Power was from 4 x Pratt & Whitney R-1830-94 air-cooled radial piston engines developing 1,350 horsepower each. Maximum speed was 300 miles per hour with cruising closer to 175 mph. Range was out to 2,820 miles and a service ceiling of 21,000 feet was possible. The lack of a turbosupercharger on each engine meant that the aircraft was relegated to low-level operation - which was negligible as the mission role generally required this and the lack of the power equipment saved on weight.
Variants
NOTE: The official PB4Y-2 "Privateer" designation was not applied to the series until a USN change in 1951. Up to this point, the PB4Y-1 "Liberator" name was used.
The series was first-proven through three YPB4Y-2 prototypes developed for trials and this led to the definitive PB4Y-2 models of which 736 examples were completed. The following PB4Y-2B mark was equipped to launch the ASM-N-2 "Bat" air-to-surface missile / glide bomb series and later (1951 onwards) came to be known as the P4Y-2B. The PB4Y-2M were converted PB4Y-2 models modified for the weather reconnaissance role and these, similarly, became P4Y-2M in the 1951 revision. The PB4Y-2S identified PB4Y-2S platforms equipped with an anti-submarine radar system and eventually became P4Y-2S in 1951. The PB4Y-2G were PB4Y-2 models modified for the SAR / weather reconnaissance roles with the USCG in the post-war world and evolved as the P4Y-2G in 1951. The final models were the PB4Y-2K modified for the target drone role ultimately becoming the P4Y-2K in 1951 and, finally, the QP-4B in 1962.
Service
Once in service, the investment in the Privateer paid immediate dividends for the U.S. Navy where they were used in a myriad of roles including anti-ship / anti-submarine, general reconnaissance, communications relay work, countermeasures, and vital Search-and-Rescue (SAR). They were well defended with their multiple machine gun posts and could range out for thousands of miles.
While introduced as soon as 1943, the series did not make its impact until 1944 when quantitative force levels were being reached in the USN inventory. In the post-war world, they served in the critical weather reconnaissance role and were still in play at the time of the Korean War of the early-1950s. Further into its career, the aircraft was also used in the SIGnals INTelligence (SIGINT) role as the "Cold War' with the Soviet Union began to "heat up". Indeed, one PB4Y-2 was claimed by Soviet fighters over the Baltic Sea in April of 1950 - such was the tension of the period where any single event to erupt into open world war once again.
In 1954, the Privateer was given up by the USN as the age of the jet had officially arrived. The United States Coast Guard (USCG), another notable Privateer operator, and managed their fleet into the late-1950s before following suit. Many bombers then ended their days as expendable drones (a "K" applied to the end of their designations, until 1962, to which point they became "QP-4B"). Others ended their careers in fire-fighting roles where their large bomb holds could carry vast amounts of fire-fighting liquids.
Foreign Service
Beyond American use of the aircraft, the bomber was employed in action by the militaries of France and the Republic of China (Taiwan) where they managed mixed results. Canada and Honduras were other key players in the Privateer story.
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