A LIBERATOR EXPRESS WITH A STING (ATC “HUMP” AIRLIFT)

A LIBERATOR EXPRESS WITH A STING (ATC “HUMP” AIRLIFT)

A small number of ATC C-87 Liberator Express transports that flew the “Hump” were given a single .50 caliber machine gun mounted in a modified tail position, in order to offer a “limited” degree of protection from Japanese fighters that patrolled the “Hump,” usually Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscars” operating from the Japanese Army Air Force’s large airfield at Myitkyina in central Burma.

The thinking behind arming a limited number of C-87’s, was that once the Japanese learned that some of the C-87’s operating on the “Hump” were equipped with tail mounted gun positions, they would have to think twice about making standard, tail-end attacks on any four engined transports they encountered on the “Hump.”