PB4Y-2 Links -- Learn More about the U.S. Navy Liberator and Privateer Squadrons of WWII

Here is a rather brief official history of VPB-118, on the last page. (Naval History & Heritage Command)

VPNAVY.COM has to be the Internet's ultimate listing of Navy patrol squadrons. Go right to the VPB-118 area.

Charlie Hodge is represented in the Veterans History Project.

Aviation Archeology has compiled a great listing of airframe histories of PB4Y US Navy planes, including the VPB-118 planes. However, I think there are some errors in their chart of aircraft lost during WWII, such as the VPB-118 plane that was lost in the Philippines, unless it went to the Philippines via another squadron.

None other than GlobalSecurity.org has a great rundown on the PB4Y-2. They also posted some schematics showing the plane and some of its capabilities, which they seem to have extracted from this original document, which they also linked to.

During the 2008 VPB-118 Reunion we visited Naval Station Great Lakes, through which many VPB-118 airmen passed during basic training. They are relocating the base museum outside of the base proper, so after it reopens you will be able to visit it without having to gain admittance to the base. There is no admission charge to the museum.

U.S. Navy Abbreviations of WWII (USNAOWWII?)

Learn about Crow's Landing, where the US Navy's first Privateer sqaudron trained!

Wikipedia now has several articles of interest, The Battle Of Okinawa, Yontan Airfield on Okinawa (with an aerial image), Battle of Tinian , Tinian, North Field Airfield on Tinian (with an aerial image), Pacific War , Consolidated Vultee (Convair) and PB4Y-2.

Someone from VPB-208 was nice enough to link to this site so I thought I would return the favor. It's not obvious at first, but they have a lot of content on their site.

Hal Olsen , painter, is the creator of the nose art "Miss Lottatail" as well as "Red Wing", which Matchbox chose to be the nose art decal for their 1/72 Privateer model kit.

The wrecks of the Shinzan Maru and the Seiri Maru, sunk by VPB-118.

For some reason the mining activities of VPB-118 are documented by history buffs on the web, like here.

The precursor to the PB4Y-2 was the PB4Y-1, the navy version of the B-24 Liberator. the The Collings Foundation is operating one of the last flyable Liberators.

The art print Henry Thompson commissioned is on sale here and here. Miss Lottatail can be seen on the plane in the foreground.

This seems to be an index to many other documents relating to US military operations during WWII. VPB-118 is mentioned on page 17 of the PDF. It is part of the archives of the US occupation of Japan and is provided by the National Diet Library of Japan

Probably the person who's written more than anyone on the PB4Y-2 is Alan Carey. While he probably is one of the most knowledgeable persons living on the overall subject of PB4Y-2 squadrons, I am far more knowledgeable than he on the subject of Crew 2 of VPB-118.

Unusual PB4Y-2 Links

French Privateers! Apparently many Privateers landed up in the French armed forces during the French Indo-China conflict. This site has very nice photos and diagrams of the Privateer. Parlez-vous Francais?

Lego Privateer created by Bill Ward, son of Robert H. Ward, PB4Y-2 veteran from the Korean War.

Images of PB4Y-2 In Lake Washington by Submerged Cultural Resources Exploration Team (SCRET).

NAVYLIB.COM used to be dedicated to the Navy B-24 both as Liberator and Privateer. Now it's a Japanese placeholder site???!!