CAF Rocky Mountain Wing's Grumman TBM-3E Avenger

The Rocky Mountain Wing of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) is the owner and operator of this Grumman TBM-3E Avenger (BuNo 53503) which is available for airshows, flybys, warbird rides and film.

The Avenger was the largest single engine aircraft built in the U.S. until the end of the war and is powered by a Wright Cyclone R-2600, 14 cylinder, 2 row, radial engine turning a 3 bladed Hamilton Standard prop, rated at 1920 H.P. at take-off. The Avenger could carry 2000 pounds of bombs or one 2200 pound torpedo, either two 58 or 110 gallon drop tanks (depending on the mission), eight 5 inch high velocity rockets and bomb racks outboard of the rockets that could each carry a 500lb bomb or the gun packs with two .50 cal guns each. It could also lay mines, smoke screens, tow targets and had air to air radar on some variants. Avengers were also equipped with two forward firing .50 caliber machine guns and one .50 caliber machine gun in a turret aft of the canopy. The Avenger could also be equipped with three bombay fuel tank sizes, a 1/2 size self sealing bombay tank, which still allowed the carriage of 1000lbs of internal bombs and two full size tanks, one self sealing and one not. With the Avenger loaded up, it could be one well armed machine and still go 300 miles away and back.

The mighty roar of a TBM Avenger's R-2600 engine was a sound of hope to thousands on the front lines in WWII, where Avengers patrolled the seas for enemy vessels, fought in numerous naval battles, helped prepare invasion zones, and provided close air-to-ground support for allied troops.

The Avenger first took shape in 1940 as engineers from Grumman Aircraft worked to design a new torpedo bomber to fill a US Navy requirement to replace the obsolete Douglas TBD Devastator. The prototype first flew in August of 1941, named "Avenger" in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Grumman began to produce the new torpedo bomber in January of 1942. Avengers first flew in combat six months later during the Battle of Midway. Unfortunately, all but one of the six Avengers launched were shot down. However, subsequent events afforded the Grumman torpedo bomber the opportunity to demonstrate its lethality as it fought in every carrier-versus-carrier battle of the war.

While the Avenger had many successes in its combat career, there are a few that stand out. At the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Avengers scored several key hits on the battleship Hiei. In the 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Avengers sank the carrier Hiyo. Yet, the real victories for the Avenger occurred in 1945 when the Musashi and Yamato, the world's two largest battleships, were sunk as a direct result of Avenger torpedo attacks. Avengers also flew in the Atlantic throughout the war from small escort carriers and were pivotal in helping defend allied convoys, sinking more than thirty German U-boats between 1943 and 1944.

The Rocky Mountain Wing's TBM-3E Avenger original logbooks show that it was accepted by the US Navy on June 1, 1945 at the Norfolk NAS and assigned to the VT-75 Squadron - the "Fish Hawks". It was transferred in 1947 to VT-82 Squadron - the "Devil's Diplomats" and Naval Air Reserve Training at Los Alamitos in southern California.

In 1950 it was lend/leased to the Royal Canadian Navy with only 546 total hours flown. As with many other American aircraft, the Canadians renamed the the Avenger type to become the Tarpon. Our aircraft was part of 125 TBMs to be converted by the Fairey Aviation Company of Canada, Ltd. to "modern" anti-submarine warfare roles. These aircraft received an extensive number of ASW modifications, including improved radar, electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment, and sonobuoys. The modified Avengers were then re-designated AS-3. The upper ball turret was replaced with a sloping glass canopy (seen at right) that was better suited for observation duties. The observer was thus seated facing forward.

TBM 53503 flew in the RCN 881 Squadron from the carrier HMCS Magnificent and marked as sub hunter "ABK", "AB*P" and later "315" as their numbering system changed over her years of duty. She also flew in this role as part of the flypast for the newly coronated Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Navy Review at Spithead on June 16, 1953. TBM 53503 is documented as being Struck Off Charge on January 1, 1958.

After her RCN military career ended in 1958, TBM 53503 was an aerial insecticide applicator from 1963 to 1970 for the Simsbury Flying Service in Simsbury, CT as N6583D. Acquired by the CAF in 1970 where she was painted as VT-10's "white 82" with a tri-color Navy scheme for the CV-10 Yorktown, but still lacked the characteristic dorsal gun turret. She flew with the CAF Ghost Squadron until 1981 in this configuration. During this time, her movie debut can be seen in the first five minutes of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind as directed by Steven Spielburg - hint: she is the one whose engine runs!

From 1981 until mid-1985, the Avenger sat outside in Arizona waiting for her next duty assignment and in desperate need of repair and maintenance on various systems. A new CAF Unit, the "Rocky Mountain Squadron", was formed in Grand Junction Colorado in 1981. This unit petitioned CAF headquarters for the TBM's reassignment to them in 1984. On January 17, 1985 TBM 53503 was officially assigned to the new squadron. She was flown on a ferry permit from Mesa, Arizona to Grand Junction, Colorado in that February to begin an extensive restoration lasting over four years.

By July of 1989, she was once again "ready for duty" - complete with the installation of the dorsal gun turret, and a new paint scheme - that of a TBM assigned to VT-84, also known as the "Wolf Gang" squadron, aboard the USS Bunker Hill, CV-17. This squadron was the first to attack Tokyo on February 16 & 17, 1945 and the colorful yellow cowling was adopted to enhance identification as "friendly" when returning to the fleet from their raid.

Her first CAF AIRSHO was in Harlingen, Texas in 1990, and since has been on the airshow circuit promoting the goals on objectives of the CAF. The Rocky Mountain Squadron grew to obtain official CAF "Wing" status.

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