B-24 Liberator Units of the Cbi (Electronic book text)

The B-24 Liberator was the mainstay of the US Army Air Forces strategic bombing effort in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. With longer range and a greater load-carrying capacity than the B-17, the B-24 was well suited to the demands of the CBI. The CBIs two air forces, the Tenth in India and the Fourteenth in China, each had one heavy bomb group equipped with Liberators. These two groups, the 7th and the 308th, carried the war to the Japanese across China and Southeast Asia, flying over some of the most difficult terrain in the world. The 308th had the added burden of having to carry its own fuel and bombs over the Himalayan Hump from India to China in support of its missions. Despite the hardships and extreme distances from sources of supply, both units compiled a notable record, each winning two Distinguished Unit Citations. The 7th Bomb Group, whose legacy dates back to service in France in World War 1, began operations with the LB-30 version of the Liberator in Java in early 1942. Transferring to India to join the Tenth Air Force, the group commenced operations with the B-24D in October 1942, transitioning to later models of the Liberator as the war went on. The 7th flew missions over Burma, China and Thailand. The 308th Bomb Group arrived in China in 1943 and began flying missions over China, Burma and French Indochina. The group was particularly successful interdicting Japanese shipping in the East China Sea. Both the 7th and the 308th employed black-painted B-24s for night bombing missions and decorated their aeroplanes with elaborate nose art. In addition to the 7th and 308th Bomb Groups, the 24th Combat Mapping Squadron flew the F-7 (the reconnaissance version of the B-24) as part of the 8th Photo Reconnaissance Group in the Tenth Air Force. The 24th flew reconnaissance missions over Burma and China to the end of the war.