Greg - it all depends who you talk to. The vets that I have talked to have said that the B-24 was a great aircraft to fly, but did take some muscle. It is the age old debate...which one is better. Each air-crew of each aircraft will of course say their's is better.
The B-24 could fly higher then a B-17, and get there faster then what a B-17 could because of the Davis Wing design, but it was also more susceptible to wing failures when the wing root was shot up. But all in all, it was a great aircraft.
And...many don't know this, but Consolidated Aircraft did have an entry to the Heavy Strategic Bomber entry. It was the B-32 Devastator. It really looked like an over-sized B-24 with a single tail and much bigger engines. If I re-call correctly, only a few were ever made.
Craig
Somewhere up in NoCo