The Grumman TBM "Avenger":
Grumman first built them, that airplane was the "TBF". "TBM" signifies that it was the first torpedo bomber built by General Motors. Legend is that Grumman delivered a TBF to GM that was held together with sheet-metal screws to facilitate studying the airplane. (The Navy wanted Grumman to build F6F Hellcats, which were designed to be Zero-killers.)
The TBF was designed to replace the TBD "Devastator". Avengers could be found in military serive into the 1960s and in commercial service as water-bombers into the 2010s.
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5 comments:
If you're anywhere near Peru Illinois next weekend, the annual TBM fly in is worth attending.
Lots of flying and they're expecting 6-8 TBM's. If you're flying your own plane aiport identifier is VYS. Driving, It's a little west of the intersection of I88&I39, about an hour or so west of Chicago. We should all meet up.
I recall seeing an Avenger a few years ago at the airport in Waukegan IL ... damned big bird for a single engine plane.
@seafury .. thx for the heads-up re the event at Peru ...
Those look like the two birds we had at the Symposium at NAS JAX in 2018! Sweet, and dripping oil everywhere... LOL
Years back I saw a documentary on the TBF and during their sales pitch to the Navy, Grumman used a bent paper clip and an eraser to demonstrate how the wing folded. Kudos to the engineers who made that eraser a flying reality.
Nice looking AT6 also.
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