[M1903A1]

Midway was the last time the obsolete TBD Devastator torpedo bombers saw action. The remaining ones were quickly withdrawn and used for training or simply scrapped.

The only “survivors” today are a handful of wrecks that have been located on the ocean floor.

[agere_contra]

Joining these subjects together - obsolete torpedo planes and the Japanese possibly picking up tactics from the enemy - the successful raid by Fairey Swordfish biplanes on the Italian port of Taranto was reported to be the inspiration for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (by which I mean: it was the inspiration for the tactic, not the inspiration for starting a war with the US).

All in all the Fairey Swordfish had a rather good war: Taranto, Matapan and a lucky hit on the Bismarck, and then a second careeer as an ASW plane later in the war.

To be fair to the Devastator, the Swordfish was two years more modern than the Devastator despite being a biplane. And it was equally vulnerable to modern fighters.