Depending on the model, the B-24 was manned by a crew of between seven and 10 men stationed around the plane's cramped confines. The bombardier, stationed in the belly, controlled the payload doors.

On June 20, 1944, a 22-year-old bombardier from Cleveland named Robert T. McCollum was flying in a B-24J Liberator over the Baltic Sea near the coast of Denmark when his plane accidentally collided ...