Hobby Master 1/144 HA9101 B-24D Liberator Lady Be Good 514th Bomb Squadron, 376th Bomb Group, 9th Air Group, 1943

The B-24 was the most produced American bomber in WWII. The demand was so great that Consolidated was unable to keep up so contracts were awarded to Douglas, Ford and North American. The D variant became the most numerous with 2,698. The design of the B-24 allowed it to carry the same payload as the Boeing B-17 and do it faster and further. Compared to the sleek look of the B-17 the B-24 looked awkward and B-17 crews referred to it as the crate the B-17 was shipped in.

B-24D Liberator 41-24301 arrived in Libya on March 25, 1943 assigned to the 514th BS, 376th BG. The number 64 was painted on both sides of the nose along with the name Lady Be Good on the starboard side. On April 4, 1943 the LBG was the last of 25 B-24s to depart to bomb Naples harbor. On the way home they lost their ADF and never returned. In 1958 it was located 440 miles inland on the desert. In 1960 8 of the 9 crew members remains were found.