Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express    N1503                  (c/n 18)

                                                

                                                       Of the over 18,000 Liberators built during WW II, only 300 or so were built specifically as a
                                                       transport version.  These were known as the Model LB-30 and built primarily for the RAF.
                                                       The variant had a crew of five with accomodation for 20 passenegers. (Winston Churchill used
                                                       one during the war).  I suspect that just about all of the Liberators which made it on to the civil
                                                       registers of the world (and there were only a handful) were probably all C-87s, not true B-24s.
                                                       This aircraft, photographed at Torrance Municipal Airport, Southern California, in 1959 was
                                                       owned by Continental Can Company.  The aircraft was based at Morristown Municipal Air-
                                                       port. New Jersey, and the rare shot of it below shows it in the hangar at that location, circa late
                                                       1940s.  This image comes via Mr. Darren S. Large, A.A.E., Manager, Facilities & Projects for
                                                       DM Airports , Ltd who currently manage the the Morristown Municipal Airport..  N1503 was
                                                       originally built as a LB-30 for the RAF as AM927 but was never delivered, remaining instead
                                                       in the USA as a trainer for US volunteer crews going on to Ferry Command duties.      It was
                                                       civilianized after the war as NL24927 before becoming N1503.       In 1959 it was sold to the
                                                       Mexican national oil company (PEMEX) as XC-CAY as the image at the foot of the page
                                                       illustrates. It finally wound up with the CAF out of Harlingen, Texas and flies as "402366
                                                       Diamondf Lil" (officially back as N24927).