Officially, the third crew member was the radio operator. All too often, the pilot was the only crew member to be able to survive a bailout. The turret gunner also needed the time to climb down into the lower area before putting on his parachute. If the plane was in trouble, both had to climb out the entry door after putting on their parachutes. Neither crew member in the back could wear his parachute in normal operation. Getting out of the turret was just as awkward. Note the awkward way in which the turret gunner had to climb up from below to get into position. Figure 6 illustrates the three crew positions in more detail. For now, we wish to continue the focus on crew positions. We will look at the radio operator’s jobs in a moment. The third member of the crew was the “radio operator.” Note that he sat at the bottom of the fuselage, not up under the canopy. He even had a reflective gun sight to lead his target. He had a pistol grip that both moved the aim of the machine gun and fired it. He was kept busy in his powered turret with a. In the Avenger, the gunner was not also the radio operator. Source: Annotations by Ray Panko, aircraft photo was a royalty free stock photo from Adobe.Īt the back of the canopy was the turret gunner. He used these heavy machine guns to suppress antiaircraft fire from targets and to fire at incoming fighters.įigure 5: Crew Seating Positions in the Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger Except in the first model, the pilot had two forward-firing machine guns in the wings. Behind him was an armored bulkhead that cut his seat off from the rest of the aircraft. Source: Navy Photograph from .įigure 5 solves the “mystery.” The figure shows the pilot in the front as usual. Where is the Avenger’s third crew member?įigure 4: Avengers in Flight with Nobody in the Middle Seat (1943) However, if you look closer, you see that there is rarely anybody behind the pilot. There is a long glass canopy with obvious room for a seat behind the pilot. If you see a World War II photo of a Grumman TBF Avenger (TBM when built by General Motors), it seems at first glance like the seating arrangement is the same. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. Open Government License.įigure 3: Seating in a Douglas TBD Devastator Torpedo/Bomber Photo: LA(PHOT) Abbie Herron/MOD, Military Defense Imagery, in Wikipedia. Source: Photograph by Ray Panko of an exhibit at the World War II Valor in the Pacific Museum Monument, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.įigure 2: Traditional Seating Arrangement in a Fairey Swordfish Torpedo/Bomber One behind the other like ducks.įigure 1: Traditional Torpedo/Bomber Seating Arrangement in a Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 Attack Bomber The next two figures show the comparable seating arrangements in the Fairey Swordfish and the Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo/bombers. If he was the senior officer, he was even the aircraft commander. He was also the navigator and had other important functions. He was the bombardier on missions to drop bombs from high level. He was the observer on missions in which the plane directed fire from ships. He was also the radio operator, working in Morse code. In the back, the gunner had a 7.7 mm flexible machine gun for defense. He flew the plane and conducted torpedo attacks. Where did the third crew member sit? The Curious Case of Seating in the Grumman TBF/TBM Avengerīy Ray Panko | | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museumįigure 1 shows the crew in a Nakajima Type 97 Attack Aircraft (torpedo/bomber). Yet World War II Avenger photographs rarely show someone in the middle seat. There is a pilot, a long canopy, and then a gun position. At first glance, the Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo/bomber looks like it has the same seating plan. In traditional torpedo/bombers, a pilot, an observer, and a gunner/radio operator sat behind each other. "Test: Bomber Crew (Taktik & Strategie)". ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Bomber Crew Secret Weapons DLC on Steam" (in en)."Bomber Crew review - a chaotic strategy game that can be both compelling and confusing".
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