MARK OF BIRKS AND STAMPED "STERLING", 20TH CENTURY

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was used in WW2 by several Allied air forces and navies. Although an American design made by Consolidated Aircraft of San Francisco from a 1939 prototype, the RAF ordered 164 and named it the "Liberator", a name later adopted by the Americans. From 1943 they were mass-produced with the help of the Ford Motor Company. The RAF Coastal Command used them on anti-submarine patrols and they played an important part in the Battle of the Atlantic in May, 1943. The Royal Canadian Air Force used standard British national markings on all its aircraft until after the end of WW2.