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Grumman TBF/General Motors TBM-3 Avenger

The Grumman TBF (General Motors TBM) Avenger was a large carrier-capable naval torpedo/level bomber had its 1st flight on7 August 1941 and entered surface in Mid-1942 taking part in the Battle of Midway.  The TBF designation identified this aircraft as the 1st Torpedo Bomber ("TB") developed for the US Navy by Grumman Aircraft Company (which was given the company Designator of "F" by the Navy).  Due to the war time need for increased production of various aircraft types, a version of this plane was also produced by Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors as the TBM.  The "-3" variant was outfitted with a more powerful powerplant than the earlier "-1" variant and also had wing hardpoints for drop tanks and rockets.

Per Reference [8] this aircraft had a notional crew of three, including a pilot, a gunner and radioman/bombardier, and included a bomb bay sized to carry a US Navy Mk 13 aerial torpedo, one 2000 lb of bomb, or four 500 lb bombs.  It had a long greenhouse style canopy leading from the Pilot's position aft to a dorsal turret mounting a single 30 calibre machine gun.  Although some variants had a seat behind the Pilot's position, in other variants that space appears to contain extensive radio and electronics gear.  As such, the radioman/bombardier was often seated in a space in the aft fuselage, aft of the bomb bay where a ventrally mounted, 30 calibre machine gun could be fitted and manned by the radioman/bombardier when required. 

A total of 9,839 of these aircraft were built, in several different variants, operating from both fleet carriers and escort carriers in US Navy and Royal Navy service.  Similar to the F4F-4, FM-1, FM-2 and F6F designs developed by Grumman the Avenger made use of the Grumman patented Sto-Wing folding wing configuration which allowed the wings to be hinged and rotated aft to sote along the side of the fuselage when onboard a ship reducing the deck area and hangar height required to strike down the plane on deck or in a carrier's hangar.

This airplane type also served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during WWII, and several other nations post-war as either anti-submarine aircraft, electronic countermeasures aircraft, airborne early warning aircraft, or general utility aircraft (often with the dorsal turret removed and the aft canopy modified to suite).

As shown in the images below distinguishing features of this aircraft including;
TBM_1TBM_2
[Image Sources: Image 1 - US Government/Public Domain via Ref [8] - as annotated by this site
Image 2 - Placed in Public Domain by Original Photographer per Ref [8] - as annotated by this site]

TBF_3-view_B

                                            [Source: Ref [14b] - US Government/Public Domain]
TBF-1_3-view
                           [Source: Ref [8] - Public Domain]

In order to try and better develop weight estimating relationships an effort has been made to estimate the length of the fuselage aft of the firewall, and the length of the engine section forward of the firewall based off scaled drawings.  Together these two distances add to a term called the "structural length" and do not consider any portion of the engine or propeller shaft the extend foward of the fuselage/cowling, or any empennage that extends aft of the fuselage structure.  The drawing below shows the current best estimate of these dimensions obtained from available drawings of the airplane and will be updated with any real world data that becomes available.  For any aircraft with an inclined firewall, an attempt has been made to locate an approximate center of this location.

TBM-TBF Dims
                                                                                     Source References [2] [3] [8] &  [16]
In the above images, dimensions in Blak come from the source material while dimesnions in Red have been approximated from the data available.

The table below summarizes the current data collected on this type aircraft, identifying sources for the data
    TBM-3  Secondary Sources Notes
Primary Source   2  
No of Crew   3

Engine:    

   Qty   1 8
   Model   R-2600-20 8
   Displacement  (cu in) 2600 8
   Power    

     Military (HP)  

     War Emergency (HP)  

    Normal (HP) 1600 8
    Take Off (HP) 1900 8
   Eng Dims    

     Length (ft) 5.51 8
     Width/Dia (ft) 4.51 8
     Height (ft)  

   Base Engine Wt (lb) 2045 8
Propeller    

   # Blades   3

   Dia (ft) 13.08

   Manufacturer    

   Type    

Wing    

   Span (ft) 54.2

   Root Thickness (%) 15.4%

  (in) 22

   Total Area  (sq ft) 490

     Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps) (sq ft)  

     Ailerons (sq ft)  

     Flaps (sq ft)  

Tail Area (sq ft) 141.4 3
   V Tail Area (sq ft) 38.75 3
     Fin (sq ft)  

     Rudder (sq ft)  

   H Tail Area (sq ft) 102.65 3
     Stabilizer (sq ft)  

     Elevator (sq ft)  

Total Control Surf Area (sq ft)  

Length    

   Overall (ft) 39.9

   Fuselage (ft) 35.8

   Body  (ft) 37.8583333

     Body Depth (ft)  

    Body Width (ft)  

Fuel Tank Volume (gal)  

   Wing Tanks (gal)  

    FuselageTanks (gal)  

Oil Tank Volume (gal)  

Water Injection Fluid Tank Volume (gal)  

Wetted Area (sqf) (sq ft) 930

Pwr Ldng (lb/HP) 8.65

Wing Ldng (lb/sq ft) 33.55

Struct. Des. GW  (lb) 14500

Ultimate Load Factor (G's) 6.2

Design Speed (mph)  

Not to Exceed Speed (mph)  

     

Total Struct Weight   5353  
   Total Wing   2478

     Wing      
     Ailerons      
     Flaps      
     Fuselage Carry-Through      
   Tail   278

     H Tail   194  
       Stabilizer      
       Elevator      
     V Tail   84  
       Fin      
       Rudder      
   Body + Eng Section + LG    

   Body + LG   2544

   Body   1577

     Fuselage      
     Engine Section      
   Landing Gear   967

     Mn Landing Gr   858  
     Tail/Nose Aux LG   109  
   Tail Hook   53

   Booms    

   Nacelles    

Total Propulsion Weight   3214  
   Engine w/ Accessories   2133

   Engine(s) as Installed   2017  
     Accessories   116  
    Turbocharger(s)    

   Controls   36

   Propeller(s)   473

     2-Blade      
     3-Blade   473  
     4-Blade      
   Starting System   50

   Water Injection System    

     Tanks      
     Piping Etc      
   Cooling System    

   Lube System   145

     Tanks      
     Piping Etc      
   Fuel System   377

     Tanks      
     Piping Etc      
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.   2397  
   Instruments   48

   Surface Controls    240

   Hydraulics   149

   Electrical Equip   305

Electronics (Purple means incl in Furn/Gray in Useful Ld)   475

   Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor   938

    Furnishings   182

   Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)   60

   Other /Misc    

     Hoisting Gear    

     Floatation Gear    

     Armor Plate      
     

Empty Wt   10964  
Basic Mission Useful Load   5474 0
   Crew   600

   Equipment    

   Oil   240

   Fuel   2010

   Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems    

   Water Solution for Engine Injection    

   Bombs/Torp Etc   2000

   Radio (if Not Included in Empty Wt)    

   Nav Equipment    

   Oxygen System  


   Armament   455

     Guns & Ammo   455  
       Guns   242  
       Ammo   213  
     Pyrotechnics      
     Camera      
     Other      
   Other Useful Load   169

Basic Mission GW   16438


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Rev 4-12-26

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