Copyright 2009 by Brandon Cope

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Douglas TBD Devastator, carrier-borne torpedo/level bomber

In December 1941, The Devestator was the US Navy's front-line torpedo bomber.First flown in 1935, the TBD entered service in 1937 as arguably the most advanced torpedo bomber in the world. By 1941, however, it was badly outdated While the plane held it's own early in the Pacific war (hekping to sink a Japanese light carrier at the Battle of Coral Sea), the Battle of Midway was the TBD's swan song: of 41 launched, 35 were shot down and not a single plane managed to hit it's target (to be fair, some of this was the fault of the unreliable Mark 13 torpedo, as well as the extreme vulnerability of torpedo bombers once they start an attack run).

Fortunately for the USN, the Devastator's replacement, the TBF Avenger (p.W:MP107) debuted at Midway and the TBD was phased out of frontline service starting in August 1942. The 40 or so planes left were used for training duties until 1944. A total of 130 were built (of which around 100 were still in service when the US entered the war).

The Devastator had a crew of three: pilot, bombardier/radio operator, and observer//gunner. The TBD-1 uses 30.2 gallons of aviation fuel per hour.

Subassemblies: Medium Fighter Body +3, Light Fighter-Bomber Wings with STOL and Folding options +3
P&P: 671 kW HP gasoline engine w/671-kW aerial propellerm 171 gallons aviation gasoline in self-sealing fuel tanks (wings)
Occ: 3 CS      Cargo: None.
 
Armor F R/L B T U
Body 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5
Wings 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5
Wheels 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5 2/5
Cockpit 0/0 0/+10 0/+30 0/0 0/+10
Gunner 0/0 0/0 0/+30 0/0 0/0
 

Weaponry
Long Aircraft HMG/Browning M-2 [Body:F] (200 rounds)
Aircraft LMG/Browning M-2 [Body:R] (500 rounds)
1,200 lb hardpoint [Body] 

Equipment
Body: long range radio transmitter and reciever, bombsight, navigational instruments, arrestor hook

Statistics
Size: 35'x50'x15' Payload: 1.46 tons
 Lwt: 5.1 tons
Volume:  100
 Maint.: 47 hours Price: $18,500
 

HT: 7
HP:  120 [body], 160 [each wing]; 12 [each wheel]
 
aSpeed: 206 aAccel: 4
 aDecel: 23 aMR: 5.5 aSR: 2
Stall: 56 mph



 

Design Notes
Design speed was 228 mph. Loaded weight was increased 14%. The historical wing area (422 sq/ft)  have been used. Loaded weight and performance statistics assumes one 1,200 lb torpedo.

Some planes mounted an additional machinegun to the rear. Some planes mounted a LMG rather than HMG to the front.

One unusual feature was that the main landing gear did not retract backwards completely. This mean tthat on a belly landing the wheels were still in contact with the ground.

Variants:
A single TBD was equipped with twin floats.