General Motors TBM-3E 'Avenger' | Planes of Fame Air Museum

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General Motors TBM-3E 'Avenger'

HISTORY

Introduced in 1941, the Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger was to become the U.S. Navy’s standard torpedo-bomber throughout World War II.
Production totaled more than 9,830, nearly three-quarters of them built under the designation TBM by the Eastern Aircraft division of General Motors.
Those built by Grumman were designated TBF and affectionately called "Turkeys" by their crews.
Assigned the US Navy bureau number 91264, Planes of Fame Air Museum’s Grumman TBM-3E Avenger (built by General Motors), was accepted into service on July 19, 1945.
Placed in the pool of operational aircraft assigned to the USS Franklin (CV-13) in 1945, the fact that the aircraft carrier had been damaged that year and was not repaired in time to return to combat meant that this the Museum's Avenger did not see combat service.

The Museum’s TBM-3E was manufactured in Trenton, New Jersey, delivered on July 19, 1945, and was assigned as a replacement aircraft for the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13). At the time, the Franklin was in the Brooklyn Navy Yard undergoing extensive repairs for severe damage incurred in March 1944 off the coast of Japan. The carrier would not return to service. With the war ended, the Museum’s Avenger was stored as a surplus aircraft at several Naval facilities including Weymouth, MA, Norfolk, VA, and El Centro, CA until it was stricken from Navy records in 1950. The Museum acquired the aircraft in 1959. It was restored to flight in 1976.