Grumman TBF / TBM Avenger (WW 2): Books - History

Grumman TBF / TBM-3 Avenger

One of the most legendary naval aircraft of WWII, the Grumman TBF Avenger (and the General Motors-produced TBM) saw action in most of the major battles in the Pacific including Midway and Leyte Gulf.
Armed with a forward machine gun and a second in a dorsal turret, the plane could carry a 21-inch torpedo or four 500-lb. bombs, or a combination thereof.

Avengers are credited with sinking the Japanese superbattleships Musashi and Yamato. A young aviator who would later become President, George H.W. Bush flew a TBF off the carrier USS San Jacinto in 1943-44.

Originally printed by Grumman and the U.S. Navy late in the war, this revised Flight Operating Handbook taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Classified "Restricted", the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form.

TBF / TBM Avenger Units of World War 2

The Grumman Avenger, in service from 1942, meted out severe retribution on the Japanese fleet thanks to a bomb bay large enough to carry the Navy's biggest torpedo.
As its name suggests, the Avenger meted out severe retribution on the Japanese in the Pacific, participating in every major engagement through to VJ-Day. As a key weapon of war, the Avenger was so highly valued by the US Navy that its demand for the aircraft soon outstripped Grumman's production capacity, so General Motors (GM) was contracted to build the near identical TBM from September 1942 onwards.
Over 1000 Avengers also saw action with the Fleet Air Arm in both the Atlantic and the Pacific through to VJ-Day, and two squadrons of RNZAF TBDs fought alongside American Avengers on Bougainville in 1944.
This detailed text presents scale drawings of the plane with crews explaining their experiences in battle in the Pacific.

Contents: Avenger - Guadalcanal and the Solomons - Central Pacific Campaigns - To Japan - Sub Hunter - Royal Navy and RNZAF - Assessment - Appendices.