George McGovern served as a pilot in World War II. He received several air medals for his service, as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was assigned to Liberal Army Airfield in Kansas and its transition school to learn to fly the B‑24 Liberator, an assignment he was pleased with. He recalled later: "Learning how to fly the B‑24 was the toughest part of the training. It was a difficult airplane to fly, physically, because in the early part of the war, they didn't have hydraulic controls. If you can imagine driving a Mack truck without any power steering or power brakes, that's about what it was like at the controls. It was the biggest bomber we had at the time."

In September 1944 McGovern joined the 741st Squadron of the 455th Bombardment Group of the Fifteenth Air Force, stationed at San Giovanni Airfield near Cerignola in the Apulia region of Italy. Starting on November 11, 1944, McGovern flew 35 missions over enemy territory from San Giovanni, the first five as copilot for an experienced crew and the rest as a pilot for his own plane, known as the Dakota Queen after his wife Eleanor.

On McGovern's 15 December 1944 mission over Linz, his second as a pilot, a piece of shrapnel from flak came through the windshield and missed fatally wounding him by only a few inches. The following day on a mission to Brüx, he nearly collided with another bomber during closeformation flying in complete cloud cover. The following day, he was recommended for a medal after surviving a blown wheel on the alwaysdangerous B24 takeoff, completing a mission over Germany, and then landing without further damage to the plane. On a December 20 mission against the Škoda Works at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, McGovern's plane had one engine out and another in flames after being hit by flak. Unable to return to Italy, McGovern flew to a British airfield on Vis, a small island in the Adriatic Sea off the Yugoslav coast that was controlled by Josip Broz Tito's Partisans. The short field, normally used by small fighter planes, was so unforgiving to fourengined aircraft that many of the bomber crews who tried to make emergency landings there perished. But McGovern successfully landed, saving his crew, a feat for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

McGovern was discharged from the Army Air Forces in July 1945, with the rank of first lieutenant. He was also awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, one instance of which was for the safe landing on his final mission.

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Specifications:

B24 photographed from above, showing the Davis wing design.
Data from Quest for Performance, Jane's Fighting aircraft of World War II, General Dynamics aircraft and their predecessors

General characteristics

Crew: 11 (pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, nose turret, top turret, 2 waist gunners, ball turret, tail gunner)
Length: 67 ft 2 in (20.47 m)
Wingspan: 110 ft (34 m)
Height: 17 ft 7.5 in (5.372 m)
Wing area: 1,048 sq ft (97.4 m2)
Aspect ratio: 11.55
Zerolift drag coefficient: CD0.0406
Frontal area: 42.54 sq ft (3.952 m2)
Airfoil: root: Davis (22%); tip: Davis (9.3%)
Empty weight: 36,500 lb (16,556 kg)
Gross weight: 55,000 lb (24,948 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 65,000 lb (29,484 kg) plus
Fuel capacity: 2,344 US gal (1,952 imp gal; 8,870 l) normal capacity; 3,614 US gal (3,009 imp gal; 13,680 l) with longrange tanks in the bomb bay; Oil capacity 131.6 US gal (109.6 imp gal; 498 l) in four selfsealing nacelle hopper tanks
Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R183035 Twin Wasp, R183041 or R183065 14cylinder tworow aircooled turbosupercharged radial piston engines, 1,200 hp (890 kW) each
Propellers: 3bladed Hamilton Standard, 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m) diameter constantspeed fullyfeathering propellers
Performance

Maximum speed: 297 mph (478 km/h, 258 kn) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
Cruise speed: 215 mph (346 km/h, 187 kn)
Stall speed: 95 mph (153 km/h, 83 kn)
Range: 1,540 mi (2,480 km, 1,340 nmi) at 237 mph (206 kn; 381 km/h) and 25,000 ft (7,600 m) with normal fuel and maximum internal bomb load
Ferry range: 3,700 mi (6,000 km, 3,200 nmi)
Service ceiling: 28,000 ft (8,500 m)
Rate of climb: 1,025 ft/min (5.21 m/s)
Time to altitude: 20,000 ft (6,100 m) in 25 minutes
Lifttodrag: 12.9
Wing loading: 52.5 lb/sq ft (256 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.0873 hp/lb (0.1435 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns: 10 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in 4 turrets and two waist positions
Bombs:
Short range (400 mi [640 km]): 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg)
Long range (800 mi [1,300 km]): 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg)
Very long range (1,200 mi [1,900 km]): 2,700 pounds (1,200 kg)

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