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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2160.PDF
FLIGHT Eighteenth of the New Recognition Series AIRCRAFT TYPES AND GRUMMAN AVENGER NEXT to the controversy about dive-bombers, Britain's fighting equipment in the way of torpedo aircraft has lately been exercising thought and comment in and out of the Services—and Parliament. Nobody can deny that a biplane carrying one i8in. torpedo is inadequate to-day, yet that is the obsolete type upon which the Fleet Air Arm has so far had to depend. America, on the other hand, now possesses in the Grumman Avenger something really useful in the shape of torpedo-bombers, and, while there is no official informa tion on the subject at the moment, it seems well within the bounds of possibility that this type may appear in due course with British markings. The Avenger, now in quantity production and already in service with the U.S. Navy, has already done quite a bit of avenging in the Pacific, particularly in the Midway action, and is credited with being the fastest and deadliest carrier-borne torpedo-bomber yet produced. Others, equally deadly, may well be on the way, of course. An unusually big machine for operating from an aircraft carrier, it carries a 21 in. torpedo within the belly of the fuselage, or alternatively, it can stow away some 2,000 lb. in bombs, according to requirements. Its defensive arma ment would appear to be fairly good, for in addition to guns in the nose and at the rear of the torpedo compart ment, it carries a "bubble" gun-turret amidships, at the back of the long, raised "glasshouse." From photographs which have reached this country it appears that this turret mounts two • machine-guns; the under gun is manually operated from a prone position. The exact nature of the forward firing armament has not yet been stated, but it probably comprises two synchronised fixed machine-guns firing from troughs and operated by the pilot in the usual way. The Avenger is powered by a 1,600 h.p. Wright Double- row Cyclone, and is said to be capable of some 270 m.p.h. at about 7,500ft. Its cruising speed is believed to be approximately 215 m.p.h., and its service ceiling ia excess of 20,000ft. Maximum range at operating speed is in the region of 1,400 miles. -DIHEDRAL FPOM CENTRE-SECTIOM DIMENSIONS of AVENGER Span Length Height Loaded weight About 53ft. About 37ft. .. (Not stated) 12,0001b. TAPER •s# ^owff/
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