USAF Serial Number Search Results

40-2369 ... 40-2377 (EXACT MATCH)
Consolidated B-24A Liberator
MSN 1/9.  Redesignated RB-24A
2369 to Consairway.  Salvaged at Kingman, AZ.   Nose section exists
with Robert Kropp collection, Mesa, AZ.
2370 shot down by Zero on takeoff during Japanese attack on Broome, Australia Mar 3, 1942
and crashed into sea about 7 miles off Cable Beach.
Plane was carrying 33 wounded from Java, 19 of which were killed
in the crash.  Another source shows this plane as being 40-2374.
2371 destroyed on the ground at Hickam Field, HI Dec 7, 1941.  First US aircraft to be
destroyed in WW 2.  This was one of the two planes that had been earmarked
for a secret flight over Japanese bases on Jaluit and Truk in the South
Pacific.
2372 to Consairway.  Burned at Amberley Jul 20, 1943.
2373 was one of two aircraft used to transport the Harriman Mission
to Moscow Sep 1941 via the UK.  Destroyed on ground at Broome,
Australia during Japanese raid Mar 3, 1942.
2374 (7th BG, 11th BS) destroyed by strafing after Java evacuation Mar 3, 1942.
2375 to Consairway.  Salvaged at Walnut Ridge, Ark Dec 1945.
2376 was turned over to ATC in 1941, "months before Pearl Harbor", then flew the North Atlantic routes, the Caribbean, North Africa, the 
Mid East and CBI. Her final missions were in the Southwest Pacific, flying evacuation from the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies.
The plane was variously known as "Old '76" (presumably early in her career, for the number), "Red Cap" or "Gravy Train" (for carrying 
a number of VIPs at various times), or "Old Bag of Bolts."  Ditched in lagoon of Ju Island in East Indies after running
out of fuel attempting to return to Darwin May 5, 1942.