Ironically the first public display of the prototype of the TBF was on December 7 1941, the same day as the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was a publicity stunt for the opening of a new Grumman factory. The TBF-1 Avenger’s debut was at the battle of Midway where there were just 6 aircraft and only one returned with one crewman dead. The TBF was a desperate attempt to replace the slow and not-so-nimble TBD devastator. It was rushed into production and was so successful that Grumman could not keep up the orders and contracted out to GM (the TBM Avenger). The Torpedo Bomber Fighter was the heaviest single-engine aircraft of WWII and the first of Grumman’s aircraft to feature the folding wing in this manner to maximized carrier space. The F4F and F6F would incorporate this design as well due to its effectiveness. The Avenger also was able to deceive Japanese fighters by its appearance. Japanese would attack from below and the belly gun would often throw those pilots as they thought they were attacking fighters. The Avenger also claims the majority of sinking of the Japanese naval fleet. It also served as an effective submarine killer in the Pacific and Atlantic. President H.W. Bush was the pilot of a TBM.

Please see my thread about this aircraft for specifics.
https://forums.realflight.com/showthread.php?t=22086

All standard controls
3-pos: away= ready for flight, center= bay doors open, toward= bay doors open and wings folded
dual rates: Up= ready, Down+3-pos in center or toward position drops torpedo.

Everything done by Willsonman
Built for the George Miller Design Contest 2008

Edit: date corrected