Documentos de Académico
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Grumman
Avenger
20 Pages in detail
66 Origin
and history
68 In Combat Avengers in
action
74 Artwork Flight 119
76 Inside the
Avenger
78 Men Behind the
Grumman
84 From the
Archive
Main picture
Spotlight
Grumman
Avenger
Avenger
B
The Grumman
Above
A Grumman TBF
aboard the USS
Santee in November
1943. BOTH KEY
300
600
900
1,200
1,215
Construction:
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200
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271
First Flight:
Powerplant:
Dimension:
Weight:
Performance:
Armament:
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
22,400
Crew:
A total of 9,836 Avengers were built, comprising 7,543 TBMs made by General
Motors Eastern Aircraft and 2,293 TBFs by Grumman.
The prototype XTBF-1 first flew on August 1, 1941.
One 1,700lb (1,268kW) Wright R-2600-8 or 1,900hp R-2600-20 Double Cyclone
14-cylinder radial driving a three-bladed propeller.
Span 54ft 2in (16.5m). Length 40ft 0in. Height 16ft 5in. Wing area 490sq ft
(45.5sq m).
Empty 10,080lb (4,572kg). Loaded 15,905lb.
Max speed 271mph (436km/h) at 12,000ft (3,658m). Service ceiling 22,400ft.
Initial rate of climb 1,430ft per min. Range 1,215 miles (1,955km).
Two 0.30in machine guns in nose and ventral positions, one 0.50in machine
gun in dorsal turret; internal bomb bay for one 22in torpedo or 1,600lb bomb
load. Later models had provision for eight 60lb rockets under wings; max
bomb load 2,000lb.
Three pilot, navigator/radio operator and gunner.
Pacific warrior
Spotlight
Grumman
Avenger
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Starboard elevator
Fabric-covered aileron
construction
Elevator trim tab
Elevator horn balance
Tailplane construction
Rudder tab
Trim tab control jack
Tail navigation light
Fabric-covered rudder
construction
Aerial cable rear mounting
Fin construction
Port elevator
Port tailplane
Elevator hinge controls
Tailplane support frames
Deck arrester hook (lowered)
Arrester hook guide rails
Rudder hinge control
Rear fuselage frames
Flush-riveted aluminium skin
covering
Fin root fairing
Tailplane control cables
Arrester hook retraction drive
motor
Lifting tube
Rear fuselage frame and
stringer construction
Tailwheel shock absorber strut
Catapult hold-back shackle
Retractable tailwheel
Crew compartment rear
bulkhead
Search flares
Parachute flare launch tube
Ventral gun turret
Ammunition magazine
Browning 0.3in (7.62mm)
machine gun
Machine gun mounting
Gun camera switch box
Crew door
Parachute stowage
Rear fuselage production break
point
Spare coil stowage rack
Bombardiers side window
Upper turret spare
ammunition magazine
Bombardiers folding seat
Gun turret mounting ring
Gun elevating mechanism
Ammunition feed chute
Browning 0.5in (12.7mm)
machine gun
Upper rotating gun turret
Bullet-proof windscreen
Gunners armoured seat back
Aerial cable
Port wing folded position
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765
lights
130 Port ASB aerial
131 Ground attack rockets
(5in/12.7cm)
132 Oil tank filler cap
133 Engine oil tank
134 Engine compartment bulkhead
135 Engine mounting struts
136 Cowling air exit flap
137 Twin carburettors
138 Carburettors air trunking
139 Wright R-2600-8 Cyclone
14-cylinder two-row radial
engine
140 Carburettor air intake
141 Propeller governor
142 Reduction gearbox
143 Hamilton Standard threebladed variable-pitch propeller
144 Engine cooling intake
145 Engine cowlings
146 Cowling air flap control lever
Inside the
TBM-1C Avenger
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TBF-1C variants, with extra wing guns and greater fuel capacity, were made
July 2016 FLYPAST 67
Spotlight
Grumman
Avenger
During the longest-ranging
Fleet Air Arm strike of the
war Avengers helped to sink a
Japanese cruiser. Andrew Thomas
describes the action
Out of
W
Grumman
in Combat
The Sun
landings in Rangoon. Fleet Air Arm
(FAA) aircraft operating from escort
carriers carried out strikes with rockets
and bombs against Japanese airfields
and other targets in the Andaman
Islands archipelago.
One of these carriers was HMS
Shah, with the Avengers of 851
Squadron, under Lt Cdr M T Fuller,
embarked. The Dracula fleet returned
to Ceylon on May 9 but no sooner
had it moored up than reports of the
movement of the Haguro arrived.
At this critical moment Shahs
catapult went unserviceable.
The squadron diary
described: Learnt that
aircraft would operate
from [fellow escort carrier]
Emperor due to Shahs u/s
accelerator. Thirty ratings and stores
transferred to Emperor in a panic.
To attack the Japanese ships, a
task force including the battleships
HMS Queen Elizabeth and the
French Richelieu, the cruisers HMS
Cumberland, Royalist and Nigeria,
eight destroyers and the escort carriers
24
Left
Because of faults on
its own carrier during
Operation Dukedom, 851
Squadron flew from HMS
Emperor. US NAVY
Below left
TBFs took part in the attacks that sunk the Japanese light carrier Ryujo in 1942
July 2016 FLYPAST 69
Right
Heavy cruiser
Haguro at anchor
in Rabaul harbour
during an Allied
air attack in 1943.
US NAVY
Haguro was a Myoko-class heavy cruiser of 13,300 tons with a main armament of ten 8in
guns fitted in five turrets. Commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on April 25,
1929 she first saw action during the Battle of the Java Sea in late February 1942.
She saw further action in the Battle of the Coral Sea the following May. Based in the
Japanese stronghold at Rabaul, Haguro was damaged at Empress Augusta Bay in late
1943 during the Bougainville Island campaign and in 1944 survived the savage battles
against the US Navy at the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. Following that she was moved
to Singapore and received the attentions of the long-range Avengers of 851 Squadron.
Right
Dive-bombers
Grumman
in Combat
Classic attack
334
Left
Maintenance ratings
practising bombing-up an
Avenger in Ceylon shortly
before the Haguro
attack. VIA R C STURTIVANT
Below left
An Avenger of 851
Squadron in early 1945
showing that the Type B
wing roundels have been
replaced by two-tone blue
SEAC markings as worn
when they attacked the
Haguro in May 1945.
R G FLETCHER
Kiwi
Avengers
Andrew Thomas
recounts the valiant
combat service of New Zealand Avengers in
the South Pacific
Above
RNZAF Avenger
NZ2510 of 30
Squadron during
work-up at Turtle Bay
in the New Hebrides
in February 1944.
Right
Avenger NZ2506
of 31 Squadron
while working up at
Gisborne in early
1944.
Counter-attack
Grumman
in Combat
Crop spraying
Old skills
Several of 30 Squadrons
Avengers carried noseart. A suitably modified
kiwi adorned the nose of
NZ2520 and the aircraft
was known as Dumbo.
ALL VIA AUTHOR
Spotlight
Grumman
Avenger
Lost Patrol
Andy Hay artwork of an Avenger lost within the so-called Bermuda Triangle
Artwork
Grumman TBM-1C
Avenger F-T 3
of Flight 19 was
flown by US Navy
Lt Charles Carroll
Taylor on December
5, 1945. ANDY HAY2016
n December 5, 1945, a
flight of five Grumman
TBM Avengers known
as Flight 19 went
missing over the western part of the
North Atlantic Ocean. Neither the
aircraft nor any of the 14 airmen
have been found.
Leading the overwater navigation
and combat training flight was US
Navy Lt Charles Carroll Taylor,
whose TBM-1C, 45714 F-T 3,
is our subject. The formation
took off from the naval air station
at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at
1410hrs, heading roughly east over
the sea to carry out a low-level
bombing practice and a multiple-
2,332
Avenger
in profile
Spotlight
Grumman
Avenger
Warren E Thompson
highlights three pilots who
flew the Avenger a warplane
that was given its name in
the aftermath of the Japanese
attack on Hawaii
Pearl
H
R
AVENGING
646
TBM
Men Behind
the Avenger
l Harbor
Vengeful intent
Below
TBM-3Es were made - featuring a stronger airframe with ventral gun deleted
July 2016 FLYPAST 77
Lt George Bush
in the cockpit of
an Avenger on
board the USS San
Jacinto. TAILHOOK
ASSOCIATION
Below
TBF-1s during a
torpedo dropping
training session,
probably off the
coast of Florida in
1942. WARREN BODIE
Decisive Midway
Men Behind
the Avenger
Left
125
Left
TBM-3Es were acquired by the Royal Canadian Navy from 1950 to 1952
July 2016 FLYPAST 79
Flying-bomb killer
Above
A pair of TBF-1s
believed to be from
the USS Lexington,
1942. DAVE MENARD
Below right
Instrument panel of
a radar-equipped
TBM-3. DAVE MENARD
Course to steer
Men Behind
the Avenger
Presidential Avenger
98