TBM Avenger mayday during VE Washington DC flyby

[Brown747]

[tabs]

The aeroplane to the port is a WW2 Helldiver.

That Baby (Avenger) was built to come in low and slow over the water to drop it's torpedo. During the Battle of Midway** Torpedo 6 and 8 (Devastators) were shot out of the sky, of which the distraction it caused allowed the Dauntless Dive bombers to come in virtually unnoticed and unopposed, where the outcome was 3 Jap aircraft carriers* were sent to the bottom. Thus blunting Japans offensive capability.

** 6 of the new Avengers of Torpedo 8 were stationed on Midway itself.

* The 4Th Jap carrier Hiryu was gotten later in the day.

[KNS]

Good thing there was a runway nearby for him to put it down safely.

I didn't know there was a flyable Helldiver - good to see.

[dave 911]

Originally Posted by tabs

The aeroplane to the port is a WW2 Helldiver.

That Baby (Avenger) was built to come in low and slow over the water to drop it's torpedo. During the Battle of Midway** Torpedo 6 and 8 (Devastators) was shot out of the sky, of which the distraction it caused allowed the Dauntless Dive bombers to come in virtually unnoticed and unopposed, where the outcome was 3 Jap aircraft carriers* were sent to the bottom. Thus blunting Japans offensive capability.

** 6 of the new Avengers of Torpedo 8 were stationed on Midway itself.

* The 4Th Jap carrier Hiryu was gotten later in the day.

Yep. Midway showed the Navy how obsolete the Devastator was, and it was quickly replaced by the Avenger as the primary torpedo bomber. I think the Devastator squadron on the Hornet lost every airplane and almost every crew member in the Midway attack - with Ensign George Gay being shot down and watching the battle from his raft - and cheering as the Dauntless's scored direct hits on the Japanese carriers around him.

[911SauCy]

After recently reading the book "Unbroken" I was shocked at how many men and aircraft were lost in WWII simply from mechanical failures as depicted here.

Other huge issue being under-trained pilots, doesn't seem to be the case here.

[tabs]

The Japanese Naval Airmen were among the best trained in the world at the start of WW2. The training was rigorous which might be comparable to what contemporary jet pilots training is today. A good narrative from the Jap side of the war was written by Japans leading surviving Ace Saburo Saki in his book SAMURAI. The other tome on Japanese WW2 naval history was written by Hara "Destroyer Captain."

[tabs]

A friend of mine was a P-51 pilot in the ETO and was a contemporary of Chuck Yeager. One of the two accounts I remember him telling about was that he saw the engine of a P-51 fall off over France, and the other was his refusal to take off in heavy fog, where he said that every pilot who did take off was lost.

Another friend was a B-24 pilot who did 10 missions over Germany, finally I believe his rear gunner was blown apart by a 20MM shell and upon landing and seeing that he fell apart. He was reassigned as a pilot instructor in S CA.

What is hardly mentioned is the number of American Bomber crews that decided to bug out by flying to Sweden or Switzerland to be interned in a neutral country.