General Motors TBM-3E Avenger

Grumman’s TBF Avenger was significantly larger (and faster) than its predecessor, the Douglas TBD Devastator. It could also carry a Mark 13 aerial torpedo or bombs within its internal bomb bay, unlike the TBD. The Avenger’s combat debut arrived at the pivotal Battle of Midway during the first week of June 1942, literally days after the type became operational. VT-8, assigned to the fleet carrier, USS Hornet (CV 8), was the first unit to receive the new aircraft. Although the ship had already set sail for the Pacific with its complement of B-25s for the Doolittle Raid, half of VT-8’s aircrew remained in Norfolk, Virginia to receive the first six combat-ready Avengers. The group, in their brand new Avengers (each fitted with a 270-gallon ferry tank), flew out to San Diego to board a cargo ship bound for Pearl Harbor, where they hoped to rejoin Hornet, but the carrier had already departed for Midway by the time they arrived. Not knowing Hornet’s location, the Avengers flew out to Midway Island itself. However, soon after the Avengers’ arrival, decoded enemy messages signaled an imminent Japanese attack. As a result, the U.S. Army and Navy forces on the island immediately launched what aircraft they could, fighters to defend Midway, and bombers to search out and attack the inbound Japanese carriers.

Launching from Midway, VT-8’s handful of Avengers were the first U.S. Navy aircraft to attack the Japanese fleet that day. Without adequate fighter escort, five of VT-8’s six aircraft were shot down during that encounter. Only Ensign Albert K. Earnest managed to return his badly shot up Avenger to Midway Island. Earnest’s radio operator, Radioman 2nd Class Harry Ferrier, also survived the crash-landing, but their turret-gunner, Seaman 1st Class Jay Manning, had already died of his wounds.

While Grumman designed the Avenger, demand for the company’s F6F Hellcat fighter soon became a higher priority for the U.S. Navy. As a result, they ordered General Motors to assume Avenger production (as the TBM) at their Eastern Aircraft Division Plant in Trenton, New Jersey. Of the 9,837 Avengers built, 7,546 were completed as TBMs, with the Museum’s example (BuNo.53454) being one of them. Delivered to the Navy on May 26, 1945, our Avenger arrived too late to see combat in WWII.

Captain Richard “Zeke” Cormier: The Museum’s Avenger wears a paint scheme paying tribute to US Navy Ace Captain Richard “Zeke” Cormier. Cormier flew 75 combat missions in Avengers over the Atlantic Ocean hunting German U-Boats before transferring to the Pacific Theater, where he became an ace while flying 61 missions in the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The aircraft’s livery represents Composite Squadron 1 (VC-1) which operated from the Escort Carrier USS Card (CVE 11). Composite Squadrons featured different aircraft types, often a mixture of Wildcats and Avengers, operating as anti-submarine, Hunter-Killer groups in the Atlantic. 

Cormier survived WWII and the Korean War as well. He later served as a flight leader in the Blue Angels aerial demonstration team and as Executive Officer of the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Wasp (CV 18), before playing a key role in establishing the San Diego Air and Space Museum.