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Description
| Manufacturer: | Douglas |
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| Base model: | TBD | ||
| Designation: | TBD | ||
| Version: | -1 | ||
| Nickname: | Devastator | ||
| Designation System: | U.S. Navy / Marines | ||
| Designation Period: | 1935-1946 | ||
| Basic role: | Torpedo Bomber | ||
| Crew: | Pilot and observer/rear gunner |
Specifications
| Length: | 35' 0" | 10.6 m | |
| Height: | 15' 1" | 4.6 m | |
| Wingspan: | 50' 0" | 15.2 m | |
| Wingarea: | 422.0 sq ft | 39.2 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 5,600 lb | 2,539 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 10,194 lb | 4,623 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 | ||
| Horsepower (each): | 900 | ||
Performance
| Range: | 716 miles | 1,152 km | |
| Cruise Speed: | 128 mph | 206 km/h | 111 kt |
| Max Speed: | 206 mph | 331 km/h | 178 kt |
| Climb: | 720 ft/min | 219 m/min | |
| Ceiling: | 19,500 ft | 5,943 m | |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| charles Milledgeville, GA | The devastator, like the brewster buffalo, is an example of an aircraft designed by Navy Brass, you know, the guys that didn't have to go up and fight in the aircraft. This is akin to the army generals who had more of their fair share in deciding how tanks would be built. In the arena of aircraft, total disregard was practiced by not being aware of the much finer japanese counterpart to the devastator and even the avenger. The kate was a much better aircraft in every aspect except armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. Concerning tanks (army type), thats another discussion for another time!!!
Semper Fidelis 07/18/2008 @ 08:13 [ref: 22168] |
| steve y.(author, near-future book) , WA | TBD has been misrepresented by most historical work. It is almost entirely misunderstood due to the very inaccurate picture assigned to it by almost all historical perspectives. The writers on this comment board seem to be some of the very few readers of history who understand this problem. There was only one, never-corrected issue that affected the TBD as a carrier-based aircraft(not including the fiasco with the torpedoes) - it was simply UNDERPOWERED. Had this machine been properly equipped with a better power plant(the 900hp engine was by far too light for it), it would have meant the USN would have had an aircraft resulting in every way as good(perhaps even better)than the Avenger which replaced it(with the exception of having internal storage for the ordnance). Had the Bureau of Aeronautics, the USN and Douglas, in conjunction with the Supreme Allied Command demanded that this excellent airplane (TBD) be fitted with a then-available 1,600hp Wright 2600-5(for example), such a TBD-"2" would have been one of the greatest aircraft in the Pacific theater, resulting in far less loss of USN shipboard and aircrew lives(as well as civilian lives)and(would have)played a key role in shortening of the Pacific conflict by a year or more. Such an improvement in power would have produced a TBD with a top speed of approx. 340mph and cruising speed of at least 270mph(no requirement for anything more than a simple one-stage, single-speed supercharger); the TBD had the right wing and airframe to have achieved this kind of performance. All of this commentary(the same suggestion)also would have applied to it's famous, illustrious partner, the SBD Dauntless(therefore resulting in an ever more impressive and potent Dauntless). 07/09/2008 @ 13:01 [ref: 21811] |
| Aaron F. Robinson Wilmington, NC | The XTBD-1 first flew on April 15, 1935 and two days later was delivered to the Navy for testing. It was designed to a specification for an aircraft operating from a new class of carriers the Navy was launching, the first of which was the USS Ranger. On June 25, 1937 Douglas began delivery of 114 TBD-1s and by 1938 the type had porved very successful in trials and combat exersises. There was an additional order for 15 aircraft to replenish operational losses.
Upon its introduction, the Devastator was the most modern and effective torpedo bomber perhaps in the world, the design ofter referred to as ``radical``. There were a number of ``firsts`` associated with the TBD; the ``Devastator`` was the first monoplane design ordered for service with the US Navy; it was the first with hydraulic (often referred to as ``manual``) folding wings; it was the first ``all metal`` aircraft ordered by the Navy. The carriers Saratoga, Enterprise, Lexington, Wasp, Hornet, Yorktown and Ranger were all equiped with the Devastator as the standard torpedo bomber. And, although Devastator production totalled only 129 aircraft, it achieved a notoriety completely out of proportion to its numbers (as we shall see). It had a crew of three:a pilot, a gunner facing aft and a bombardier who sat in between. In combat, the bombardier lay prone just behind the engine, peering through a window in the bottom of the fuselage to release the torpedo or bomb. The Devastator was furnished with one forward firing Colt/Browning .30 caliber machine gun operated by the pilot. Depending on the circumstances (and the CO) the forward gun was replaced with a .50 caliber. Exterior indications of which gun was mounted could be determined by the presence of a blister behind the air intake on the starboard side. The blister was a breech fairing for the Colt/Browning .50 caliber M2. Another .30 caliber machine gun was mounted in the rear gunner`s position. The engine was the Pratt-Whitney 1830-64 Twin Wasp rated at 850 hp. (634 kW). Its wings spanned 50 feet (15.24m), taking up a lot of room in the cramped innards of a carrier. So, Douglas designed them to fold upwards reducing the space to 26 feet (7.92 m). The wheels folded backwards into the wing, though they were designed to protrude about 10`` (254 mm) below the wing just in case the TBD had to make a wheels-up landing. The sleek 35` (10.67 m) fuselage was covered with a ``greenhouse canopy reaching over halfway to the tail. Near the beginning of the new decade (1940), naval intelligence indicated the TBD might be losing its combat edge to foreign designs and wheels were set in (slow) motion to find a replacement. There seemed to be no rush in spite of the wars heating up in Asia and Europe. A mere 3 years earlier, the Devastator had been state-of-the-art and it couldn`t have become totally obsolete in that short of period, or so the thinking event. Two years later the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At the time the Navy still had a hundred TBDs in the rosters, spread out among the aircraft carriers. By chance, the aircraft carriers were not in Pearl Harbor and escaped destruction when the Japanese assaulted ``Battleship Row`` on December 7, 1941. But the Navy`s squadron commanders were beginning to worry about some of the planes their men would take into battle, particularly the TBD with its top speed of 206 mph (332 km/h). Intelligence reports on the Japanese A6M Zero-Sen (Zero) indicated its top speed was over 325 mph (523 km/h). The fact Japan had such a fast and nimble aircraft came as a great shock to American military planners who had been led to believe the Japanese had only inferior copies of European designs. The Devastator was scheduled to be replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger. The question was: when? During this initial phase of World War II, the development and delivery of new aircraft was agnizingly slow. During the first five months of 1942, the TBD seemed to lead a charmed life. By February 1942, the carriers were making raids on island bastons in the Marshalls and the Gilberts held by the Japanese which were largely successfull and the Devastator gave a good account of itself during these battles. On May 7, TBDs were instrumental in the sinking of the Japanese carrier ``Shoho`` in the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was during this time when defects were first noted in the Mark XIII torpedo used by the TBD. Many of these torpedoes were seen to strike the target yet fail to explode. Submariners were having the same problems with the Mark XIV. Field ordnance men attempted to modify the weapon until the Navy Bureau of Ordnance in Washington sent a direct order forbidding any modifications and assuring everyone the Mark XIII torpedo was faultless. BurOrd stuck with this position in spite of overlooking evidence to the contrary. It seems the carrier groups took it at face value and looked for solutions in the maintenance and delivery of the weapon. Fortunately, the submariners persisted. Several problems with the torpedoes were eventually located. One problem was incredibly similar to the recent Mars Space Vehicle which ``landed`` 20 feet (6.1 m) after it impacted the surface due to a failure of technicans to convert altitude to metric units in the guidance computer programming. The torpedoes had been tested with dummy warheads, that is, the space for the warhead had been filled with water when the torpedo was tested. No one apparently thought to ask how heavy the actual warhead would be, and the cost of torpedoes entered the picture as a reason to curtail further testing of the torpedo. Due to the difference in weight of the dummy warhead and the actual warhead, the torpedo ran eleven to 14 feet below set depth. Several other porblems prevented the torpedo from working properly. These problems persisted for over two years because of the bone headed attitude of BurOrd. Eventually, the top man in the navy, Admiral Ernest King ordered BurOrd to get off its butt and test live torpedoes. However, long before the torpedo problem could be solved, operational problems doomed the TBD on the basis of a single mission. The mission began on June 4, 1942 when the TBDs were sent to attack the Japanese Imperial Fleet north of Midway island and suddenly, the worst suspicions of Navy squadron commanders were confirmed. At 0700 hrs., Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) of the aircraft carrier Hornet launched 15 TBDs, VT-6 on the Enterprise launched 14 TBDs. VT-3 on the Yorktown launched 12 TBDs. Due to cloudy weather they lost their fighter escort and arrived at the scene of the battle without ``top cover``. Japanese A6M ``Zeros`` immediately attacked from the rear while the Imperial Fleet ships put up a wall of anti-aircraft fire from the front. The Zeros attacked while the TBDs were still more than 12 miles from the Imperial Fleet boats and one by one the TBDs splashed in. Not a single torpedo from these planes found a target. Of the 41 Devastators launched by US Navy aircraft carriers, 37 failed to return to their ships. A loss rate of over 90%! After the Battle of Midway, the Navy struck the TBD ``Devastator`` from combat roles and it was relegated to training and communications roles. 08/07/2007 @ 12:44 [ref: 17500] |
| johnny caldwell taft, CA | like Ken at the bottom said not all were lost 3 Devastators returned to the Honet. Devastators #1!!!!!! 04/06/2007 @ 21:07 [ref: 16117] |
| johnny caldwell taft, CA | I think all the pepole that think the Avenger is better than the Devastator are stupid nobody ever really ever gives the TBD1 credit for the good things it did. They allways think of the flaws. It did a good job at Coral Sea. It got the job done. Devastator #1!!!!!! 04/06/2007 @ 20:59 [ref: 16116] |
| Maxwell Shaw Wichita, KS | Fly the TBD again in the virtual skies of WarBirds. I have a keen respect for the men who flew this aircraft during WW2. There were less than what was needed for wartime operations yet it performed very well until Midway. With no fighter cover, all torpedo planes suffered. Even the new TBF which saw its first action during Midway was shot down easily.
Dodge the Arrows, Kill the Archer www.fly-navy.us 03/19/2007 @ 06:40 [ref: 15944] |
| Bruce Houston, TX | The goggles of Ensign Gay, the last of 15 TBD pilots from the Hornet to be shot down and only living US witness to the sinking of the Japanese carriers at Battler of Midway, are on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksberg, Texas.
http://aviationartstore.com/george_gay_2.htm 02/24/2007 @ 15:22 [ref: 15656] |
| wayne a. , NC | I've been interested in this aircraft ever since i first built a model of it in my early teens, and after reading about it's unfortunate performance during the Battle of Midway. Nothing technical to add, just thanks for the added information herein on your website. 01/22/2007 @ 04:33 [ref: 15257] |
| Wolverine Wichita, KS | There are more than three TBDs in existence. However, they won't tell me (www.warbirdinformationexchange.org). They do have a good reason though, because that info is classified.
1 TBD off the coast of Florida 2 sunk in the Marshalls 04/02/2005 @ 10:05 [ref: 9867] |
| Louie Celerier , TX | The TBD "Devastator" was more modern that the British stringbag "Swordfish", which was used throughout WWII. The TBD could carry out its mission, as the "Swordfish", but not without fighter cover as in Midway. Faulty torpedoes did not help. There is a TBD wreck under water off Florida but the U.S. Navy prefers that this last one of its kind rot away than to allow private salvagers to bring it out for restoration. It would be a wonderful addition to the Pensacola Naval Aviation Musseum. 11/08/2004 @ 17:24 [ref: 8580] |
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