Three Boeing B-47E Stratojet strategic bombers assigned to the 306th Bombardment Wing. The airplane closest to the camera is Boeing-Wichita-built B-47E-95-BW 52-0545. The lead aircraft is Lockheed-Marietta-built B-47E-25-LM 52-0250. These aircraft are similar to the B-47s flown in the 1955 General Electric Trophy Race. (U.S. Air Force)
2 September 1956: As it had been the previous year, the 1956 General Electric Trophy Race was flown by three Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bombers. The 1955 race course was from March Air Force Base, California, to Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania. The 1956 course was changed so that the competitors would be facing headwinds rather than tailwinds. The race began at Kindley Air Force Base, St. David’s Island, Bermuda, and ended at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
An estimated 100,000 spectators were present to see the finish of the race. The winning B-47, flown by Major Joseph Schreiber, 33d Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 22d Bombardment Wing (Medium), based at March Field, arrived overhead at 11:38 a.m. Its official time for the course was 3 hours, 8 minutes, 43.6 seconds, with an average speed of 601.187 miles per hour (967.517 kilometers per hour).
Major Schreiber had flown a Great Circle Course. He flew at 12,000 to 20,000 feet (3,658–6,096 meters), searching for the most favorable winds. During the flight, the B-47 encountered headwinds of up to 45 miles per hour (20 meters per second).
Great Circle Course from Kindley Air Force Base, Bermuda, to Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, 1,895 statute miles (3,050 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
The crew of Schreiber’s B-47 included Captain Denis O. Wilson, co-pilot; Major Christian J. Luecke, navigator; and Technical Sergeant James Richardson, crew chief.
The second place aircraft, a B-47E assigned to the 301st Bombardment Wing (Medium), 22d Bombardment Wing (Medium), 2nd Air Force, at Barksdale AFB, trailed Major Schreiber’s aircraft by 21 seconds. It was flown by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Lewis; Captain John D. Roche; Lieutenant Colonel Oscar R. Black; and Staff Sergeant Thomas J. Tharo. Colonel Lewis had to slow down when a row of rivets on a left wing engine nacelle popped and a piece of skin was torn off. Its time at the finish line was 3 hours, 9 minutes, 49 seconds, for an average speed of 600.058 miles per hour (965.700 kilometers per hour).
The third-place B-47, assigned to the 310th Bombardment Wing (Medium) at Smoky Hill AFB, Salina, Kansas, was flown by Captain C. L. Porter, Captain R. W. Cain, Captain Sam Allison; and crew chief Frank B. Johnston. Its finishing time was 3 hours, 11 minutes, 38 seconds, with an average speed of 593.602 miles per hour (955.310 kilometers per hour).
All three B-47s encountered significant turbulence when descending toward Will Rogers Field.
Boeing B-47E Stratojet 51-2394, similar to bombers in the 1956 General Electric trophy Race. Photographed 7 April 1956. This airplane was assigned to the 22d Bombardment Wing Medium). (U.S. Air Force)
Colonel J. Stanley Holtoner with his FAI record-setting F-86D Sabre, 51-6168. (FAI)
2 September 1953: Colonel J. Stanley Holtoner, U.S. Air Force, flew a production North American Aviation F-86D-35-NA Sabre, serial number 51-6168, to a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record over a 100 kilometer course at Vandalia, Ohio, averaging 1,110.75 kilometers per hour (690.188 miles per hour).¹ Colonel Holtoner was the commanding officer of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California. He was awarded the Thompson Trophy.
On the previous day, Captain Harold E. Collins flew another F-86D Sabre, 51-6145, setting an FAI World Speed Record over a 15 kilometer straight course of 1,139.219 kilometers per hour (707.878 miles per hour).²
North American Aviation F-86D-35-NA Sabre 51-6168, FAI World Speed Record holder. (FAI)
The The North American Aviation, Inc. F-86D Sabre was an all-weather interceptor developed from North American Aviation F-86 fighter. It was the first single-seat interceptor, and it used a very sophisticated—for its time—electronic fire control system. It was equipped with search radar and armed with twenty-four unguided 2.75-inch (69.85 millimeter) Mk 4 Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) rockets carried in a retractable tray in its belly.
The aircraft was so complex that the pilot training course was the longest of any aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory, including the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.
North American Aviation F-86D-1-NA Sabre 50-463, the eighth production aircraft. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
The F-86D was larger than the F-86A, E and F fighters, with a longer and wider fuselage. It was also considerably heavier. The day fighter’s sliding canopy was replaced with a hinged “clamshell” canopy. A large, streamlined radome was above the reshaped engine intake.
The F-86D Sabre was 40 feet, 3¼ inches (12.275 meters) long with a wingspan of 37 feet, 1½ inches (11.316 meters), and overal height of 15 feet, 0 inches (4.572 meters). The interceptor had an empty weight of 13,518 pounds (6,131.7 kilograms), and maximum takeoff weight of 19,975 pounds (9,060.5 kilograms). It retained the leading edge slats of the F-86A, F-86E and early F-86F fighters. The horizontal stabilizer and elevators were replaced by a single, all-moving stabilator. All flight controls were hydraulically boosted. A “clamshell” canopy replaced the sliding unit of earlier models.
The F-86D was powered by a General Electric J47-GE-17 engine. This was a single-shaft, axial-flow turbojet with afterburner. The engine had a 12-stage compressor, 8 combustion chambers, and single-stage turbine. The J47-GE-17 was equipped with an electronic fuel control system which substantially reduced the pilot’s workload. It had a normal (continuous) power rating of 4,990 pounds of thrust (22.20 kilonewtons); military power, 5,425 pounds (24.13 kilonewtons) (30 minute limit), and maximum 7,500 pounds of thrust (33.36 kilonewtons) with afterburner (15 minute limit). (All power ratings at 7,950 r.p.m.) It was 18 feet, 10.0 inches (5.740 meters) long, 3 feet, 3.75 inches (1.010 meters) in diameter, and weighed 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms).
North American Aviation, Inc., F-86-50-NA Sabre 52-10143 banks toward the camera.
The maximum speed of the F-86D was 601 knots (692 miles per hour/1,113 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, 532 knots (612 miles per hour/985 kilometers per hour) at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters), and 504 knots (580 miles per hour/933 kilometers per hour)at 47,800 feet (14,569 meters).
The F-86D had an area intercept range of 241 nautical miles (277 statute miles/446 kilometers) and a service ceiling of 49,750 feet (15,164 meters). The maximum ferry range with external tanks was 668 nautical miles (769 statute miles/1,237 kilometers). Its initial rate of climb was 12,150 feet per minute (61.7 meters per second) from Sea Level at 16,068 pounds (7,288 kilograms). From a standing start, the F-86D could reach its service ceiling in 22.2 minutes.
The F-86D was armed with twenty-four 2.75-inch (69.85 millimeter) unguided Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) with explosive warheads. They were carried in a retractable tray, and could be fired in salvos of 6, 12, or 24 rockets. The FFAR was a solid-fuel rocket. The 7.55 pound (3.43 kilogram) warhead was proximity-fused, or could be set for contact detonation, or to explode when the rocket engine burned out.
North American Aviation F-86D-60-NA Sabre 53-4061 firing a salvo of FFARs.
The F-86D’s radar could detect a target at 30 miles (48 kilometers). The fire control system calculated a lead-collision-curve and provided guidance to the pilot through his radar scope. Once the interceptor was within 20 seconds of its target, the pilot selected the number of rockets to fire and pulled the trigger, which armed the system. At a range of 500 yards (457 meters), the fire control system launched the rockets.
Between December 1949 and September 1954, 2,505 F-86D Sabres (sometimes called the “Sabre Dog”) were built by North American Aviation. There were many variants (“block numbers”) and by 1955, almost all the D-models had been returned to maintenance depots or the manufacturer for standardization. 981 of these aircraft were modified to a new F-86L standard. The last F-86D was removed from U.S. Air Force service in 1961.
After its service with the United States Air Force, F-86D 51-6168 was transferred to the Greek Air Force. In 2009, it was photographed, stripped and sitting on its belly, at Agrinion Airport (AGQ), Greece.
North American Aviation, Inc., F-86-50-NA Sabre 52-10143, right roll over Malibu CA
Captain Russell M. Dobyns, United States Air Force, with his YH-21 Work-Horse. (FAI)
2 September 1953: At the Dayton Air Show, Captain Russell Martin Dobyns, United States Air Force, flew a Piasecki YH-21-PH Work-Horse tandem rotor helicopter to an altitude of 6,739 meters (22,110 feet), setting an Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Altitude Without Payload for reciprocating-engine helicopters.¹ This record still stands.
Two days later, Captain Dobyns flew his H-21 over a 3-kilometer course. Making four passes, two in each direction, he averaged 236.19 kilometers per hour (146.76 miles per hour). This established a second FAI world record.²
Piasecki YH-21-PH Workhorse, 50-1235, FAI World Altitude Record holder. (FAI)
The Piasecki YH-21 Work-Horse made its first flight at Morton Grove, Pennsylvania, just over four months earlier, on 11 April 1952. It was a single-engine, tandem rotor transport helicopter. The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation built 18 pre-production YH-21-PH helicopters, followed by three production variants, the H-21A, H-21B and H-21C. Major Dobyns’ record-setting YH-21 was the fourth pre-production aircraft.
In 1962, the helicopter was redesignated CH-21. In U.S. Army service, the H-21 was named Shawnee, in accordance with the Army’s tradition of naming its aircraft after Native American tribes.
The H-21A could be flown by a single pilot, although it was normally operated by two pilots, with a flight mechanic (crew chief), and could carry a maximum of 16 persons, including crew members.
With rotors turning, the ship’s overall length was 86 feet, 5 inches (26.340 meters) (86 feet, 4 inches for the H-21B). The helicopter was 52 feet, 2 inches (15.900 meters) long with its blades folded, and it was 16 feet, 0 inches (4.877 meters) high.
Each three-bladed rotor had a diameter of 44 feet, 0 inches (13.411 meters). The angle in the fuselage was intended to provide adequate vertical clearance between the intermeshing fore and aft rotor assemblies. (Later tandem rotor helicopters use raised pylons.) The rotor blades were constructed of wood around a steel spar and covered with 3-ply mahogany plywood. The airfoil is symmetrical. Each blade is 19 feet, 6.50 inches (5.956 meters) long and 1 foot, 6.00 inches (0.457 meters) wide. There is 5° 37′ of negative twist from the blade root to tip. The individual rotor blades weigh 178 pounds (80.74 kilograms).
The forward rotor turned counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right side.) The rear rotor turns the opposite direction. Normal operating speed for the main rotors was 235 to 260 r.p.m. (233–350 r.p.m. in autorotation, with a transient droop to 210 r.p.m.). At 250 r.p.m., the blades’ tip speed is 594 feet per second (181 meters per second). The counter-rotating rotors cancelled out engine torque, eliminating any need for a tail rotor.
The H-21A had an empty weight was 7,966 pounds (3,613 kilograms), with a gross weight of 11,500 pounds (5,216 kilograms) and maximum overload weight of 13,500 pounds (6,123 kilograms). It could carry a maximum external load of 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms).
ARVN troops wait while a U.S. Army CH-21C Shawnee lands. (Larry Burrows/LIFE Magazine)
The H-21 was powered by a single air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.13-cubic-inch-displacement (29.876 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 863C9WD1 (R-1820-103) nine-cylinder radial, mounted inside the fuselage at midship, and drove the front and rear rotors in opposite directions through drive shafts and gear boxes.
The Wright R-1820-103 engine was rated at 1,275 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m., and 1,425 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m., for takeoff. (Installed in the H-21A, the engine was restricted to a 30-minute limit above 2,500 r.p.m.) This direct-drive engine had a compression ratio of 6.80:1 and required 100/130 aviation gasoline. The engine was 4 feet, 0.50 inches (1.232 meters) long, 4 feet, 6.95 inches (1.396 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,350 pounds (612 kilograms). Wright built 971 R-1820-103s from November 1950 through 1957.
The H-21A had a maximum speed of 100 knots (115 miles per hour/185 kilometers per hour) and could hover sideways at up to 40 knots (46 miles per hour/74 kilometers per hour). The helicopter could land and take off from sloped surfaces up to 20°.
Under standard atmospheric conditions, at a gross weight of 11,500 pounds, the H-21A could hover in ground effect (HIGE) at approximately 9,500 feet (2,896 meters), and out of ground effect (HOGE) at about 6,750 feet (2,057 meters).
The H-21A had an internal fuel capacity of 300 U.S. gallons (1,136 liters), giving a maximum range under cruise conditions of 481 nautical miles (554 statute miles/891 kilometers) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). Its service ceiling was 19,200 feet (5,852 meters).
The U.S. Air Force immediately ordered 32 H-21A helicopters for Search and Rescue operations. The Workhorse was well suited to cold weather operations and it was widely used in Alaska, Canada, and the Antarctic. Another 163 H-21B models were ordered as a troop transport. The U.S. Army ordered a similar H-21C variant.
In 1955, Piasecki became Vertol and eventually Boeing Vertol. The company would continue to produce tandem rotor helicopters such as the H-46 Sea Knight and the CH-47 Chinook, which is still in production.
Cutaway illustration of Piasecki H-21, showing internal arrangement. (U.S. Air Force)Russell M. Dobyns, 1942. (Volunteer)
Russell Martin Dobyns was born in Norton, Virginia, 2 July 1921. He was the son of Bridie Witten Dobyns, a grocery salesman, and Zollie Russell Martin Dobyns. He attended Norton High School in Norton, Virginia, graduating in 1940. He then entered the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, as a member of the Class of 1944. Dobyns was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠΚΑ).
Russell Dobyns enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Air Corps, United States Army, on 16 June 1942. He had brown hair, blue eyes, was 5 feet, 6 inches (1.68 meters) tall, and weighed 150 pounds (68 kilograms). Trained as a pilot, he was discharged 29 August 1943, and then commissioned as a second lieutenant, 30 August 1943.
During World War II, Lieutenant Dobyns flew 32 combat missions over Europe as a pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber.
Returning to the United States, Dobyns married his wife, Ada, in 1945. They would have a son, Russell Martin Dobyns, Jr., born 25 November 1946.
Following the war, Dobyns remained in the military until being released from active duty 30 March 1950. Less than three months later, he was recalled to active duty because of teh Korean War. Major Dobyns retired from the Air Force 5 February 1964.
Entering civilian life, Dobyns was employed as an aeronautical engineer by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation at Marietta, Georgia.
Major Dobyns’ son, Russell, a Lance Corporal, United States Marine Corps, was killed in action in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam, 10 May 1969.
Russell Martin Dobyns, Sr., died in Fulton County, Georgia, 17 August 2007. His remains were interred at the Arlington Memorial Park, Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Piasecki H-21B Workhorse 53-4334 at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, circa 1963. This helicopter was later registered N6796 by the FAA. (U.S. Air Force)
USS Missouri (BB-63) at anchor, Tokyo Bay. (U.S. Navy)
V-J Day: With the signing of the Instruments of Surrender, World War II comes to an end after 6 years, 2 days of total war. At least 78,000,000 people lost their lives.
In the top photograph, American warplanes from Task Force 38 fly over USS Missouri (BB-63), the ship aboard which the documents were signed by the Japanese delegation and Allied military leaders, anchored in Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945.
Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemtsu and General Yoshijimo Umezu, accompanied by their staff, present themselves to the Allied Forces for the surrender of the Empire of Japan, at Turret II, USS Missouri, 2 September 1945. (U.S. Army Signal Corps)
Lt. (j.g.) George H.W. Bush, USNR, VT-51, in cockpit of General Motors TBM-1C Avenger Bu.No. 46214, USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), 1944. (U.S.Navy)
2 September 1944: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) George Herbert Walker Bush, United States Naval Reserve, led a flight of four TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron 51 (VT-51), from the Independence-class light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), against a radio transmission station on the island of Chichi-Jima.
The Avenger had a crew of three. Along with Lt (j.g.) Bush were Lt. (j.g.) William G. White, USNR, gunner, and radio operator ARM 2/c John Lawson Delaney, USNR.
Undated photo of future United States President George H.W. Bush as a United States Navy pilot seated in the cockpit of an Avenger. (U.S. Navy)
Each airplane was armed with four 500-pound¹ general purpose bombs. The flight was joined by eight Curtiss-Wright SB2C Helldiver dive bombers of VB-20, escorted by twelve Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighters of VF-20, from USS Enterprise (CV-6).
Chichi-Jima is the largest island in the Ogasawara Archipelago of the Bonin Islands, approximately 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Iwo Jima and 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo, Japan. The United States Hydrographic Survey described the island in 1920 as “very irregular in shape,” approximately 4¼ miles (7.2 kilometers) long and 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) wide. The area of the island is presently given as 23.45 square kilometers (9.05 square miles). Its highest point is 326 meters (1,070 feet) above Sea level. The island has a small sea port where midget submarines were based beginning in August 1944. Chichi-Jima was heavily garrisoned with 20,656 Imperial Japanese Army and Navy personnel, and 2,285 civilian workers.²
A Curtiss-Wright SB2C Helldiver over Chichi Jima. (U.S. Navy)
Lieutenant Bush’s flight was scheduled for a time over target of 0825–0830. They encountered heavy antiaircraft fire and Bush’s Avenger was hit. With the torpedo bomber on fire, Bush continued the attack and later reported good results. Unable to return to the aircraft carrier, he flew away from the island to limit the risk of capture of the crew by the enemy when they bailed out.
Bush and one other crewman (which one is not known) bailed out. While Bush parachuted safely, the second crewman’s parachute never opened. The third crewman went down with the airplane. Both Lieutenant White and Radioman Delaney were killed.
The Gato-class fleet submarine USS Finback (SS-230) was stationed near the island on lifeguard duty during the attack. At 0933, Finback was notified of an aircraft down nine miles northeast of Minami-Jima. Escorted by two F6F fighters, the submarine headed for the location. At 1156, Finback picked up Lt. Bush, floating in his life raft. A search for White and Delaney was unsuccessful. Their bodies were not recovered.
Lt. (j.g.) George H. W. Bush, USNR, in inflatable raft, is rescued by the crew of USS Finback (SS-230), 2 September 1944. (U.S. Navy)
(Later that same day, Finback, while submerged, towed a second pilot and his life raft away from Magane-Iwa, as he held on to the sub’s periscope.)
Lieutenant Bush and the other rescued pilots remained aboard for the remainder of Finback‘s war patrol (her tenth), and were then returned to Pearl Harbor. In November he rejoined San Jacinto for operations in the Philippines.
Gato-class fleet submarine USS Finback (SS-230) off New London, Connecticut, 7 March 1949. (U.S. Navy)
George Herbert Walker Bush was born at Milton, Massachusetts, 12 June 1924, the son of Prescott Sheldon Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. He attended high school at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
One day after his 18th birthday, 13 June 1942, Bush enlisted as a seaman, 2nd class, in the United States Naval Reserve. He was appointed an aviation cadet and underwent preflight training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was honorably discharged 8 June, and commissioned as an ensign, United States Naval Reserve, 9 June 1943. At the age of 19 years, 2 days, he became the youngest Naval Aviator in history. (His age record was broken the following month by Ensign Charles Stanley Downey, who was commissioned 16 July 1943 at the age of 18 years, 11 months, 14 days.)
Aviation Cadet George H. W. Bush, USNR, 1942. (U.S. Navy)
Ensign Bush continued flight training at NAS Pensacola, Florida, and then the Carrier Qualification Training Unit, NAS Glenville, Illinois. After training with the Atlantic Fleet, Ensign Bush was assigned to Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51), in September 1943. He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), 1 August 1944.
After leaving San Jacinto, Bush was assigned to NAS Norfolk, Virginia, from December 1944 to February 1945. He then joined Torpedo Squadron Ninety-Seven (VT-97) and then VT-153.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Bush was released from active duty on 18 September 1945, retaining his commission. He was promoted to lieutenant 16 November 1948. On 24 October 1955, Lieutenant Bush resigned from the U.S. Navy.
During World War II, George H. W. Bush flew 58 combat missions. He flew a total of 1,221 hours and made 126 carrier landings. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with two gold stars (three awards), and the Presidential Unit Citation.
He would later become the forty-first President of the United States of America.
Grumman TBF or General Motors TBM Avengers over Wake Island, 1943. (U.S. Navy)
The airplane flown by Lt. (j.g.) Bush on 2 September 1944 was a General Motors TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bomber, Bu. No. 46214. This was a licensed variant of the Grumman TBF-1C Avenger, built by the General Motors Corporation Eastern Aircraft Division at Linden, New Jersey.
The Avenger was designed by Robert Leicester Hall, Chief Engineer and Test Pilot for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Bethpage, New York. The prototype XTBF-1 made its first flight 1 August 1941. It was a large single-engine aircraft, operated by a crew of three (pilot, radio operator and ball turret gunner). It was equipped with folding wings for storage on aircraft carriers. Production of the torpedo bomber began with the opening of a new manufacturing plant, Sunday, 7 December 1941. The first production Avenger was delivered to the U.S. Navy in January 1942.
The TBF-1 and TBM-1 were 40 feet, 11 inches (12.471 meters) long, with a wingspan of 54 feet, 2 inches (16.510 meters) and overall height of 16 feet, 5 inches (5.004 meters). The airplane had an empty weight of 10,545 pounds (478 kilograms), and its maximum gross eight was 17,895 pounds (8,117 kilograms). The Avenger was the largest single-engine aircraft of World War II.
LCDR Albert B. Cahn, USN, gives the take-of signal to a General Motors TBM-1C Avenger of Torpedo Squadron 51 (VT-51) aboard the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), during exercises on 16 May 1944. (U.S. Navy)
The Avenger was powered by one of several variants of the Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 14 (R-2600): GR2600B698 (R-2600-8 and -8A); GR2600B676 (R-2600-10); and 776C14B31. The R-2600 was series of air-cooled, supercharged, 2,603.737-cubic-inch-displacement (42.688 liter), two-row 14-cylinder radial engines. The engines used in the Avengers all had a compression ratio of 6.9:1, supercharger ratios of 7.06:1 and 10.06:1, and propeller gear reduction ratio of 0.5625:1.
The R-2600-8, -8A and -10 had Normal Power ratings of 1,500 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. at Sea Level, and 1,700 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. for takeoff. The R-2600-20 was rated at 1,600 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., and 1,900 horsepower at 2,800 horsepower, respectively.
Dimensions and weights varied. The R-2600-8 and -8A were 64.91 inches (1.649 meters) long. The -10 was 74.91 inches (1.903 meters) long, and the length of the -20 was 66.08 inches (1.678 meter). The R-2600-8 and 8A and -10 were 54.26 inches (1.378 meters) in diameter. The -20 was 54.08 inches (1.374 meters). The -8 and -8A both weighed 1,995 pounds (905 kilograms). The -10 weighed 2,115 pounds (959 kilograms) and the -20 weighed 2,045 pounds (928 kilograms).
The engines drove a three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propeller.
The TBF/TBM had a cruise speed of 147 miles per hour (237 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 276 miles per hour (444 kilometers per hour) at 16,500 feet (5,029 meters). The service ceiling was 30,100 feet (9,174 meters). Its maximum range was 1,010 miles (1,625 kilometers).
The Avenger was armed with one air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine gun mounted in each wing, firing forward. Another .50-caliber machine gun was installed in an electrically-operated dorsal ball turret. In the ventral position was a Browning M2 .30-caliber aircraft machine gun in a flexible mounting.
The primary weapon of the Avenger was carried in an enclosed weapons bay. It could be armed with one Mk. 13 aerial torpedo, ³ or up to 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of bombs.
A Grumman TBF-1 Avenger 4-T-2 of Torpedo Squadron Four (VT-4) drops a Mk. 13 aerial torpedo, circa 1942. Following the destruction of Torpedo Eight at the Battle of Midway, aerial torpedo attacks were rarely used by the U.S. Navy. (U.S. Navy)
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation produced TBF Avengers from Early 1942 until 1943, when production was taken over by the General Motors Corporation Eastern Aircraft Division. Grumman produced 2,290 TBFs, while Eastern built 9,836 TBMs.
Lieutenant Bush’s aircraft carrier, USS San Jacinto (CVL-30), was an Independence-class light carrier. It had been started by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation as a Cleveland-class light cruiser, USS Newark (CL-100), but was converted during construction. Construction took 11 months and the ship was launched 26 September 1943. It was commissioned 15 November 1943.
The carrier was 622.5 feet (189.7 meters) long, with a beam of 71.5 feet (21.8 meters) and draft of 26 feet (7.9 meters). It had a full load displacement of 15,100 long tons (16,912 short tons, or 15,342 metric tons). The ship was powered by steam turbines producing 100,000 horsepower and driving four shafts. San Jacinto was capable of a maximum 31.6 knots (36.4 miles per hour, or 58.5 kilometers per hour).
San Jacinto had a complement of 1,549 men, and carried 45 airplanes. For defense, it was armed with 28 Bofors 40 millimeter anti-aircraft guns and 40 Oerlikon 20 millimeter autocannon.
San Jacinto was decommissioned 1 March 1947 and was later scrapped.
USS Independence (CVL-30), late 1943. (U.S. Navy)
On 7 October 2006, the tenth and final Nimitz-class supercarrier was christened USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in honor of President Bush’s service to his country.
USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77). (U.S. Navy)
¹ The most common U.S. 500-pound general purpose bomb of World War II was the AN-M64. Nominally a 500-pound (227 kilogram) bomb, the munition actually weighed from 516.3 to 535.4 pounds (234.2 to 242.9 kilograms), depending on the explosive used. It contained 266 pounds (120.7 kilograms) of TNT, or 258.5 pounds (117.3 kilograms) of a 50/50 TNT and Amatol mixture. For easy identification, these were marked with a single 1-inch (2.54 centimeter) wide yellow band painted at the nose and tail. Composition B bombs, which were marked with two yellow identification bands, contained 272.7 pounds (123.7 kilograms) of explosive, while the heaviest was filled with 278.3 pounds (126.2 kilograms) of Tritonal. This variant was marked with three yellow bands. The bomb, without fins or fuses, was 36 inches (0.914 meters) long. The overall length was 59.16 inches (1.503 meters), including nose and tail fuses. The maximum diameter was 10.9 inches (0.277 meters).
² Personnel numbers as of 3 September 1945.
³ The U.S. Navy Torpedo, Mark 13, was a gyroscopically-steered single-speed anti-ship torpedo designed to be dropped from aircraft. It was 13 feet, 8.55 inches (4.180 meters) long, 1 foot, 10.42 inches (0.570 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,949 pounds (884 kilograms) ± 20 pounds (9 kilograms). The warhead contained a 400 pound (181 kilogram) TNT explosive charge. The Mk. 13 was driven by a two-stage alcohol-fueled geared steam turbine, turning 10,983 r.p.m., with the coaxial counter-rotating propellers turning 1,150 r.p.m. It was capable of running at 33.5 knots (38.6 miles per hour, or 62.0 kilometers per hour), with a range of 6,300 yards (5.8 kilometers). This same type torpedo was used by the U.S. Navy’s PT boats late in the war.
Thanks to regular TDiA reader Joolz Adderly for suggesting this topic.
