B-24 Tail wheel??

[mike furline]

I've seen a thousand pics of B-24's, but never a tail wheel.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ww2-wwii-photo-albu ... dZViewItem



Regards,
Mike

[retroaviation]

That's certainly how it should've been designed, in my opinion.

Gary

[Ztex]

I've always thought this shot showed a tail wheel on 927... it may be a block under the skid but it looks wheel-ish to me...

[retroaviation]

Nope, that was a block under the original tail skid.

Gary

[DryMartini]

The most important part of a B-24
was the empty ammo can under the
tail skid.

[Second Air Force]

Mike,

That picture you posted is of a VERY important B-24. 41-23765 became known as "Connell's Special" and was the first B-24 to be equipped with a nose turret. A very good history of this modification can be read here:
http://www.ploiesti.net/page11.html

This old girl was a good bargain to the American taxpayer, as she survived combat and then became a trainer. Here are a few pictures:

Original paint with turret modification:


Paint removed while still in the combat zone, and with a fairly impressive scoreboard:


And in her final role as a B-29 gunnery training machine. Notice that the tailwheel is still doing it's job!


I was once told that a number of Libs in the SWPA had some form of tailwheel or roller mounted on the standard tail bumper--the standard tail skid would easily snag the pierced steel planking that was normal for runway surfaces, and the rollers would alleviate this problem.

[Michel Lemieux]

OK....

Interesting, B29 gunner trainner

Nice instalation that is ( top, front and bottom turrets ) never seen it before on a 24.