A Floating Disaster |
Douglas TBD-1A Devastator
Naval Air Facility Guild Island,Rhode Island 1939
The Douglas TBD Devastator was a torpedo bomber of the United States Navy, ordered in 1934, first flying in 1935 and entering service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the USN and possibly for any navy in the world. However, the fast pace of aircraft development caught up with it, and by the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the TBD was already outdated. It performed well in some early battles, but in the Battle of Midway the Devastators launched against the Japanese fleet were almost totally wiped out. The type was immediately withdrawn from front line service, replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger. The TBD Devastator marked a large number of "firsts" for the U.S. Navy. It was the first widely-used carrier-based monoplane as well as the first all-metal naval aircraft, the first with a totally enclosed cockpit, the first with hydraulically folding wings; it is fair to say that the TBD was revolutionary. A semi-retractable undercarriage was fitted, with the wheels designed to protrude ten inches (250 mm) below the wings to permit a "wheels-up" landing with only minimal damage.
A crew of three was normally carried beneath a large "greenhouse" canopy almost half the length of the aircraft. The pilot sat up front; a rear gunner/radio operator took the rearmost seat, while the bombardier occupied the middle seat. During a bombing run, the bombardier lay prone, sliding into position under the pilot to sight through a window in the bottom of the fuselage, using the Norden Bombsight. The offensive armament that he targeted would be either a single Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 aerial torpedo or a single 1000 lb (450 kg) bomb. Defensive armament consisted of either a .30 cal (7.62mm) or .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine gun firing forwards, and a .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun for the rear gunner. The powerplant was a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp radial engine of 900 horsepower (671 kW).
A total of 129 of the type were purchased by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), equipping the carriers USS Saratoga, USS Enterprise, USS Lexington, USS Wasp, USS Hornet, USS Yorktown and USS Ranger.
The U.S. Navy became aware by about 1940 that the TBD had become outclassed by the fighters and bombers of other nations and a replacement (the TBF Avenger) was in the works, but it was not in service yet when the United States entered World War II. By then, training attrition had reduced their numbers to just over 100 aircraft. The Devastator had become a death trap for its crews: slow and poorly maneuverable, with light defensive weaponry and poor armor relative to the weapons of the time. Its speed on a glide-bombing approach was a mere 200 miles per hour, making it easy prey for fighters and defensive guns alike. The aerial torpedo could not even be released at speeds above 100 knots.
The U.S. Navy assigned popular names to its aircraft in late 1941, and the TBD became the "Devastator".In the early days of the Pacific war, the TBD acquitted itself well during February and March 1942 and in the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which Devastators helped sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō. Problems were discovered with the Mark XIII torpedo at this point. Many were seen to hit the target yet fail to explode; there was also a tendency to run deeper than the set depth. It took over a year for the problems to be corrected.
These problems were not fixed by the time of the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. Forty-one Devastators, a majority of the type still operational, were launched from USS Hornet, USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown to attack the Japanese fleet. Their fighter escort lost contact, and the TBDs started their attacks without fighter protection. Torpedo delivery requires a long, straight-line attack run, making the aircraft vulnerable, and the slow speed of the aircraft made them sitting ducks for the Mitsubishi Zeros. Only four TBDs made it back to Enterprise, none to Hornet and two to Yorktown. Worse, not a single torpedo hit its target. However, their sacrifice was not in vain; the heroic actions of the Devastator aircrews that day drew the Japanese air cover out of position just as the Japanese carriers were refueling and rearming their bombers, a window of opportunity exploited by the late-arriving SBD Dauntless dive-bombers led by Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky. Three of the four Japanese carriers were sunk within minutes by the Dauntless squadrons.
The Navy immediately withdrew the TBD from front line units after Midway; in any case, there were only 39 aircraft left. They remained in service briefly in the Atlantic and in training squadrons until 1944. The original prototype finished its career at NAS Norman, Oklahoma, and the last TBD in the U.S. Navy was used by the Commander of Fleet Air Activities-West Coast. When his TBD was scrapped in November 1944, there were no more. None survived the war and there are none known to exist on dry land today.
In fairness to the type, the disaster in the Battle of Midway was as much due to the vulnerability of torpedo bombers against AA fire and defending fighters. The six TBF Avengers operating from Midway also suffered heavy losses, with only one TBF surviving.
General characteristics: Crew: Three: Pilot, Torpedo Officer/Navigator, Radioman/Gunner, Length: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m), Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m), Height: 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m), Wing area: 422 ft² (39.2 m²), Empty weight: 6,182 lb (2,804 kg), Loaded weight: 9,862 lb (4,473 kg), Max takeoff weight: 10,194 lb (4,623 kg), Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp radial engine, 900 hp (671 kW). Performance: Maximum speed: 206 mph (331 km/h), Range: 435 miles (700 km) with Mk XIII Torpedo, 716 mi (1,152 km) with 1,000 lbs (453 kg) bombs (700 km), Service ceiling 19,700 ft (6,000 m), Rate of climb: 720 ft/min (3.7 m/s), Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²), Power/mass: hp/lb (kW/kg). Armament: 1x 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun forward-firing or 1x 0.50 cal (12.7 mm) machine gun forward-firing, 1x 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun in rear cockpit (later increased to two)
1x 1,000 lb (453 kg) bomb or 1x Mark XIII torpedo - 1,200 lb (544 kg).
USN 09 René Hieronymus Scale 1:72 Building time: 19 hrs..
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