US Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers attack Japanese shipping off Okinawa in June 1945

The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American 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 B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Liberator, and along with maritime patrol Liberators used by RAF Coastal Command this type of patrol plane was proven successful. A fully navalized design was desired, and Consolidated developed a dedicated long-range patrol bomber in 1943, designated PB4Y-2 Privateer.

The Privateer was externally similar to the Liberator, but the fuselage was longer to accommodate a flight engineer's station, and it had a tall single vertical stabilizer rather than the B-24's twin tail configuration. The Navy wanted a flight engineer crewmember to reduce pilot fatigue on long duration over water patrols. The single vertical tail was adopted from the USAAF's canceled B-24N design (and was slightly taller on the Privateer) because it would increase stability at low to medium altitudes for maritime patrol. The Ford Motor Company, which produced B-24s for the United States Army Air Forces, had earlier built an experimental variant (B-24K) using a single tail. Aircraft handling was improved. The single tail design was used on the B-32 Dominator and PB4Y-2 and was slated for the US Army Air Forces' proposed B-24N production model to be built by Ford, but that order (for several thousand bombers) was canceled on 31 May 1945.

Defensive (and in this case offensive) armament on the PB4Y-2 was increased to twelve .50-in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in six power operated turrets (two dorsal, two waist, nose and tail); the B-24's ventral, retractable Sperry ball turret was omitted. Turbosuperchargers were not fitted to the Privateer's engines since maritime patrol missions were not usually flown at high altitude, improving performance and also saving weight.

The navigator's astrodome was moved from its (B-24/PB4Y-1) position on the aircraft's upper nose to behind the first dorsal gun turret. Electronic countermeasure (ECM), communication and radar antennas also protruded or were enclosed in fairings at various locations on the fuselage of the Privateer, including a manually retractable AN/APS-2 radome behind the nose wheel well.

The Navy eventually took delivery of 739 Privateers, the majority after the end of the war. Several PB4Y-2 squadrons saw operational service in the Pacific theater through August 1945 in the reconnaissance, search and rescue, electronic countermeasures, communication relay, and anti-shipping roles.

In the latter role the ASM-N-2 Bat radar-guided glide bomb was carried by the Privateer (one under each wing) and it first saw combat service beginning in April 1945 off Borneo. The bomb was dropped from altitudes of 15,000 to 25,000 feet (4,600 to 7,600 metres) at airspeeds of 140 to 210 kn (260 to 390 km/h). Several Japanese ships were sunk and the kaibokan Aguni was damaged from a range of 20 nmi (37 km). The bomb can be seen carried and dropped in this footage.