TBF Avenger, U.S. Carrier Torpedo Bomber

U.S. Navy

Grumman TBF-1 Avenger

Specifications:

The TBF Avenger made its combat debut at the Battle of Midway, where a strike of six TBFs was launched from Midway Island.  Only one returned, shot to pieces, with the gunner dead and the radioman wounded.  Most missions flown by the TBF were much more successful, with this type proving the most flexible carrier bomber of the war.  It could deliver torpedoes or be used for horizontal bombing, and it was discovered to be a surprisingly effective glide bomber. Like all Grumman aircraft, it was very rugged. Unlike its predecessor, the TBD Devastator, it had an internal torpedo bay that greatly reduced drag.

The first production order, of 286 aircraft, was placed in December 1940, even before the first prototype flew on 7 August 1941. This reflected both dissatisfaction with the performance of its predecessor, the TBD Devastator, and the shortage of Devastators, of which only 130 had been produced and only 40 were still operational by June 1942. The Navy had requested a design with a top speed of 300 mph (483 km/h), an internal torpedo bay, and a range of 3000 miles (4800 km), but Grumman could only manage 275 mph. The Navy decided that this would have to do, and the only major modification required to the TBF prototype was the addition of a dorsal fin for stability.

After building the first 2290 aircraft, Grumman turned production over to General Motors in order to focus on the F6F Hellcat, and General Motors' Eastern Aircraft division produced another 7546 Avengers as the TBM. A few early production TBMs suffered from structural failure of the wings, and this was eventually traced to relocation of rivets to speed production that inadvertently reduced wing strength. In general, though, the combination of Grumman's aeronautical engineering expertise and General Motor's mass production techniques was a successful partnership.

Experiments with the Avenger as a glide bomber were conducted in July 1942, perhaps because of the Navy's disappointment with the accuracy of horizontal bombing using the Norden bombsight. It was discovered that the Avenger could dive from 6500' (1980m) at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees, drop its bomb at 2500' (760m), and come within 40' (12m) of a moving target. A bomb crutch, such as was used in dive bombers, was not needed for this relatively shallow dive. Because the Avenger was not originally designed for glide bombing, an Avenger occasionally came apart during a glide bombing attack, and there are reports that some crews tried to reduce this danger by lowering the landing gear to act as a sort of dive brake. Later production aircraft were strengthened at a few critical points and equipped with accelerometers to warn pilots when the aircraft began pushing its envelope, but a true glide bomber version of the Avenger using high-strength alloys and strengthened wing hinges, the TBM-4, did not make it into production before the war ended.

Given the Avenger's effectiveness as a glide bomber, the Navy considered discarding the Norden bombsight, but hesitated to give up on the Avenger's horizontal bombing capability. By 1944, it was clear that the Avenger was a bust as a horizontal bomber, and that the only use to which most crews were putting the Norden was as an autopilot. The Norden began to be replaced with a conventional autopilot that year.

In March 1943, Avengers began flying mine laying missions in the central Solomons. Avengers would eventually be extensively employed to lay mines in Japanese ports throughout the Pacific. In some cases, ports were quietly mined just prior to a more general air or surface attack, in order to destroy shipping fleeing the harbor.

Beginning in late 1943, the U.S. Navy began night combat air patrols consisting of a radar-equipped Avenger accompanied by a pair of conventional Hellcats, with the Avenger acting as an airborne controller to direct its fighters onto the enemy. This required rather careful coordination. Later in the war, radar was developed that was small and simple enough to be operated from single-seat fighters, releasing the Avengers to scout for enemy warships.

By the end of the war, the typical American light carrier or escort carrier air group was composed entirely of fighters and Avengers, with Avengers making up about a third of the aircraft in escort carrier air groups and about a quarter of the aircraft in light carriers. Fleet carriers carried increasing numbers of fighters to fend off kamikaze attack, with a single squadron (about 15 aircraft) each of Avengers and dive bombers. Virtually the entire production of the Avenger went to the Pacific.

The British received 402 and New Zealand 63 as Lend-Lease. The aircraft continued in post-war service, with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm continuing to employ 100 Avengers as antisubmarine aircraft as late as 1953.

Photo Gallery

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

U.S. Navy

References

AAFSD

Friedman (2013)

Gunston (1986)

Morison (1951)

Navy History and Heritage Command (accessed 2013-11-23)

Rickard (2010; accessed 2011-4-30)
Sharpe et al. (1999)

Stern (2010)

Tillman (1999)

Wilson (1998)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2011, 2013-2014 by Kent G. Budge.  Index

What's new

Comment on this article