Canadian Warplanes 3: Grumman Avengers, RN

Grumman Avengers flown by RCN and RCNVR pilots in service with the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy

(FAA Photo)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger over the British escort carrier HMS Biter (D97) during convoy escort duty in the Atlantic, 1943/44.

The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American-built torpedo bomber flown by the RN during the Second World War.  The Avenger entered U.S. service in 1942, and first saw action during the Battle of Midway. In service with many Allied nations, the Avenger became the most  widely-used torpedo bomber of the Second World War. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s.  A separate web page is dedicated to the Avengers in service with the RCN post war.

The Avenger was flown by the Royal's Fleet Air Arm, where it was initially known as the "Tarpon". That name was discontinued and the Avenger name used instead, as part of the process of the Fleet Air Arm universally adopting the U.S. Navy's names for American naval aircraft.  The first 402 aircraft were known as Avenger Mk. I, another 334 TBM-1s from Grumman were called the Avenger Mk. II, and 334 TBM-3 were designated the Mk. III.  An interesting kill by a Royal Navy Avenger was the destruction of a V-1 flying bomb on 9 July 1944.  The much faster V-1 was overtaking the Avenger when the Telegraphist Air Gunner in the dorsal turret, Leading Aircraftman Fred Shirmer, fired at it from 700 yards (640 m).  For this achievement, Shirmer was Mentioned in Dispatches, later being awarded the DSM for the 1945 Operation Meridian action at Palembang.  In the January 1945, a British aircraft carrier raid on the Soengei Gerong oil refinery during Operation Meridian, a Fleet Air Arm Avenger shot down a Nakajima Ki-44 fighter in low level combat over the jungle.  Three Avengers were modified to carry the Highball "bouncing bomb" (given the new codename Tammany Hall), but when trials were unsuccessful, they were returned to standard configuration and passed to the Royal Navy.

One hundred USN TBM-3Es were supplied to the Fleet Air Arm in 1953 under the US Mutual Defense Assistance Program.  The aircraft were shipped from Norfolk, Virginia, many aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Perseus. These Avengers were fitted with British equipment by Scottish Aviation and delivered as the Avenger AS.4 to several FAA squadrons including Nos. 767, 814, 815, 820 and 824.  The aircraft were replaced from 1954 by Fairey Gannets and were passed to squadrons of the Royal Naval Reserve including Nos. 1841 and 1844 until the RNR was disbanded.  The surviving Avengers were transferred to the French Navy in 1957–1958.  (Wikipedia)

(USN Photo)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger Mk. I (Serial No. JZ150), coded CIJ, from No. 711 Naval Air Squadron in flight.  No. 711 NAS was an operational conversion unit (OCU, training squadron) was based at Royal Naval Air Station Crail (HMS Jackdaw), Scotland (UK).

(IWM Photo, A26466)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger taking off from the escort carrier HMS Empress.

(IWM Photo, 25377)

Grumman Avenger of No. 846 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm being catapulted off HMS Trumpeter.

(IWM Photo, 26133)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger of No. 852 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm landing on the flight deck of HMS Fencer.

(IWM Photo, A26090)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger (Serial No. FN 871), coded G, No. 846 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm returning to HMS Trumpeter from a successful strike against enemy shipping off the coast of Norway.

(IWM Photo, A18237)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger of No. 785 Naval Air Squadron at Crail Fleet Air Arm Station, UK.

(IWM Photo, A19925)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger with its wings folded prior to taking off on exercise at HMS Sparrowhawk, the Royal Naval Air Station at Hatston, UK.

(FAA Photo)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger in formation.

(RN Photo via Etienne du Plessis)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger, coded 4M.

(Charles E. Brown Photo via Gary Nado)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger Mk. Is, coded 4M, 4F and 4D in formation, No. 846 Squadron.

(FAA Photo)

Royal Navy Grumman Avengers in D-Day markings.

(FAA Photo)

Royal Navy Grumman Avenger in D-Day markings.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3206296)

Lieutenant A.W. Turney in the observer's position of a Grumman Avenger aircraft No. 852 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, aboard HMS Nabob, February 1944.

(RN Photo courtesy of the Shearwater Aviation Museum)

RN Grumman ECM.68 Avenger (Serial No. JZ313).

(Corvus Publishing Group Photo, Canada's Navy)

HMS Nabob (D77), off the coast of California during her post-modification workup with Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers of No. 852 Squadron, March 1944.

HMS Nabob (D77) was a Ruler-class escort aircraft carrier which served in the Royal Navy during 1943 and 1944.  The ship was built in the United States as USS Edisto (CVE-41) (originally AVG-41 then later ACV-41) but did not serve with the United States Navy.  She was laid down on 20 October 1942, launched 22 March 1943, and transferred under Lend-Lease to the United Kingdom on 7 September 1943 prior to her commissioning as HMS Nabob (D77) into the Royal Navy.  She served as an anti-submarine warfare carrier and the ship's crew was largely drawn from personnel provided by the Royal Canadian Navy.  Flight crew were Royal Navy personnel (No. 852 and No. 856 Naval Air Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm).

After training the ship went to San Diego and took the 852 FAA-Sqdn on board, equipped with Avenger aircraft. She then proceeded with HMCS New Waterford (K321) via the Panama Canal to Norfolk, where 45 Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters were embarked as deck load and US Army Air Force personnel were taken on board as passengers when the ship made passage to the UK in convoy VT-10.  There, it joined the Home Fleet after disembarking the fighters.  In April 1944, four Grumman Martlet (Wildcat) Mk. V fighters were added to the No. 852 Squadron, FAA, while a detachment of the No. 856 Squadron, FAA, equipped with Grumman Avenger Mk. II aircraft joined the escort carrier in June.  The ship then participated in Operation Offspring, a great mine lying operation off Norway.

(IWM Photo, A23377)

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, with Grumman Avengers on deck, seen from the top of a large crane as she enters the basin from the Loch on her way to No 2 Dry Dock at Rosyth Dockyard in the UK.