Warbird Information Exchange

B-24H 11th BG 7th AF 1944

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Don't touch my junk!!

Notice the small wheel on the tail skid? I've only seen these on SWPA Libs, and can't find a TO or service note anywhere that shows how these were installed. Several of us think they were installed to keep the skid from grabbing the holes in the PSP and tearing up the runway and airplane. A few airplanes (Connell's Special being one of them) had a regular tail wheel in place of the skid. Any info would be appreciated.

For those who don't know, Bolivar was rotated back to the States and later lost in an accident. "Bolivar Jr." took his place in the SWPA.

Ya think that's a mx run? Nose & top turret covers on. Chocks in. Great pic and neat comments on the tail skid - I can't imagine what kind of havoc could be caused by snagging some PSP.

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Ken,

I've seen photos of PSP all torn to pieces from snagging parts of airplanes, and it is a mess. That is the only purpose we've figured out for the little wheel in the SWPA since a lot of their runways were matting. Any references or veteran remembrances could help solve the mystery.

What I was trying to say is "I bet snagging a PSP mat with a tail skid could cause a whole lot of damage to the airplane and possibly muck up the matting as well".

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Yup, understood.

Strangely enough, though, I've not yet seen a photo or written report of a Liberator with the skid or aft fuselage damaged by hooking the runway material. If the skid mounting structure is anything at all like that on '927 there would surely be some torn up sheetmetal and substructure from a PSP event.

Scott