It was built in 1944, being completed on 7 September that year, and was allocated to the RAF under the Lend-Lease programme. It assumed the RAF serial KH 304. It was ferried to the UK in November 1944, and onward to India, arriving in Jodhpur in December. It served initially with 354 Squadron, based at Cuttack, until May 1945. It was then transferred as a reserve aircraft to 203 Squadron, based in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) but with a detachment at St Thomas' Mount, Madras. It is likely to have played an active role in the Burma Campaign, as both 354 and 203 Squadrons were intensively committed, on coastal patrols, shipping attacks, supply drops and POW repatriation.

After the war, like other Liberators in the theatre, KH 304 was delivered to 322 Maintenance Unit, Kanpur, for storage and disposal. As described in the Introduction page, there was a specific requirement for disposal, as the aircraft had been made available to the RAF under Lend-Lease terms, which specified that at the end of hostilities it was to be either returned to the US or disposed of. KH 304 was officially struck-off RAF charge on 11 April 1946.

The aircraft was refurbished and restored to flying condition by the Indian Air Force and HAL. It assumed the IAF serial HE-877 and the identification letter "A". Some sources suggest it was restored in 1949; if so it probably served with No 5 Squadron of the IAF, as this was the IAF's only Liberator operating unit in that year. However, like most Indian B-24 survivors, HE-877 was with No 6 Squadron, the specialist Maritime Reconnaissance squadron of the Indian Air Force and the world's last mainstream operator of the B-24 Liberator, in 1968.

	HE-877 is in an immaculate condition as can be seen in this picture. The aircraft had undergone three different US marking schemes on the other side. On the starboard side however the aircraft is displayed in its IAF scheme. Pic Copyright: Wg Cdr K S Vasan (Retd)
The Hangar display had made it very difficult to capture the aircraft's IAF Markings in one shot. But nevertheless Wg Cdr Vasan, our contributor had done a great job with this shot..almost capturing the whole aircraft in one frame. Pic Copyright: Wg Cdr K S Vasan (Retd)

During its IAF service this aircraft, like all IAF Liberators, would have flown in a natural metal finish, wearing IAF roundels and fin flash, and sporting her squadron badge on her nose. It would have spent the bulk of its IAF service based in Pune. While with No 6 Squadron, it may have been fitted with a rudimentary ASV radar set, for its MR role.

This aircraft was one of the more intensively-used Indian B-24s, accumulating the enormous total of 39,000 hours' flying time in IAF service. This figure does not include its time in RAF service. In particular, HE-877 provided photographic survey support to the first successful conquest of Everest, by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, in 1953. Several of the spectacular publicity photographs of Mount Everest released to media at that time were taken by this aircraft.

The Pima museum's acquisition of this example began in late 1967 when Rhodes F Arnold, chairman of the Acquisition Committee of what was then the Tucson Air Museum Foundation and a USAF Reserve Lieutenant-Colonel, wrote to the CAS of the Indian Air Force, asking for the donation of a retiring Liberator. The IAF agreed readily, but as with other aircraft donations, asked the recipient to meet the cost of ferrying the aircraft to its new home. Lt Col Arnold summed this up in the phrase, "B-24 free; ferry $12,000". 

This angle shows the waist and belly Gun positions. One of the Liberator's engines found its way to Kermit Week's Delectable Doris, another Ex-IAF Liberator in the US. Pic Copyright:  Wg Cdr K S Vasan (Retd)

Although benefiting from some US government and US Air Force support, the Tucson Air Museum was not the "official" USAF museum, and at this time did not even have its own premises. Funding for the ferry flight had to be raised through donations and sponsorships. Sponsorships came from Shell, which covered all POL expenses for the trip, General Dynamics (formerly Convair, who had built this aircraft), Pratt & Whitney (who had built the engines), and Honeywell (who had built the supercharger regulators). Pledges of maintenance and communications support for the flight came from the airlines Pan Am and TWA.

However, the USAF crew set with a will to conversion training with No 6 Squadron IAF in Pune; and the collective experience and enthusiasm of instructors and pupils, by all accounts, came together nicely. The lead instructor was once again Squadron-Leader Y S Marwah of No 6 Squadron, IAF, who had also previously converted the Canadian crew.

While the USAF crew was undergoing their conversion training, HE-877 was given a US civil registration and a US flag on its tail. In addition its turret guns were removed, bagged and secured in the bomb-bay; and its IAF markings removed. This would turn out to be providential, quite early into the ferry flight.

On 28 March 1969 HE-877 left Pune, carrying both Indian and US crews, on a trial navigation flight to Bombay. FAA certification, which was required to allow it to fly into US airspace, was provided by an FAA-authorised Indian employee of TWA in Bombay. Sqn Ldr Marwah then formally handed the aircraft over to Lt Col Svendsen.

The first leg of HE-877's ferry flight was to Karachi, Pakistan. As it happened, Gen Yahya Khan had deposed Field Marshal Ayub Khan, and declared martial law in Pakistan, just three days earlier. Flying an aircraft that probably still figured in PAF recognition charts as an Indian Air Force type, at this politically somewhat nervous time, the Americans were intercepted by PAF F-86 Sabres as they approached Karachi. They experienced a few hairy moments, until the Pakistani pilots and civil aviation authorities accepted the aircraft's identity and flight-plan.

The aircraft and crew were received at Fort Worth by the president of Convair and by television and other media crews, and spent six days there. For an interesting contrast the Liberator was parked on the Convair ramp next to a contemporary product of the plant, a swing-wing F-111.

On 27 April 1969, HE-877 flew its last flight, to Tucson, Arizona. It landed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where it was received by a gathering which included General James H Doolittle (of Tokyo raid fame), the mayor of Tucson, a number of serving USAF generals, and the Air Attache from the Indian Embassy, Air Commodore MD Khanna. The ferry flight had covered 11,000 miles in 75 flying hours.

The aircraft still stands in Tucson today. It served temporarily as gate-guardian at Davis-Monthan AFB; but became one of the star attractions of the adjoining museum, now known as the Pima Air and Space Museum, on its opening in 1972. It has re-acquired IAF markings on its starboard side, including its old IAF registration number and the Flying Dragons badge of No 6 Squadron. The livery and artwork on the port side have changed a few times since it went on display. For the ferry from India it was christened Pima Paisano, with a road-runner for nose-art. Later it was re-painted to represent Shoot You're Covered, a B-24 originally of the USAAF's 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group, based in India during World War Two. Currently (as of April 2002) it bears nose-art and the name Bungay Buckaroo.