Consolidated Liberator Coastal Command Aviation Art Painting Print by Aircraft Artist Roger H. Middlebrook GAvA 

At the beginning of WWII, RAF Coastal Command was totally ill-prepared for the role it needed to play defending the shipping routes into Britain. Bar the relatively small number of the superlative Short Sunderland, the aircraft being used were converted from standard RAF types that lacked the range for Coastal Command's needs.

The arrival of the American Consolidated PBY Catalina and later still, the Consolidated Liberator changed the situation significantly and the Liberator allowed the RAF to close what became known as the 'Atlantic Gap', the area in the North Atlantic where air cover could not be provided due to the limited range of aircraft in service prior.