TBF Avenger at Midway

The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval aviation services around the world.
The Avenger entered U.S. service in 1942, and first saw action during the Battle of Midway. Despite the loss of five of the six Avengers on its combat debut, it survived in service to become one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of World War II. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s.
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Thanks for looking

Tom

 

I like that idea for displaying it.

 

Great work

 

Interesting diorama concept, but "Midway?"

 

Great idea. Well executed.

 

Gents thanks for all your feed back on my little dio

R Leonard maybe I took a little poetic lincense on Midway

Thanks again

Tom

 

OK , someone please educate this Limey on the ''Midway?'' comment .
I'm not too good on the Pacific war .

 

The decals are for VT-84 which was formed in May, 1944, and deployed on the USS Bunker Hill in January, 1945 - Well after the Battle of Midway.

@Irish Marine
That base is phenomenal. Excellent work!

 

Takao, your knowledge of WWII airplane marking is truly remarkable. Is there a book or some other source you use?
I do a bit of modeling and this information would come in handy for accuracy. Thanks

 

Books & Internet.

A good place to start for various naval squadrons(past through present)
http://www.wings-aviation.ch/index.htm

Books come from - Squadron/Signal, Osprey, Kagero, AJ Press, and many others.

 

Overwhelming amount of material. Thanks

 

Good job. Well done

 

Nice work sir! Always liked the look of the Avenger. You have done it great justice...

 

VT-8 off the Hornet was split into two groups at Midway... One was based aboard the Hornet flying TBD Devastators... This group was completely shot down, with only Ensign George Gay surviving. The second group were fielding the first six new TBF-Avengers and were flying from Midway. There is a well known photo of one of these TBF's after it crash landed back on Midway after the attack of that section... Only one survived and was marked with a simple 8-T-1 in addition to the national markings.

 

8-T-1 piloted by ENS Albert K (“Bert”) Earnest, AV(N), VMI 1938, with crewmen Harry Ferrier, RM3c; and Jay Banning, S1c. Banning, who was killed in the attack on the Japanese carriers, was turret gunner and Ferrier was radio operator/ tunnel gunner. Both Earnest and Ferrier were wounded in the attack.

Earnest was able to get his shot up TBF back to Midway by following the smoke from the island. He was decorated with the Navy Cross for the attack itself and another for getting the plane back. He was, besides a desire for self preservation, aware that the powers that be would want to examine the craft in terms of damage inflicted.

Earnest and Ferrier, forever after, referred to themselves as “the other sole survivors” of VT-8.

Last time I saw Capt Earnest, USN, (Ret) was in the Officers’ Club at NAS Pensacola in 1998. He was standing at the bar retrieving libations for himself and the lovely Mizz Millie, his wife. I walked up and squeezed in beside him and said, “you know, Captain, us VMI guys have to be careful in places like this.” He turned smiled, paused, and said, in that distinctive Richmond accent: “Richard, how have you been? And don’t worry about it, they really like me here.” My big surprise was that I didn’t have to introduce myself, even though I probably hadn’t seen him in 20 or so years. A wonderful gent, long time family friend - he and my father first served together at TacTest at NAS Patuxent in 1945 and lived nearby in retirement in Va Beach - and he is sorely missed.