This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:14 pm
I've seen a couple of sources that talk about modifications to TBF/TBM Avengers for WW2 night attack, including removal of most of the armor plate, the gun turret and the tunnel gun. But I've never seen a photo of a wartime Avenger with such mods.
I've seen lots of post-war Avenger (TBM-3S, TBM-3R, etc.) photos with the extra glazing where the turret used to be; that is not what I am talking about.
Near as I can reconstruct, the prime character in this was LCDR/CDR William I. Martin (later retired as Vice Admiral) who was the CO of VS-10 on the Enterprise, then moved over to CO of VT-10. He was later the air group commander of Night Air Group 90, also on the Enterprise. When he was skipper of VT-10 they were flying the TBF/TBM-1C and later VTN-90 flew the TBM-3D. Martin did an oral history in 1979 where he described the modifications, quoted in [/b]Carrier Warfare in the Pacific; An Oral History Collection[b] edited by E.T. Wooldridge.