Warbird Information Exchange

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.