What a great design with a gunner pod in the rear. Genius!
What a great design with a gunner pod in the rear. Genius!
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Always liked aircraft with a big greenhouse canopy.
Radio, comms in the center.
“What a great design with a gunner pod in the rear. Genius!”
Saburo Sakai nearly got killed by that rear turret near Guadalcanal. He eased up behind some Grummans he though were Wildcats and was not familiar with the new TBM.
That rear turret nailed him before he saw it, he got a .30 caliber bullet to the head, lost an eye, windscreen shattered.
By incredible skill he made an epic 500+ mile flight back to Rabaul and lived to fly again.
Very interesting plane that TBM. We all think of it as a lumbering torpedo plane.The 1944 movie “Wing and a prayer” has some good flying shots of it maneuvering, diving, etc. In that film it was very interesting to see how fast and graceful it could be compared to the common way we see it.
Yes, it was a great design; very appropriate to its time.