Building The B-24 Bomber During WWII "Story of Willow Run"

[motto (RIP)]

They were a sophisticated aircraft for their day and took a bit of mastering. Crew training and experience were vital to their successful operation and many were lost due to crew ineptitude. Something as simple as leaving the cowl gills open could seriously degrade aircraft performance. The flight engineer had a roving commission and moved around inside the aircraft giving attention where it was needed whether it was just routine or maybe a runaway turbo charger that had to be attended to in seconds before cylinders started blowing off the engine. This would most likely happen on take off and was something to watch for.
One of the things that needed frequent monitoring was generator load. These were paralleled but now and then one would grab the load and the others go into bludge mode. During combat they were left to look after themselves as the F/E manned one of the guns. He also looked after fuel usage and distribution.
Good experienced crew members were in demand and mixed USAAF and RAAF crews operated out of the Northern Territory for some time due to shortages.

David