Last Known Flying TBD

Does anyone here know when the last time was that a TBD flew? I imagine one or two must have soldiered on as stateside hacks until at least '44 or so.

Dan

[RareBear]

Info I have indicates that the TBD last flew in late 1943 after having served most of the time since the Battle of Midway in training squadrons and with the Atlantic fleet. Most of 1944 they spent as maintenance trainers and were gone from the inventory by the end of 1944.

Walt

[Originalboxcar]

Information posted on the U.S. Navy site (NHC) Sorry! states that the navy still utilized TBD's as late as early '44.


http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-u ... es/tbd.htm

At the end of the Midway battle, the Navy had just thirty-nine TBDs left. New "Avengers" quickly took their place on Pacific Fleet flight decks, but the older planes continued to serve (briefly) in the Atlantic Fleet and in training squadrons until late 1943. The twenty-one TBDs left in the Navy inventory at the start of 1944 were mainly employed as stationary hulks for maintainance training, and all were gone by the end of that year. There are no surviving TBDs today, though hope exists for recovery, restoration and exhibit of a plane lost at sea.

regards,

t~