Wiki got it close, but here's the real story.CathyH wrote:In early 1942, a B-24 Liberator that had been damaged in an accident was converted into a cargo transport aircraft by elimination of its transparent nose and the installation of a flat cargo floor. In April 1942, the C-87 Liberator Express transport version of the B-24 entered production at Fort Worth, Texas. The C-87 had a large cargo door, less powerful supercharged engines, no gun turrets, a floor in the bomb bay for freight, and some side windows. The navigator's position was relocated behind the pilot. Early versions were fitted with a single .50 caliber (12.7 mm) Browning machine gun in their tails, and a few C-87s were also equipped with two .50 caliber (12.7 mm) fixed machine guns in their noses, operable by the pilot, though these were eventually removed. A more elaborate VIP transport, the C-87A, was also built in small numbers.
The B-24 referenced was an LB-30B (B-24A), AM927. It crashed in July 1941, not 1942 and was modified into a transport hack for the company. It was later modified (after the C-87 entered production) to more closely fit the C-87 design with the longer D-model nose and later engines. The first C-87 was a B-24D that crashed in 1943 that used lessons learned from the conversion of AM927 as the basis of its modifications. After the war it was sold to Continental Can who used it as a VIP transport and then was sold to the Mexican mining firm PEMEX for the same purpose. It was then purchased in 1969 by the (then) Confederate Air Force, restored partially into a B-24D and renamed "Diamond Lil", a B-24D that served in Africa. In the winter 2006/2007, Gary Austin, crew chief for the airplane, undertook a major project to begin the process of returning AM927 back closer to her delivery B-24A configuration. As part of that, the aircraft was renamed "Ol '927", the name given to the airplane by those whom saw the airplane at its many stateside stops during the war. The aircraft is the oldest continuously flying aircraft known to exist in the world (having never been fully restored since returning to flight after her accident in 1941, only being modified during normal off-season winter maintenance periods), and is the oldest B-24 still in existence, only the 18th B-24A ever built (7 additional YB-24's were built, of which 6 were converted to LB-30A's that were to have been delivered to the French prior to their surrender).
Additional information on this unique aircraft can be found here - http://www.cafb29b24.org/a/B-24-History.htm
I sort of like it 
Can't tell you why, because on the other hand I find it CATASTROPHICALLY ugly 
