Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express    N1503                  (c/n 18)

                                                

                                                       Of the over 18,000 Liberators built during WW II, only 300 or so were built specifically as a
                                                       transport version.  These were known as the Model LB-30 and built primarily for the RAF.
                                                       The variant had a crew of five with accomodation for 20 passenegers. (Winston Churchill used
                                                       one during the war).  I suspect that just about all of the Liberators which made it on to the civil
                                                       registers of the world (and there were only a handful) were probably all C-87s, not true B-24s.
                                                       This aircraft, photographed at Torrance Municipal Airport, Southern California, in 1960 was
                                                       owned by Continental Can Company of Morristown, NJ.   It was built originally for the RAF as
                                                       AM927 but was never delivered, remaining instead in the USA as a trainer for US volunteer
                                                       crews going on to Ferry Command duties.  It was civilianized after the war as NL24927 before
                                                       becoming N1503.    In 1959 it was sold to the Mexican national oil company (PEMEX) as
                                                       XC-CAY as the image below illustrates.   It finally wound up with the CAF out of Harlingen,
                                                       Texas and flies as "402366 Diamondf Lil" (officially back as N24927).