Chris Johnson's Grumman TBM-3E Avenger

Chris Johnson is the owner and pilot of this warbird, which is on display year-round at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation at Sevierville, TN, just east of Knoxville. Many people recognize the Avenger as the type of aircraft that former President George Bush flew.

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.

Chris’s TBM Avenger (BuAer 91453) was built in May of 1945 and went to Seattle, WA in August 1945 where it remained until 1947. It went to sea on the Princeton, CV37, in 1948 and was then surplused in 1957 and served as a fire bomber until 1984 when it was bought by John Williams and restored to near its present condition. John Carson, who had flown TBF (TBM) Avengers during WWII, hunting U Boats in the Atlantic, bought BuAer 91453 in 1995 and went to sea again on the Nuclear Carrier Carl Vinson, CVN 67, to participate in the 50th Anniversary of the end of WWII Celebrations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. John did not get to fly off the Carl Vinson with the other vintage aircraft, but his Avenger stayed onboard to adorn the hanger deck for the celebrations and banquets. John Carson’s name remains on the aircraft to commemorate his service to our country. Chris purchased the Avenger in 1998, along with Bill Klaers and Alan Wojciak of WestPac Restorations, and flies it at airshows throughout eastern and central USA.

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