraft to land than some of the
30 or so types I subsequently flew - just line up that protrusion (was it a
Navigators bubble or part of the nose turret?) with the right horizon
reference for the landing weight and fly it in. It might be interesting to
you to get the accident statistics for NAS Hutchinson, KA, in the early
fifties - which I don't recall as being significant - and compare them to
your Air Force numbers. Might show that the Navy's basic training was a
better prelude to the aircraft that the AF version.

Might show that the Navy's basic training was a
better prelude to the aircraft that the AF version.

I don't want to get into an inter-service squabble, but learning to
put the SNJ on an aircraft carrier, even though it wasn't very hard,
may have added bit to our stick-and-rudder skills.

vince norris