Editing Grumman TBF Avenger (section)

===U.S. Navy===
[[File:TBF launching.jpg|thumb|TBF Avenger ready for catapult launch]]
[[File:Grumman TBF-1 Avenger of VT-5 about to take off from USS Yorktown (CV-10), circa in late 1943 (80-G-K-15278).jpg|thumb|A Grumman TBF Avenger aboard {{USS|Yorktown|CV-10|6}}, {{circa|late 1943}}]]
[[File:George H.W. Bush seated in a Grumman TBM Avenger, circa 1944 (H069-13).jpg|thumb|Future American President [[George H. W. Bush]], in a TBM Avenger on the light aircraft carrier {{USS|San Jacinto|CVL-30|6}} in 1944]]

On the afternoon of 7 December 1941, Grumman held a ceremony to open a new manufacturing plant and display the new TBF to the public. Coincidentally, on that day, the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]], as Grumman soon found out. After the ceremony was over, the plant was quickly sealed off to guard against possible sabotage. By early June 1942, a shipment of more than 100 aircraft was sent to the Navy, arriving only a few hours after the three carriers quickly departed from [[Pearl Harbor]], so most of them were too late to participate in the pivotal [[Battle of Midway]].

Six TBF-1s were present on [[Midway Atoll|Midway Island]]{{snd}}as part of [[VT-8]] (Torpedo Squadron 8){{snd}}while the rest of the [[Squadron (aviation)|squadron]] flew Devastators from the aircraft carrier {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|2}}. Both types of torpedo bombers suffered heavy casualties. Out of the six Avengers, five were shot down and the other returned heavily damaged with one of its gunners killed, and the other gunner and the pilot wounded.<ref name="USN ONI Battle of Midway">{{cite report |author= Combat Intelligence Branch |date= 1943 |chapter= Midway's Attack on the Enemy Carriers |title= Combat Narrative: The Battle of Midway, June 3–6 1942 |page= 17 |publisher= U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Intelligence |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-CN-Midway/ |chapter-url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-CN-Midway/USN-CN-Midway-6.html |via= HyperWar Foundation |access-date= 2021-05-13 }}</ref>

Author [[Gordon Prange]] posited in ''Miracle at Midway'' that the outdated Devastators (and lack of new aircraft) contributed somewhat to the lack of a complete victory at Midway (the four Japanese fleet carriers were sunk directly by dive bombers instead). Others pointed out that the inexperienced American pilots and lack of fighter cover were responsible for poor showing of US torpedo bombers, regardless of type.<ref>{{cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Joel |date=2006 |title=1942 – Battle of Midway |url=http://www.cv6.org/1942/midway/midway_2.htm |access-date=27 October 2020 |website=USS Enterprise CV-6}}</ref> Later in the war, with growing American air superiority, better attack coordination and more veteran pilots, Avengers were able to play vital roles in the subsequent battles against Japanese surface forces.<ref name=supership>{{cite episode |title=Sinking the Supership |date=4 October 2005 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/supership/ |series=[[Nova (American TV program)|Nova]] |network=[[PBS]] |season=33 |number=3212 |access-date=27 October 2011}}</ref>

On 24 August 1942, the next major naval aircraft carrier battle occurred at the [[Battle of the Eastern Solomons|Eastern Solomons]]. Based on the carriers {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|2}} and {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|2}}, the 24 TBFs present were able to sink the Japanese light carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Ryūjō||2}} and claim one dive bomber, at the cost of seven aircraft.

The first major "prize" for the TBFs (which had been assigned the name "Avenger" in October 1941,<ref>Associated Press. [https://www.nytimes.com/1941/10/02/archives/fighting-names-given-to-planes-by-the-navy.html "Fighting Names Given to Planes by the Navy"]. ''The New York Times''. Vol. XCI No. 30,567, 2 October 1941, p. 17.</ref><ref>"New Plane Names". ''Flying and Popular Aviation'' (Chicago: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company), Vol. 30 [sic], No. 1, January 1942, p. 232.</ref> before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) was at the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]] in November 1942, when Marine Corps and Navy Avengers helped sink the Japanese [[battleship]] {{Ship|Japanese battleship|Hiei||2}}, which had already been crippled the night before.

After hundreds of the original ''TBF-1'' models were built, the ''TBF-1C'' began production. The allotment of space for specialized internal and wing-mounted fuel tanks doubled the Avenger's range. By 1943, Grumman began to slowly phase out production of the Avenger to produce F6F Hellcat fighters, and the [[Eastern Aircraft Division]] of [[General Motors]] took over production, with these aircraft being designated ''TBM''. The Eastern Aircraft plant was located in [[Ewing Township, New Jersey|Ewing]], New Jersey. Grumman delivered a TBF-1, held together with sheet metal screws, so that the automotive engineers could disassemble it, one part at a time, and redesign the aircraft for automotive-style production. This aircraft was known as the "P-K Avenger" ("P-K" being an abbreviation for Parker-Kalon, manufacturer of sheet metal screws). Starting in mid-1944, the ''TBM-3'' began production (with a more powerful powerplant and wing hardpoints for drop tanks and [[rocket]]s). The dash-3 was the most numerous of the Avengers (with about 4,600 produced). However, most of the Avengers in service were dash-1s until near the end of the war in 1945.

Besides the traditional surface role (torpedoing surface ships), Avengers claimed about 30 [[submarine]] kills, including the cargo submarine {{Ship|Japanese submarine|I-52|1943|2}}. They were one of the most effective sub-killers in the [[Pacific War|Pacific theater]], as well as in the Atlantic, when escort carriers were finally available to escort Allied convoys. There, the Avengers contributed to the warding off of German [[U-boat]]s while providing air cover for the convoys.

After the "[[Battle of the Philippine Sea|Marianas Turkey Shoot]]", in which more than 250 Japanese aircraft were downed, [[Admiral]] [[Marc Mitscher]] ordered a 220-aircraft mission to find the Japanese task force. Fighting {{convert|300|nmi|km|abbr=on}} away from the fleet at the extreme end of their range, the group of Hellcats, TBF/TBMs, and [[dive bomber]]s took many casualties. However, Avengers from the {{sclass|Independence|aircraft carrier}} {{USS|Belleau Wood|CVL-24|6}} sank the light carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Hiyō||2}} as their only major prize. Mitscher's gamble did not pay off as well as he had hoped.

In June 1943, shortly before his 19th birthday, future-president, [[George H. W. Bush]], was commissioned as the youngest naval aviator at the time.<ref name="navy">{{cite web |title=Lieutenant Junior Grade George Bush, USNR |publisher=[[Naval History and Heritage Command]] |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-1.htm |archive-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108211228/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-1.htm}}</ref> Later, while flying a TBM with VT-51 (from {{USS|San Jacinto|CVL-30|6}}), his Avenger was shot down on 2 September 1944 over the Pacific island of [[Chichi Jima]].<ref>Hove 2003, p. 178.</ref> However, he released his payload and hit the radio tower target before being forced to bail out over water. Both of his crewmates died. He was rescued at sea by the American submarine {{USS|Finback|SS-230|6}}. He later received the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]].

Another famous Avenger aviator was [[Paul Newman]], who flew as a rear gunner. He had hoped to be accepted for pilot training, but did not qualify because he was [[color blind]]. Newman was on board the escort carrier {{USS|Hollandia|CVE-97|6}} roughly {{convert|500|mi|km|abbr=on}} from Japan when the [[Enola Gay]] dropped the [[Little Boy|first atomic bomb]] on [[Hiroshima]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wise | first1=James E. Jr. |last2=Rehill |first2=Anne Collier |date=1997 |title=Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services |location=Annapolis, Maryland |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=1557509379 |ol=OL668535M |url=https://archive.org/details/starsinbluemovie0000wise |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The Avenger was the type of torpedo bomber used during the sinking of the two Japanese "super battleships", with the US Navy having complete air superiority in both engagements: {{Ship|Japanese battleship|Musashi||2}} and {{Ship|Japanese battleship|Yamato||2}}.<ref name=supership/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hackett |first1=Bob |last2=Kingsepp |first2=Sander |date=2017 |title=IJN Battleship Musashi: Tabular Record of Movement |website=CombinedFleet |url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/musashi.htm |access-date=27 October 2020}}</ref>

The postwar disappearance on 5 December 1945 of a flight of five American Avengers, known as [[Flight 19]], was later added to the [[Bermuda Triangle]] legend, first written about by Edward Van Winkle Jones in an [[Associated Press]] article published in September 1950.<ref name="Jones 1950">{{cite news |author=E. V. W. Jones |date=17 September 1950 |title=Sea's Puzzles Still Baffle Men In Pushbutton Age |newspaper=Miami Herald |agency=Associated Press |page=6F |url=http://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/BermudaTriangle/evwjones.html |via=course material, "The Scientific Method - Critical and Creative Thinking", SMU Department of Physics |access-date=27 October 2020}}</ref>

During World War II, the US aeronautical research arm [[NACA]] used a complete Avenger in a comprehensive [[Drag (physics)|drag-reduction]] study in their large [[Langley Research Center|Langley]] [[wind tunnel]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071023032801/http://gis.larc.nasa.gov/masterplan/section7_public/#history "History of Langley Research Center."] ''NASA.'' Retrieved: 22 July 2011.</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2020}}