The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

era

patrol bomber A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

derived from the

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Liberator, and along with maritime patrol Liberators used by

RAF Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, this type of patrol plane was proven successful. A fully navalized design was desired, and Consolidated developed a dedicated long-range patrol bomber with tests begun in 1943, designated PB4Y-2 Privateer. The first version of the Privateer flew in September 1943 with production versions arriving in March 1944. In 1951, the type was redesignated P4Y-2 Privateer. A further designation change occurred in September 1962, when the remaining US Navy Privateers (all having previously been converted to

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

configuration as P4Y-2K) were redesignated QP-4B.

Design and development

The Privateer was externally similar to the Liberator, but the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was longer to accommodate a

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referr ...

's station, and it had a tall single

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...

rather than the B-24's

twin tail A twin tail is a type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircraft's ho ...

configuration. The Navy wanted a flight engineer crewmember to reduce

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

fatigue on long duration over water patrols. The single vertical tail was adopted from the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

' canceled B-24N design (and was slightly taller on the Privateer) because it would increase

stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics *Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Exponential stability ** Linear stability **Lyapunov stability ** Marginal s ...

at low to medium

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

s for

maritime patrol Maritime patrol or maritime reconnaissance is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to active ...

. The

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

, which produced B-24s for the USAAF, had earlier built an experimental variant (B-24K) using a single tail.Baugher, Joe
"Consolidated B-24N Liberator."
''American Military Aircraft.'' Retrieved: 13 November 2010. Aircraft handling was improved. The single tail design was used on the

B-32 Dominator The Consolidated B-32 Dominator (Consolidated Model 34) was an American heavy strategic bomber built for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. A B-32 was involved in the last air combat engagement of the war, resulting in the ...

and PB4Y-2 and was slated for the proposed B-24N production model to be built by Ford, but that order (for several thousand bombers) was canceled on 31 May 1945. Defensive armament on the PB4Y-2 was increased to twelve .50-in (12.7 mm)

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...

machine guns in six power-operated turrets (two dorsal, two waist, nose and tail); the B-24's ventral, retractable Sperry

ball turret A ball turret is a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount Aircraft gun turret, gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remot ...

was omitted. Turbosuperchargers were not fitted to the Privateer's engines since maritime patrol missions were not usually flown at high altitude, improving performance and also saving weight. The navigator's

astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated around 50,000 fans, with a record atte ...

was moved from its (B-24/PB4Y-1) position on the aircraft's upper nose to behind the first dorsal gun turret.

Electronic countermeasure An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

(ECM), communication and radar antennas also protruded or were enclosed in fairings at various locations on the

of the Privateer, including a manually retractable AN/APS-2

radome A radome (a portmanteau of "radar" and "dome") is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weathe ...

behind the nose wheel well. The

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

eventually took delivery of 739 Privateers, the majority after the end of the war. Several PB4Y-2 squadrons saw operational service in the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

through August 1945 in the

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

electronic countermeasure An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

s, communication relay, and anti-shipping roles (the latter with the "Bat" radar-guided bomb).

Operational history

The Privateer entered U.S. Navy service during early 1944, Patrol Bomber Squadrons 118 and 119 ( VPB-118 and VPB-119) being the first Fleet squadrons to equip with the aircraft. The first overseas deployment began on 6 January 1945, when VPB-118 left for operations in the

Marianas The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...

. On 2 March 1945 VPB-119 began "offensive search" missions out of

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

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in the Philippines, flying sectored searches of the seas and coastlines extending from the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin ( northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern co ...

in the south, along the Chinese coast, and beyond

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

in the north. Privateers were used as typhoon/hurricane hunters from 1945 to the mid-1950s. One aircraft, designated BuNo 59415 of VPB-119, went down when it experienced mechanical trouble while investigating a Category 1 typhoon near

Batan Island Batan Island ( ) is the main island of Batanes, an archipelagic province in the Philippines. It is the second largest of the Batanes Islands, the northernmost group of islands in the Philippines. Geography Batan is a dumbbell-shaped volcanic is ...

in the

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. It attempted to land on the island, but was unable to do so and crashed. It was one of only six hurricane hunter flights that were ever lost, and the only one found. Another P4Y-2S, designated BuNo 59716 of Squadron VW-3 (formerly VJ-1), was lost during reconnaissance of Super Typhoon Doris on 16 December 1953. Flying out of NAS Agana, Guam, the Privateer with a crew of nine was tracking Typhoon Doris with sustained winds of 90-95 knots near the small island of Agrihan north of Guam. No sign of the crew nor wreckage of the plane was ever found. PB4Y-2s were also used during the

to fly "Firefly" night illumination missions dropping parachute flares to detect

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n and Chinese seaborne infiltrators. In addition, Privateers were used by the U.S. Navy for

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

(SIGINT) flights off of the coast of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the People's Republic of China. On 8 April 1950, Soviet La-11 fighters shot down a U.S. Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) over the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Liepāja, Latvia. Nicknamed the "Turbulent Turtle," the aircraft was assigned to Patrol Squadron 26 (

VP-26 The VP-26 Tridents are a United States Navy aircraft squadron based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida. The squadron flies Boeing P-8 Poseidon, Boeing P-8A patrol aircraft. It was established as Bombing Squadron 114 (VB-114) on 26 Augu ...

), Det A. The French '' Aéronavale'' was supplied with Privateers via the

Mutual Defense Assistance Act The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on October 6, 1949. For U.S. foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to ...

, which they used as bombers during the

Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between France and Việt Minh ( Democratic Rep ...

and later operated out of

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and

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. All U.S. Navy PB4Y-2s were retired by 1954, though unarmed PB4Y-2G Privateers served until 1958 with the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

before being auctioned off for salvage. The Navy dropped the patrol-bomber designation in 1951 and its remaining PB4Y-2s were redesignated P4Y-2 Privateer. (The earlier XP4Y-1 Corregidor was a completely different design, based on the Consolidated Model 31 twin-engine flying boat.) PB4Y-2s were still being used as

s in the 1950s/early 1960s, designated PB4Y-2K, and P4Y-2K after 1951. They were then redesignated QP-4B under the

1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system The Tri-Service aircraft designation system is a unified system introduced in 1962 by the United States Department of Defense for designating all U.S. military aircraft. Previously, the U.S. armed services used United States military aircraft de ...

, becoming part of the new patrol number series between the

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop Anti-submarine warfare, anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. It is based on the Lockheed ...

and the Martin P-5 Marlin. A number of PB4Ys were supplied to the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

for use in missions over the People's Republic of China. One was shot down by ground fire on 12 September 1954, near

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

, People's Republic of China. The crew of nine was killed. Another was shot down on 15 February 1961 by Burmese

Hawker Sea Fury The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy. Developed during the Second World War, the Sea Fury entered service two year ...

fighter aircraft, near the Thai-Burmese border, killing five members of the crew. Two other crew members were taken prisoner. This aircraft was carrying supplies for Chinese Kuomintang forces fighting in northern

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Privateers in aerial firefighting

A limited number of refitted PB4Ys and P4Ys continued in civilian service as airtankers, dropping fire retardant on forest fires throughout the western United States. On 18 July 2002, one such refitted P4Y, BuNo 66260 (seen in picture to right) operated by Hawkins and Powers Aviation of

Greybull, Wyoming Greybull is a town in central Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,651 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Clima ...

broke up in flight while fighting a wildfire near

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is s ...

. Both crew members were killed in the accident, and the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

temporarily grounded all large air tankers in the region."Two Die in Crash Fighting Colorado Wildfire."
''Firehouse.com.'' Retrieved: 13 November 2010. Despite the fact that the crash was the result of poor maintenance, and a much newer C-130 based aircraft also broke apart due to similar stresses, all remaining Privateers were retired. (See 2002 United States airtanker crashes.)

Variants

;YPB4Y-2: prototypes, three built. ;PB4Y-2: main production version, 736 built. ;PB4Y-2B: PB4Y-2s equipped to launch ASM-N-2 ''Bat'' air-to-surface missiles. Redesignated P4Y-2B in 1951. ;PB4Y-2M: PB4Y-2s converted for weather reconnaissance. Redesignated P4Y-2M in 1951. ;PB4Y-2S: PB4Y-2s equipped with anti-submarine radar. Redesignated P4Y-2S in 1951. ;PB4Y-2G: PB4Y-2s converted for air-sea rescue and weather reconnaissance duties with the U.S. Coast Guard. Redesignated P4Y-2G in 1951. ;PB4Y-2K: PB4Y-2s converted to target drones. Redesignated P4Y-2K in 1951 and QP-4B in 1962.

Operators

; ; ; ; ; *

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

Surviving aircraft

;Airworthy ;;P4Y-2G * 66302 – based in

Casa Grande, Arizona Casa Grande (O'odham language, O'odham: ''Wainom Wo:g'') is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, Pinal County, approximately halfway between Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, in the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 ...

. ;On display ;;PB4Y-2 * 59701 – Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting in

. * 59819 –

Pima Air and Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over on a campus occupying . It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991. Overvi ...

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. * 59876 –

Michigan Flight Museum The Michigan Flight Museum, formerly known as the Yankee Air Museum, is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport, and in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display airc ...

Belleville, Michigan Belleville is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Belleville is located roughly southwest of downtown Detroit, and southeast of Ann Arbor, and is completely surrounded by Van Buren Township. A ...

. * 59882 – Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting in

. * 59932 (nose only) ''Over Exposed'' –

The National WWII Museum The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...

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. Displayed as a B-24D. * 66261 –

National Naval Aviation Museum The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its cur ...

Naval Air Station Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United Sta ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. * 66300 –

Yanks Air Museum The Yanks Air Museum is an aviation museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California. History A pair of F ...

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino's surroundings ha ...

."PB4Y-2 Privateer/66300"
''Yanks Air Museum'' Retrieved: 21 September 2023.

Specifications (PB4Y-2)

Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer 3-view line drawing

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Bridgeman, Leonard. "The Consolidated Vultee Privateer." ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II.'' London: Studio, 1946. . * Polmar, Norman. ''Historic Naval Aircraft: From the pages of Naval History Magazine''. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's Inc, 2004. . * Wegg, John. ''General Dynamics Aircraft: And their Predecessors''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990. .

External links

– Aviation Enthusiast Corner

– Lone Star Flight Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Consolidated Pb4y-2 Privateer PB4Y 1940s United States patrol aircraft Four-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1943 Four-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear