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Show Air 32 Show Souvenir Program , OIUJ 389 ; Grumman Avenger Torpedo Bomber Avenger filled Navy's bomber need The " was designed as a torpedo bomber, but was used extensively in the Pacific as a glide bomber to attack enemy ships and to support ground forces. It provided patrols in both the Pacific and the Atlantic for Allied ships. lYesident George Rush flew TBM's off the carrier "San Jacinto" in World War 11. While on his 58th mission, he was shot down in September 1944 and was forced to bail out in the Pacific. He narrowly escaped capture by the enemy and was quickly rescued by a U.S. Navy submarine. The Grumman Avenger is an unsung hero of World War II. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the Navy's premier torpedo bomber was the obsolete Douglas TUB Devastator. Although the TDB was little more than two years old, the Navy recognized that it needed a more capable anti-submari- "TBM-Avenger- torpedo plane and needed it quickly. The (iruminan X BI'-- l proved to be faster, lighter, better armed, and carried a larger payload than oilier designs. The Grumman design impressed the Navy, which ordered its first Avengers in December 1940. 'Hie prototype flew on August 7,1941 and the first TBI's reached operational squadrons in January 1942. Filtering service so soon alter the attack on Pearl Harbor, the new aircraft was named the "Avenger," although crews nicknamed the plane the "Turkey." Grumman designed the Avenger as a torpedo bomber, but the plane could carry bombs in the internal bomb bay or a mixed load of depth charges and h rockets under the wings. Avengers wore superb sub hunters and both the U.S Navy and Royal Navy used the plane to hunt German submarines that preyed upon Allied 1 five-inc- shipping in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. In the Pacific, Avengers hunted down the Japanese surface fleet and supported Marine and Army troops during island landings. By 1943 Grumman was turning out more than 150 Avengers a month. I lowever, the F6F Hellcat was the company's top priority, so the Navy arranged to have the Avenger built by General Motors in five idle East Coast automobile plants. The General Motors TBM Avenger was virtually identical to the Grumman built TBF. Faslern Aircraft. General Motor's aircraft division, produced TBMs at an astounding rate, turning out 400 TBMs in March 1945 alone. When the Avenger production lines stopped in 1915, nearly 10,000 Avengers had been built, making the aircraft the most produced naval strike aircraft of all lime. Source: wtvw.ycovilton.org.ukavenger.htm. |