Grumman (General Motors) TBM-3 Avenger
By the time of Pearl Harbor, the US Navy had recognized that the Douglas TBD Devastator was obsolete. Grumman won a 1940 replacement bid with its XTBF-1 design, and flew the first prototype in August 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was named Avenger.
The TBF was larger and heavier than the TBD, but twice as fast due to a larger engine. It carried a dedicated bombardier/navigator, which freed up the pilot to concentrate solely on flying, while retaining a rear gunner/radio operator; instead of the flexible twin .30 caliber machine guns then common in US Navy aircraft, the Avenger carried a single .50 caliber in a power turret for the rear gunner. The TBF was also more of a multirole aircraft: similar to the Japanese Nakajima B5N, the TBF could carry either a torpedo or bombs, a break from prewar Navy doctrine using dedicated aircraft for each role. Though not maneuverable, the Avenger was steady and was a huge improvement over the Devastator. The British Royal Navy also ordered several batches as supplements to its aging Swordfish and Barracuda aircraft.
The TBF had its combat debut at the Battle of Midway, in June 1942, and it was not auspicious: attacking the Japanese fleet from Midway itself and without fighter cover, the Avengers were massacred. This was due to a failure in tactics rather than the aircraft itself, and TBFs rapidly replaced the TBDs (most of which had been shot down during Midway in any case). When used in an integrated attack pattern, the Avenger did well, scoring its first notable sinkings during the Guadalcanal campaign. Grumman was in demand for its F6F Hellcat fighter, so production of the Avenger was switched over to General Motors, resulting in the TBM. The TBF/TBM were identical in layout, with only an upgrade in engine horsepower; the nose-mounted .30 caliber machine gun for the pilot was swapped out for two wing-mounted .50s for better strafing capability. Avengers were instrumental in devastating the Japanese fleet in the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf.
Postwar, the TBFs/TBMs in US Navy service were replaced soon after the war by the Douglas AD (A-1) Skyraider, though they would soldier on into the 1950s as airborne early warning platforms. Other nations would also use them as land-based antisubmarine aircraft. Almost all were retired by the late 1960s, though they soldiered on as firefighting aircraft for decades afterwards. Of over 9600 built, about 60 survive today.
69472 was delivered to the US Navy in early 1945 and assigned to Torpedo Squadron 1 (VT-1) aboard the USS Bennington (CV-20). It took part in the final airstrikes on the Japanese home islands in summer 1945. It remained with the Navy after the war, serving with VT-92 aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16) and USS Philippine Sea (CV-47), before it became a training aid from 1952 to 1953. It was retired in 1953 and declared surplus three years later; by 1957, 69472 had been purchased by a warbird collector. It would go through six owners before being donated to the Pima Air and Space Museum in 1979.
Though this view, with the wings folded, obscures all markings, 69472 has been restored to the way it looked aboard the Bennington at the end of the war, in overall midnight blue. As glossy as it is, 69472 looks like it just rolled off the production line at GM.
Grumman (General Motors) TBM-3 Avenger
By the time of Pearl Harbor, the US Navy had recognized that the Douglas TBD Devastator was obsolete. Grumman won a 1940 replacement bid with its XTBF-1 design, and flew the first prototype in August 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was named Avenger.
The TBF was larger and heavier than the TBD, but twice as fast due to a larger engine. It carried a dedicated bombardier/navigator, which freed up the pilot to concentrate solely on flying, while retaining a rear gunner/radio operator; instead of the flexible twin .30 caliber machine guns then common in US Navy aircraft, the Avenger carried a single .50 caliber in a power turret for the rear gunner. The TBF was also more of a multirole aircraft: similar to the Japanese Nakajima B5N, the TBF could carry either a torpedo or bombs, a break from prewar Navy doctrine using dedicated aircraft for each role. Though not maneuverable, the Avenger was steady and was a huge improvement over the Devastator. The British Royal Navy also ordered several batches as supplements to its aging Swordfish and Barracuda aircraft.
The TBF had its combat debut at the Battle of Midway, in June 1942, and it was not auspicious: attacking the Japanese fleet from Midway itself and without fighter cover, the Avengers were massacred. This was due to a failure in tactics rather than the aircraft itself, and TBFs rapidly replaced the TBDs (most of which had been shot down during Midway in any case). When used in an integrated attack pattern, the Avenger did well, scoring its first notable sinkings during the Guadalcanal campaign. Grumman was in demand for its F6F Hellcat fighter, so production of the Avenger was switched over to General Motors, resulting in the TBM. The TBF/TBM were identical in layout, with only an upgrade in engine horsepower; the nose-mounted .30 caliber machine gun for the pilot was swapped out for two wing-mounted .50s for better strafing capability. Avengers were instrumental in devastating the Japanese fleet in the Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf.
Postwar, the TBFs/TBMs in US Navy service were replaced soon after the war by the Douglas AD (A-1) Skyraider, though they would soldier on into the 1950s as airborne early warning platforms. Other nations would also use them as land-based antisubmarine aircraft. Almost all were retired by the late 1960s, though they soldiered on as firefighting aircraft for decades afterwards. Of over 9600 built, about 60 survive today.
69472 was delivered to the US Navy in early 1945 and assigned to Torpedo Squadron 1 (VT-1) aboard the USS Bennington (CV-20). It took part in the final airstrikes on the Japanese home islands in summer 1945. It remained with the Navy after the war, serving with VT-92 aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16) and USS Philippine Sea (CV-47), before it became a training aid from 1952 to 1953. It was retired in 1953 and declared surplus three years later; by 1957, 69472 had been purchased by a warbird collector. It would go through six owners before being donated to the Pima Air and Space Museum in 1979.
Though this view, with the wings folded, obscures all markings, 69472 has been restored to the way it looked aboard the Bennington at the end of the war, in overall midnight blue. As glossy as it is, 69472 looks like it just rolled off the production line at GM.