⚜ | Inside The Cockpit - TBF/M Avenger

welcome everybody back to military aviation history and welcome back in lausanne in sunny Switzerland I'm standing in front of one of the most iconic aircraft of world war ii this is a TPM - free avenger now the TBM is in fact a TBF we're going to go into the story of the designations a little bit later on now the Avengers story starts already in 1949 before war was forced upon the United States when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1949 America recognized that their TPD Devastator was somewhat obsolete it happened in part of the service in the Royal excuse me the United States Navy since 1945 so a replacement was needed and in 1940 Grumman finally provided a possible alternative for a modern torpedo bomber and that was the XT bf - M now the following year in August 1941 the prototypes went through the trials and everything went fine although well one prototype did in fact crash and burn into the ground but overall the the whole thing in the whole concept had proven to be an success what happened when this design was accepted is of course that order was put out and this was in December of 1941 now if you know your history you'll know that in 1941 in December of that year the Japanese in fact attacked Pearl Harbor so this really coincides there's the story of this aircraft really coincides with with the war in the Pacific in general now one of the things you often hear is that the Devastator was completely obsolete and that the avenger did a lot of things better and this is true the avenger was more modern and in many ways it was a substantial improvement especially when it came to a crew comfort and the kind of equipment they had at their disposal however the story of the Avenger didn't get off to a good start during the year warned the Pacific if you look back at the Battle of Midway for example of course the Devastator force was still the main staple of the torpedo bombers after a United States Navy however the Avenger was supposed to take place to take part in that action at Midway now the story of why this didn't happen is well in popular memory at least one of timing apparently the devastators would that were delivered to the task force arrived just a couple of hours late in order to be put on the carriers there is a little bit of confusion of actually what happened there but suffice it to say that we t8 which was a torpedo bomber squadron on the carrier Hornet did in fact have a trial run with the Avenger at Midway and those and then just six of them and total took off Midway Islands now when they took off they were a force of six when they returned they were a force of 1:5 in fact were shot down by the Japanese during the action and the one that came back was riddled with bullets and wasn't really holding up there too well one of the crew members had died as well and the other ones had been wounded so the concept of the torpedo bomber and the design of the torpedo bomber even though the adventure was a lot better than the Devastator still meant that they were at the mercy of a fighter force and the Japanese of course with their zeroes were able to shoot out a substantial numbers of these aircraft now after the Battle of Midway the Avengers see service in the eastern settlements and add water canal over there it does have some success but the tobio bombing force has also suffered quite some casualties in there in the process by 1944 something quite interesting happens and that is the designation change from TBF to DPM this is simply because the production shifted or from away from Grumman who originally designed as an aircraft over to General Motors and in fact General Motors will end up building the majority of of the Avengers produced in fact it was close to 7,500 from a total production run of roughly 9,000 it's quite quite a hefty number there now in 1945 this aircraft goes through a couple of revisions again this has to do with the fact that as a torpedo bomber while being quite a modern designer while being a good design the concept of torpedo bombers as I've already alluded to was somewhat outdated during the war they suffered casualties in pretty much every operation they were sent into either by flak or by enemy fighters and as such this aircraft shifted away from torpedo bombing over to anti-submarine warfare to light transport couriers medical transports and all that good stuff the aircraft we have right behind me is a TPM - 3e this designates it obviously as a General Motors production 1 and also as quite an late war aircraft now the interesting story about this specific aircraft years in fact that after the war it was given to the French and the French Navy used this aircraft before it was bought here by by a Swiss gentleman who restored the aircraft into flying condition and in fact what we have of course here is an aircraft that households or even repainted in US Navy colors one thing you obviously have already notice on this aircraft is that I can fall its wings this is obviously very important and very convenient for a carrier task force since reasons they're able to pack more aircraft into the carrier and also because they're able to then transport more aircraft onto the flight deck with their elevators the way it is done here right now with the Avenger can be either done hydraulically when the engine is running in fact sometimes you see adventures that are still operational nowadays on flight shows deploying and retracting their their wings just for well sure the show effect I guess it's very nice to see and it can also be used on by manually with a hand pump but that requires some serious muscle obviously crucial for the employment on a carrier the arrestor here fixed to the tail of the aircraft right we're inside the avenger where you would usually fit the payload the eventual obviously being a torpedo bomber has a torpedo mounted in here in fact it is a Mach 14 torpedo which had a payload of roughly 600 pounds that is 270 kilograms beyond this it could also you load a single 1,000 pound bomb that's 5 on a key on fine funnel kilograms or 4 times 500 pound bombs 250 kilograms since it was also used in a close air support role later on during the war and also in Korea you actually do have sometimes a use for a bomb load instead of a torpedo load obviously as we have already said earlier the torpedo bombing role that this aircraft had initially but sort of subsided during the war offensively the TBF and TBM Avenger were armed with a single 15 Cal browning in the wing unsynchronized of course if they're not firing through the propeller and they could be maintenance up there where you send see that bulge right before we get actually into the aventuras and a little bit more hands-on let's talk about the aircraft more in more general terms up front we have a right hour to 600 engine pumping out one for 900 horsepower which is a hefty lot and obviously this was needed since the avenger in fact has the wealth distinction of being the heaviest single-engine aircraft of world war ii in fact most people don't notice because they think it's yeah p-47 fundable that is the heaviest the Avenger was roughly 400 pounds more heavier this obviously puts the funderbolt into a new perspective now up front obviously the pilot behind them would be the radio operator Bombardier and also a auxiliary gunner for the ventral gun down below and then of course we have a gunner whose job really throughout the flight is to do nothing but operate that little ball turret it's going to be very fun getting in there because it really was not conceptualized for people of my height but in order to get inside for the radio operator and the gunner it's relatively easy and comfortable you just open up the door and in you go essentially the this door also actually serves as an emergency hatch during times when your aircraft is on fire or well the wing is missing good luck trying to get out but this is the door you would usually use in case of ditching in fact they would get out of the radio operators position there's in fact no link between the radio operator and the pilot in the wartime production models for the pilot in selling himself he has to do a little bit more acrobatics there's a step down here it will then also step on the torpedo Bombay door and before stepping on the wings you can do this viola being held by a couple of handhelds so we're gonna try this right now there we go up we go into the world and we are and now I would be ready to get inside alright let's get inside and this is riveting stuff guys most of you will probably have not seen this and it was the first time for me seeing it as well now to get inside the best thing is to actually go foot first and then kind of level yourself and rise up there we go now we have obviously the turret over there that I'm going to try to get into now and afterwards we're going to try to make our way to the radio operators position one thing very important is that because this aircraft went for so many reef it's not everything is original obviously and since it has also been modified into a cargo passenger aircraft there are some extra seats in here as well now we lower this armor plate here that is for the gunner and we will now try and attempt to get in there now you've got to remember that for turd like this usually the max height of a person was supposed to be 160 yeah 160 centimeters 1 meter 60 I'm 190 so this is gonna be fun best thing usually on our attempts was to go hand first and then somehow find a foothold down below where you can be a little bit more stable and then slowly but surely somehow find and now my pants are stuck on the armor plate there we go we're nearly in here we go and we are in fact in the turret with some lovely people outside let's wave at them there we go now because of my height I will not be able to close the armored plate or do anything here but I'll try to give you the most accurate representation of what would happen right where my legs are right now I hope you can see that that's where they should be all right I am so crammed up right now I cannot even move this worse that it was in the Halifax can tell you that for a fact now right next to me we have an m2 browning 50 Cal a good weapon a good defensive weapon and it could be operated manually in case the electronic system fails or obviously with the electronic system now we have obviously the oxygen flow indicator right here which is important and then here we have the master switch for the gun this is a joystick that he's supposed to use with a trigger being right here instead of in the usual pistol trigger position the protection you have obviously the armor plate down below that you already saw not really big protection that you have and then you have bullet resistant glass right here between the sight and the the sight picture all right so let's try to get out of this turret and this really is even more scary than getting in getting in the chances of getting stuck is quite high but getting out a chance of breaking every single bone you have is even higher right we are sliding I'm gonna use the passage of C to stand on because it's the only way and if you kind of let have gravity do the work for you you managed to get to get out um one thing I will say I am soaking in sweat right now so flying the Pacific with your flight get on set up over t-shirt like I do not a nice feeling right for the radio operator we are sliding all the way through his position this is not easy Iver now there is a secondary and twins of course as I already said which he might be more convenient to use but here you go this is how you would do it to traverse to your position now important here the natural instinct is actually to turn towards the seat when you're trying to get into the position its position big mistake I have learned you move away face towards the window and then you rise up and now you can naturally slide into your position usually obviously there would be equipment here he is the Bombardier he's the radio operator you know the drill this is the kind of equipment that would be here in this refitted version this is not the case there is some lamb toe which is kind of nice for him to get out or to get in a more convenient way would be operating this window right here I have to open this then you open this this part as well but before you do that you also unlock the master bolt and now you should be able there we go to open up this window right here and now we could theoretically go out this way and exit the aircraft so with this being the radio operators position right here you will see that on the wings side here we have the life raft behind the door and this is obviously something you would need when you're ditching we have a fuel tank that is right here honored leaders 49 US gallons and then we have the pilot seat we are going to be able to film inside here what we see right here to his left side is the tail wheel caster which obviously locked and unlocked you have the arrest equal control very important for carry operation and then you have a trim for the nose right there you also have an elevator trim just below that and a elrond trim to the right of that right there over there you will be able to see the supercharger the throttle and the mixture controls moving along through the more modern radio equipment right there we are going to the landing gear which we have here and the flap control right there as we go into the instrument panel you'll see in the top left the Manimal fold pressure for the engines then the altitude given and feet the airspeed given in knots obviously Navy aircraft below that you have a bank and slip indicator of a climbing indicator and the engine rpm right there below that you also have a little bit of checklist that the pilot can consult what he has to do for takeoff and landing to the right we have not official Rison a compass' a clock then the cylinder head temperature obviously being a radial engine it doesn't need water cooling but it has the oil temperature to the right as well as the oil and fuel pressure slightly loaded once again a clock with an accelerator indicator a compass and direction finder and then to the right of that we have the fuel quantity and below that we have the other a directional finder speaking down to the right here we have more bits bits and bobs a lot of fluid is for navigational landing electrical systems and all that good stuff obviously we have a sight picture here as well a manual backup site and the primary site and above that there is another compass below this we have a hand pump to the bottom left here and also the assistant pressure of the hydraulic system right there obviously what do you guys want to see is me going back to the original position because the radio operator would obviously be operating the ventral gunner as well getting out a lot easier what you do is simply once again have gravity do the work for you go legs first and this is a lot easier I can tell you to off to getting in and you are out and right now you could operate the ventral gun which would be located where at Cedars right there so there we go let's get out of this aircraft get a bit of fresh air this is getting out is always the fun part there we are that is the TBF avenger now I hope you enjoyed our episode here on the TDF and TBM Avenger it really was an awesome aircraft to get hands on earth thoroughly enjoyed it I hope it is good as well if you want to see more of this kind of content in the future please check out my page when in fact it was my patrons and a special thanks for them at this point that allowed me to buy the tickets come over here to Switzerland get the equipment and start filming so if you want to see more of this kind of content please check out my patron I also want to specifically thank Charlie the owner of this aircraft for allowing us to a film inside and the outside and shout out to his association as well Charlie's heavy check it out in the description below as well as AMPA who are the organization that invited Minh here and special thanks also to Elliot for arranging the invitations and for meeting us here as always guys I hope you guys have a great day good hunting and see what a sky [Music]

Channel: Military Aviation History

Views: 257,198

Rating: 4.9470749 out of 5

Keywords: WW2, Aviation, Education, Pacific, Torpedo, Bomber, TBF, TBM, Avenger, Navy, USN, History, Learning

Id: 5o2XccN85ZY

Length: 18min 47sec (1127 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 02 2018