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Re: Russian B24 photo thanks to Ed West & eBay
Hi Alex,
only the crew returned to Italy. Libs: 42-51610, 44-41065 and 42-51990 were handed over by the 17. Soviet AF to the 45. GvBAD on March 30, 1945 as the first planes of the new 45. Soviet (test) GvBAD. The 203. Soviet ('Orlov') GvBAP used the B-24s, the 890. GvBAP used the B-17s. The soviet pilots preferred the B-17s, and called them '4 engined UT-2'. Many B-24s were collected from Hungary, Rumania and even Poland to these BAPs for test purposes. In 1948 more B-24s of the 203. GvBAP were sent to Kazany (22. Factory) for the crew training of the new Tu-4 heavy bombers (The Soviet 'supercopies' of the B-29). For this the B-24 was better training plane than the B-17, due to their nose wheel. The last Soviet B-24s remained in service as late as the early '50s. I hope this helps.
Gabor
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