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WWII C-87 Liberator Express Airman Identified By Bill Goldston |
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April 25, 2011 - The Department of Defense POW/Missing
Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of a
serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have
been identified and are being returned to his family for
burial with full military honors. U.S. Army Air Forces PFC. Mervyn E. Sims, 23, of Petaluma, Calif., will be buried Friday in his hometown. On April 24, 1943, Sims and four crew members aboard a C-87 Liberator Express departed from Yangkai, China, in support of ?the Hump? resupply mission between India and China. Prior to takeoff, a ground crew determined the aircraft had sufficient fuel for the six-hour flight to the air base on other side of the Himalayas in Chabua, India. |
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Once cleared for takeoff, there was no further communication
between the aircrew and airfield operators. Army officials
launched a search effort when the plane did not arrive at the
destination. No evidence of the aircraft was found and the five
men were presumed killed in action.
A total of 287 C-87s were factory-built alongside the B-24 at
the Consolidated Aircraft plant in Fort Worth, Texas. Converted
former C-87s were the basis for a USAAF flight engineer trainer
designated as the AT-22, a United States Navy VIP transport
designated as the RY, and a Royal Air Force VIP transport
designated as the Liberator C.IX. The C-87 was hastily designed in early 1942 to fulfill the need for a heavy cargo and personnel transport with longer range and better high-altitude performance than the C-47 Skytrain, the most widely available United States Army Air Forces transport aircraft at the time. The first C-87 prototype was based on a damaged B-24D, serial #42-40355, that crashed at Tucson Municipal Airport #2 on 17 February 1943. Six Consolidated Aircraft employees riding as passengers were killed and several others were injured. The prototype was converted into a transport configuration by various modifications, including deletion of the gun turrets and other armament along with the installation of a strengthened cargo floor, including a floor running through the bomb bay. The glassed-in bombardier compartment of the B-24 was replaced by a hinged metal cap to allow front cargo loading. A cargo door was added to the port side of the fuselage, just forward of the tail, and a row of windows was fitted along the sides of the fuselage. |