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USN Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Torpedo Plane - VT-10, USS Intrepid (CV-11), 1945 (1:72 Scale)
USN Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Torpedo Plane - VT-10, USS Intrepid (CV-11), 1945

Hobby Master USN Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Torpedo Plane - VT-10, USS Intrepid (CV-11), 1945
 
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Product Code: HA1218

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Hobby Master HA1218 USN Grumman TBM-3E Avenger Torpedo Plane - VT-10, USS Intrepid (CV-11), 1945 (1:72 Scale) "Why should we have a navy at all? There are no enemies for it to fight except apparently the Army Air Force."
- General Carl Spaatz, Commander of the US 8th Army Air Force, after WWII

The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) was an American torpedo bomber, developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps and used by a large number of air forces around the world. It entered service in 1942, and began major use during the Battle of Midway.

The Avenger had a large bomb bay, allowing for one Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 torpedo, a single 2000 lb (900 kg) bomb, or up to four 500 lb (230 kg) bombs. Torpedoes were generally abandoned after Midway and were not carried again regularly until after June of 1944, when improvements mandated their use again. By that time, it was rare for American aircraft to encounter enemy shipping at sea and the Avenger was primarily employed as a ground support weapon. The plane had overall ruggedness and stability, and pilots say it flew like a truck, for better or worse. With a 30,000 foot (10,000 m) ceiling and a fully-loaded range of 1,000 miles (1,600 km), it was better than any previous American torpedo plane, and better than its chief opponent, the then obsolete Japanese Nakajima B5N "Kate".

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Grumman Avenger torpedo plane that was attached to VT-10, then embarked upon the USS Intrepid during April 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 10-inches
Length: 8-inches

Release Date: September 2012

Historical Account: "Fighting I" - Intrepid joined the Fast Carrier Task Force, then Task Force 58 (TF 58), for the next operation in the island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific: the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. On January 16th, 1944, Intrepid, her sister ship Essex, and the light carrier Cabot left Pearl Harbor to conduct a raid on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll from January 29th to February 2nd. The three carriers' air group destroyed all 83 Japanese aircraft stationed on Roi-Namur in the first two days of the strikes, before Marines went ashore on neighboring islands on January 31st in the Battle of Kwajalein. That morning, aircraft from Intrepid attacked Japanese beach defenses on Ennuebing Island until ten minutes before the first Marines landed. The Marines quickly took the island and used it as a fire base to support the follow-on attack on Roi.

After the fighting in the Kwajalein Atoll finished, on February 3rd, Intrepid and the rest of TF 58 proceeded to launch Operation Hailstone, a major raid on the main Japanese naval base in the Central Pacific, Truk Lagoon. From February 17th to 19th, the carriers pounded Japanese forces in the lagoon, sinking two destroyers and some 200,000 GRT of merchant ships. The strikes demonstrated the vulnerability of Truk, which convinced the Japanese to avoid using it in the future. Intrepid did not emerge from the operation unscathed, however; on the night of February 17th-18th, a Japanese torpedo bomber (given the designation "Raid Easy" by Intrepid's CIC) scored a hit on the carrier near her stern. The torpedo struck 15 ft (5 m) below the waterline, jamming the ship's rudder to port and flooding several compartments. Sprague was able to counteract the jammed rudder for two days by running the port side screw at high speed while idling the starboard screw, until high winds overpowered the improvised steering. The crew then jury-rigged a sail out of scrap canvas and hatch covers, which allowed the ship to return to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on February 24th. Temporary repairs were effected there, after which Intrepid steamed on March 16th to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for permanent repairs, arriving there six days later.
Features
  • Diecast metal construction
  • Ability to display the model with landing gear in either extended or retracted mode
  • Spinning propeller
  • Opening canopy
  • Comes with seated crewmen figures
  • Realistic paint scheme with authentic insignia
  • Comes with display stand

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