Consolidated PB4Y - 2 Privateer The Consolidated PB4Y - 2 Privateer was a World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B - 24 Liberator . The Navy had been using unmodified B - 24s as the PB4Y - 1 Liberator , and the type was considered very successful . A fully navalized design was desired , and Consolidated developed a dedicated long - range patrol bomber in 1943 , designated PB4Y - 2 Privateer . In 1951 , the series was redesignated P4Y - 2 Privateer . A further change occurred in October 1962 when remaining Navy Privateers ( all having previously been converted to drone configuration as P4Y - 2K ) were redesignated QP - 4B . Design and development . The Privateer was externally similar to the Liberator , but the fuselage was longer to accommodate a flight engineer ' s station , and had a tall single vertical stabilizer rather than the B - 24 ' s twin tail configuration . The defensive armament was also increased to 12 . 50 - in ( 12 . 7 mm ) M2 Browning machine gun s in six turrets ( two dorsal , two waist , nose and tail ) , with the B - 24 ' s belly turret being omitted . Turbosuperchargers were not fitted to the engines since maritime patrol missions were not usually flown at high altitude . The Ford Motor Company ( which produced B - 24s for the United States Army Air Forces ) had earlier built an experimental variant ( B - 24K ) using the single tail of a B - 23 Dragon . Aircraft handling was improved , and the Air Corps ' proposed B - 24N production model was to be built by Ford , but the order was canceled on 31 May 1945 and the B - 24N never entered production . The Navy ' s desire for substantial redesigns , however , had sustained interest in the new tail assembly . The Navy eventually took delivery of 739 Privateers , the majority after the end of the war , although several squadrons saw service in the Pacific theater in the reconnaissance , search and rescue , electronic countermeasure s , communication relay , and anti - shipping roles ( the latter with the " Bat " radar - guided bomb . ) Operational history . The Privateer entered Navy service during late 1944 , Patrol Bomber Squadrons 118 and 119 ( VPB - 118 and VPB - 119 ) being the first Fleet squadrons to equip with the aircraft . The first overseas deployment began on 6 January 1945 , when VPB - 118 left for operations in the Marianas . On 2 March 1945 VPB - 119 began " offensive search " missions out of Clark Field , Luzon in the Philippines , flying sectored searches of the seas and coastlines extending from the Gulf of Tonkin in the south , along the Chinese coast , and beyond Okinawa in the north . The Privateer was used as a typhoon / hurricane hunter from 1945 to the mid - 1950s . One aircraft , designated BuNo 59415 of VPB - 119 , went down when it experienced mechanical trouble while investigating a Category 1 typhoon near Batan Island in the Philippines . It attempted to land on the island , but was unable to do so and crashed . It was one of the only six hurricane hunter flights ever lost , and the only one found . Privateers were also used during the Korean War to fly " Firefly " night illumination missions dropping parachute flares to detect North Korean and Chinese seaborne infiltrators . In addition , Privateers were used by the US Navy for signals intelligence ( SIGINT ) flights off of the coast of the Soviet Union and the People ' s Republic of China . On 8 April 1950 , Soviet La - 11 fighters shot down a US Navy PB4Y - 2 Privateer ( BuNo 59645 ) over the Baltic Sea , off the coast of Liepāja , Latvia . Named the " Turbulent Turtle " , the aircraft was assigned to Patrol Squadron 26 ( VP - 26 ) , Det A The French also used Privateers as bombers during the Indochina War . All Navy PB4Y - 2s were retired by 1954 , though unarmed PB4Y - 2G Privateers served until 1958 with the Coast Guard before being auctioned off for salvage . The family was redesignated P4Y - 2 Privateer in 1951 . The earlier XP4Y - 1 Corregidor was a completely different design , based on the Consolidated Model 31 twin - engine flying boat . PB4Y - 2 were still being used as drones in the 1950s / early 1960s , designated PB4Y - 2K initially and then P4Y - 2 based names after 1951 . They were then redesignated QP - 4B under the 1962 United States Tri - Service aircraft designation system , part of the new patrol series , between the Lockheed P - 3 Orion and the Martin P - 5 Marlin . A number of PB4Ys were supplied to the Republic of China Air Force for use in missions over the People ' s Republic of China . One was shot down by ground fire on 12 September 1954 , near Xiamen , People ' s Republic of China . The crew of nine were killed . Another was shot down on 15 February 1961 by Burmese Hawker Sea Fury fighter aircraft , near the Thai - Burmese border , killing the crew of five . Two other crew members were taken prisoner . This aircraft was carrying supplies for Chinese Kuomintang forces fighting in northern Burma . Privateers in aerial firefighting . A limited number of refitted PB4Ys continued in civilian service as airtankers , dropping fire retardant on forest fires throughout the western United States . On 18 July 2002 , one such refitted PB4Y , BuNo 66260 ( seen in picture to right ) operated by Hawkins and Powers Aviation of Greybull Wyoming , broke up in flight while fighting a wildfire near Rocky Mountain National Park . Both crew members were killed in the accident , and the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded all large air tankers in the region . Following the accident , all remaining Privateers were retired . ( See 2002 airtanker crashes . )