Tulsa volunteers make sure historic bomber is ready for action

<br>TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ ``Diamond Lil'' is one of the few survivors of the world's most prolific aviation family. <br><br>Americans built more than 19,000 of her kin, including 962 on the assembly

Saturday, April 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ ``Diamond Lil'' is one of the few survivors of the world's most prolific aviation family.

Americans built more than 19,000 of her kin, including 962 on the assembly line at Douglas-Tulsa's Air Force Plant No. 3.

A B-24A Liberator _ a large, four-engine bomber _ ``Lil'' is part of a family that served in every theater of World War II.

More versions and missions were assigned to the Liberator than any other aircraft, a record unlikely ever to be matched.

Today, ``Lil'' is one of only two B-24s still flying.

This year, for the second year in a row, a group of Tulsa-area volunteers with a passion for veteran aircraft gave ``Lil'' her annual tune-up.

Soon, if all goes according to plan, ``Lil'' will roll down the runway at Riverside Airport and onto the tour circuit for the year.

With her, the plane will take 10 weeks of seven-day-a-week work.

``She'll fly off, we'll clean up our hands and in a few weeks we'll be thinking about what to do next time'' the ``Lil'' returns, said Jim Gentry, one of the leaders of the volunteers who are working on the plane. ``This is a labor of love.''

History with a twist: The B-24, with its twin-tail assembly and boxcar midsection, has had a strange history. Consolidated based its design on a flying boat model.

As historian Stephen Ambrose noted in his book ``The Wild Blue,'' the average B-24 crew survived nine flights.

Some sort of homecoming: This year is special for ``Lil'' and the maintenance crew. The plane, which will turn 61 in May, will be flown to England for the 60th anniversary party of the Eighth Air Force this summer. The Eighth, based in England, flew daylight bombing raids over Germany and occupied countries.

The history gives the B-24 a connection to the English, but ``Lil'' merits special interest because she once was going to be one of theirs, Gentry said.

``She was one of the original lend-lease Liberators,'' Gentry said, referring to the 1940 policy of providing equipment to countries that were fighting Nazi Germany. ``RAF pilots badly damaged her in a landing in Canada.''

After the war, the bomber-turned-transport served several masters, including Pemex, Mexico's national oil company. In the early 1970s, the Commemorative Air Force, then known as the Confederate Air Force, purchased the plane and started flying her around the country.

This is probably her last big trip,'' Gentry said. ``We want to keep her closer to home.''

Just as the airplane's survival was born of an accident on landing in Canada, its presence in Tulsa was born out of another mishap. In October 2000, the last flying B-29 was visiting Tulsa when its No. 3 engine caught fire.

The B-29, known as ``FiFi,'' spent four months in Tulsa undergoing repairs. Volunteers crafted the individual parts needed to get it airborne again.

``When 'FiFi' had the fire, we put up signs asking for help,'' Gentry said. ``So many guys wanted to work, we started looking for another plane.''

``FiFi'' and ``Lil'' are squadron mates based out of Midland, Texas. To keep those eager mechanics' hands busy, the squadron decided to send ``Lil'' here for her annual maintenance.

``You cannot ignore the quality of equipment we could build,'' said Gentry, who like many of the volunteers works at American Airlines Maintenance and Engineering Center.