TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | North American F-86 Sabre Three F-68 Sabres attended the 3rd Annual TBM Avenger Gathering held this year at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru, IL. A few years ago, I briefly shared the pattern with an F-86. I felt honored to share a piece of sky with such an iconic airplane. What a beautiful airplane; looks fast even while taxiing! See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | North American T-6 Texan The avenger gathering attracted several other military aircraft including the T-6 Texan. The North American T-6 Texan Two-Seat Advanced Trainer is a military single-engine aircraft primarily used as a trainer. It’s first flight was on April 1st, 1935. Before the end of its production run, nearly 16,000 planes were built. The T-6 Texan was used extensively during WWII and the Korean conflict. It was even used to some extent during the Vietnam War. In fact, a few are still in operational service today. Of course, many are flown regularly in fly-ins and air shows around the world. See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | Flying The Avenger is a big, single engine airplane. It’s over 40 ft long, over 16 ft tall, over 54 ft wingspan, and a max weigh of 17,895 lb. Hard to tell without something else in the frame to compare against! See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | Just Off Avengers come in a variety of colors and configurations. They first saw action during the Battle of Midway. Although five Avengers were lost at Midway, it became one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of the war and remained in service until the 1960s after several modifications. See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | Takeoff The Grumman TBF Avenger is a WWII torpedo bomber. Those designated TBM were actually manufactured by General Motors. It has a crew of three; pilot, gunner, and radio operator/bombardier. Avengers are powered by a 1,900 hp Wright R-200-20 radial engine. Its armament includes two .50-in. forward-firing machine guns; one .50-in. dorsal gun; one .30-in. ventral gun.; 2,000 lb. bomb/torpedo load. Also it’s capable of carrying the Norden bombsight. They were developed for the United States Navy and Marine Corps and entered service in 1942. They first saw action during the Battle of Midway and went on to become an outstanding torpedo bomber in WWII.
Length: 40 ft., 11 in. Height: 16 ft., 5 in. Wingspan: 54 ft., 2 in. Wing area: 490 sq. ft.
Empty: 10,545 lb. Maximum: 17,895 lb.
Max Speed: 276 mph at 16,500 ft. Cruise Speed: 147 mph Climb Rate: 2,060 ft./min. Ceiling: 30,100 ft. Range: 1,010 miles
See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | President Plane This Grumman TBM Avenger has been restored as a replica of LT. (J.G.) George Bush’s plane; who would later become the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. President Bush was a high school senior on Dec. 7, 1941, at Phillips Academy Andover. On June 12, 1942, he turned 18, graduated from Andover, and shortly thereafter was sworn into the US Navy. A year later, Bush became an officer of the United States Naval Reserve, earned his wings as a naval aviator, and was assigned to fly TBM Avengers off the aircraft carrier San Jacinto in the Pacific. He was likely the Navy’s youngest flying officer; just days before his 19th birthday. As a member of the San Jacinto’s torpedo squadron VT-51, Bush flew an Avenger with the name “Barbara” inscribed.
At about 0715 on 2 Sep 1944, Bush took off along with his crew, William “Ted” G. White and John “Del” Delaney, to attack Chichi Jima, a Japanese island. An hour later, their plane was hit by AAA; setting his engine on fire. Choking on the smoke, he continued to fly his plane, a TBM Avenger, while dropping bombs and hitting his target, a radio tower. After flying the burning plane farther out to sea, he told White and Delaney to bail out before bailing out himself. The wind lifted him out of the cockpit and threw him backward into the tail. He cut his head and bruised his eye on the tail; then he pulled the ripcord and floated under his parachute until hitting the waves. Although badly injured, Bush managed to swim to a life raft about fifty feet away. He was alone bobbing on the ocean when he realized that White and Delaney were missing. After what seemed like many hours, a Navy submarine, the USS Finback, finally surfaced to rescue him.
For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism under fire. During the war, he flew 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to his ship, the San Jacinto. It seems all together fitting and proper to have a plane named after him. See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | Takeoff Line A cloudy IFR morning gave way to a nice, hazy VFR afternoon for the 3rd Annual TBM Avenger Gathering held this weekend at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru, IL. Eleven Grumman TBM Avengers beat the weather to attend this year’s event, a Salute to Veterans. Also, a Douglas A-26 Invader and a couple of T-6 Texans as well as three North American F-86 Sabres and a MiG-17 Fresco also made it to the gathering this year. Hopefully, next year’s event will see even better weather and more WWII aircraft to complement TBM Avengers. Looking forward to it already! See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story A cloudy IFR morning gave way to a nice, hazy VFR afternoon for the 3rd Annual TBM Avenger Gathering held this weekend at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru, IL. Eleven Grumman TBM Avengers beat the weather to attend this year’s event, a Salute to Veterans. Also, a Douglas A-26 Invader and a couple of T-6 Texans as well as three North American F-86 Sabres and a MiG-17 Fresco also made it to the gathering this year.
The Grumman TBF Avenger is a WWII torpedo bomber. Those designated TBM were actually manufactured by General Motors. It has a crew of three; pilot, gunner, and radio operator/bombardier. Avengers are powered by a 1,900 hp Wright R-200-20 radial engine. Its armament includes two .50-in. forward-firing machine guns; one .50-in. dorsal gun; one .30-in. ventral gun.; 2,000 lb. bomb/torpedo load. Also it’s capable of carrying the Norden bombsight. Developed for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, it entered service in 1942 and first saw action during the Battle of Midway. Although five Avengers were lost at Midway, it became one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of the war and remained in service until the 1960s after several modifications.
This Grumman TBM Avenger has been restored as a replica of LT. (J.G.) George Bush’s plane; who would later become the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. President Bush was a high school senior on Dec. 7, 1941, at Phillips Academy Andover. On June 12, 1942, he turned 18, graduated from Andover, and shortly thereafter was sworn into the US Navy. A year later, Bush became an officer of the United States Naval Reserve, earned his wings as a naval aviator, and was assigned to fly TBM Avengers off the aircraft carrier San Jacinto in the Pacific. He was likely the Navy’s youngest flying officer; just days before his 19th birthday. As a member of the San Jacinto’s torpedo squadron VT-51, Bush flew an Avenger with the name “Barbara” inscribed. During the war, he flew 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism under fire, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to his ship, the San Jacinto.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category TBM Avenger Gathering 2018.
Click any image below for a slide show!
TBF/TBM Avenger Specifications
| Length: 40 ft., 11 in. Height: 16 ft., 5 in. Wingspan: 54 ft., 2 in. Wing area: 490 sq. ft. | Empty: 10,545 lb. Maximum: 17,895 lb. | Max Speed: 276 mph at 16,500 ft. Cruise Speed: 147 mph Climb Rate: 2,060 ft./min. Ceiling: 30,100 ft. Range: 1,010 miles |
