The latest in Squadron/Signal's general information books is this title on the B-24. The B-24 was, in many ways, quite different from its stable mate, the B-17. It had longer range, could carry a greater bomb load, was much more difficult to fly and had poorer altitude performance. The first two qualities made it perfect for the Pacific, and that made it the main bomber for that theater. However, it is Europe where most will place the Liberator, and had the war lasted another year, the B-24 would have been completely replaced by the B-17.

To cover the complete development and combat history of the B-24 in 64 pages is an impossible task so the author has wisely chosen to provide a synopsis of all these events and concentrate on a mass of photos and profiles. As you can imagine, the lion's share of combat information and photos are of the European theater where the B-24 operated with the 8th, 9th and 15th Air Force. Pacific operations are confined to just a few pages and even less space is given to Australian operators. There is nothing on Navy Liberators ops aside from a single PB4Y-2 profile.

The start of the book is a tad rough with several photos not matching the captions, but this smooths out and the glitches are not repeated past the first few pages. Those who are new to the B-24, will find this a real delight in terms of photos, as there are hundreds of them. We who have been around will find a large number of old favorites as well as many that are new to our eyes. The 8 pages of profiles are a real delight and I'm sure that they will engender a decal sheet or two on down the road. I'm also sure that the fidelity of these profiles has improved as a number in older books have proven to be inaccurate.

Overall, this is a great primer into America's most built heavy bomber. It is perfect for the initiate and those who can never get enough on the B-24.

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