Consolidated Aircraft developed the B-24 Liberator after acquiring rights to the Davis wing design and gaining U.S. Army Air Corps approval in 1939. The B-24 was the most produced American military aircraft of World War II, with 18,482 units manufactured by American industry over a five-year period.

David R. Davis, a freelancer from Texas, approached Consolidated Aircraft with his wing design in 1937. He had been granted a patent for his "fluid foil" airfoil in 1934, deriving the design from observations of falling water droplets. Despite the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics having cataloged 78 proven airfoils, Consolidated Aircraft funded a subscale wind-tunnel test of the Davis wing in September 1937.

Subsequent wind-tunnel tests were conducted in August 1938, utilizing a new high-fidelity wind tunnel. These tests indicated that the Davis wing offered 20 percent better performance compared to a traditional airfoil of comparable size. Following these results, Consolidated Aircraft funded a full-scale flying demonstrator of the wing.

Consolidated Aircraft licensed the Davis wing in 1938. The agreement stipulated a payment of $2,500 per prototype and a royalty of 0.5 percent of the price for each bomber sold. The company then incorporated the design into a secret project, designated Model 32, which was a land-based bomber intended to exceed the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress.

In early 1939, the Army Air Corps requested Consolidated Aircraft to build the B-17 under license. Instead, Consolidated Aircraft president Reuben Fleet proposed developing the Model 32 bomber using the Davis wing. The Army Air Corps accepted this proposal, leading to the creation of the XB-24 prototype, which was later designated the B-24 Liberator.

The XB-24 featured roller-type bomb bay doors and was the first heavy bomber to use tricycle landing gear. Its engines were mounted low to minimize disruption across the upper wing surface, and the engine nacelles were shaped as flattened, rounded rectangles. The B-24 also employed flush rivets on the top of its wing. The thick shape of the Davis wing allowed the B-24 to carry more fuel than a conventionally winged aircraft of similar size. The B-24 Liberator outperformed the B-17 in speed, range, and useful load, and nearly 6,000 more B-24s were produced than B-17s. The aircraft served in every theater of World War II.