Douglas TBD Devastator for USS Midway CV-41 museum ...

[OD/NG]

Aren’t one of the A&T recovery guys on here? Wouldn’t he have an idea what it takes to recover those planes?

Yes, Taras is a member here and posts from time to time. I hope he reads this thread and responds. I would love to know the costs and resources required to recover one of the Lexington's aircraft.

Taras - if you are reading this, please respond to this thread. We are all anxious to hearing your perspective on all of this!

[daveswarbirds]

The TBD replica was not donated to the USS Midway Museum. The initial inquiries were about a donation, but by the time negotiations got serious, the studio wanted to make some money back regarding the cost of building the replica. The replica was sold to the museum for an unspecified sum, with the museum also paying for transportation to San Diego from Canada. As the original poster said, it is currently under reconstruction at Hangar 805. However it is due to be transferred onboard the carrier in late September 2019. There final assembly and touch-ups will be done before the aircraft is hung in the museum's Battle of Midway exhibit, joining the genuine F4F Wildcat and SBD Dauntless already hanging there. The aircraft will be marked to represent the number 14 aircraft in Hornet's Torpedo Squadron Eight, which was George Gay's aircraft during the battle. The story of George Gay features prominently in the "Voices of Midway" movie that plays all day long in the exhibit's movie theater, mere feet from where the TBD will be hung.

Interestingly, the model is not quite full size. It is common for movie studios to downsize replicas to save on construction costs, but for some reason instead of going with a standard 90% scale, the aircraft was built to approximately 98.5% scale. Why they didn't just make it 100% at that point is a mystery to me.

A replica Mark XIII aerial torpedo will be present on the underside of aircraft, complete with the last-minute scrawled "face" drawn on the nose by the crewmen, as seen in John Ford's 1942 film "Torpedo Squadron 8".

[Mark Allen M]

Very nice news .... My dad and I had dinner with George Gay once at Oshkosh. Dad was a Naval Aviator as well during the war so they had plenty to discuss I'm sure. Unfortunately I was too young to realize who I was sitting with so his presence didn't grab me like it would have if I were older.

Not enough of this goes on and the memory of these folks is fading away sadly.

[daveswarbirds]

I met George Gay at an airshow here in San Diego many years ago. I purchased from him a large art print of his Devastator launching his torpedo during the battle, and had him personalize it to me. That artwork is now framed and hanging prominently in my office here on the ship. I'm looking at it right now...

[daveswarbirds]

Here are some early photos of the replica under initial construction at the movie studio, and ready for shooting with blue screen background (before the movie completed filming):

The aircraft was originally painted a more correct color of the blue-grey, but was finished in a darker medium grey (presumably for shooting with the blue screen background).
The replica will be repainted in the historically correct colors before going on display.

[Mark Allen M]

Thx for posting those pics. Love it!!! I'd like to see the USS Hornet Museum doing similar things with aircraft such as the Hellcat, Avenger and Helldiver in Air Group 11 schemes.
There seems to be a craft and interest in replicas at the level as your TBD.

Keep up the great work Dave.

Bravo!!!

[daveswarbirds]

I've always wanted a Helldiver here at the Midway, painted as it would have appeared in Midway's first air group in 1945. But I would not want it if it was made of foam like the TBD replica, as we have no other areas left onboard to display an aircraft where the public cannot reach it. Guests are always touching and even knocking on our aircraft, as if to prove to themselves that they are real. Even though we coated the TBD's foam exterior with a hardened resin coating to protect it, it would still not last under daily contact with our guests.

Here's an interesting side note: the thousands of rivets on the replica are actually carpentry tacks, that one of the builders painstakingly pushed in one by one while looking at the builder's plans...

[p51]

TBD_03.jpg

I guess this explains the 'other worldly' look to the CGI of the planes on the deck. Note the lighting above, it doesn't look like it could replicate even the sunshine from an overcast day.
I know a guy who works on TV and movie projects in lighting and he said the only way you can create authentic sunshine looks is from inside a home or structure and light the heck out of the outside through a window. He said otherwise it's impossible to light inside a studio that will actually look like you really filmed it outside.

[kalamazookid]

Constructing it to 98.5 percent scale is kind of weird, but it's as close to the real thing as we're ever likely to get (barring a herculean recovery effort, of course). It's great to hear that it will be on display somewhere. I thought the rake of the windscreen looked a little odd in the initial photo, but it must have just been the angle. It really looks good! A tribute to George Gay at the Midway museum is an appropriate place for the TBD replica to help tell his story.

[Mark Allen M]

I've always wanted a Helldiver here at the Midway, painted as it would have appeared in Midway's first air group in 1945. But I would not want it if it was made of foam like the TBD replica, as we have no other areas left onboard to display an aircraft where the public cannot reach it. Guests are always touching and even knocking on our aircraft, as if to prove to themselves that they are real. Even though we coated the TBD's foam exterior with a hardened resin coating to protect it, it would still not last under daily contact with our guests.

Could you, or do you, rope off your individual aircraft? I'm assuming the TBD would be on the hangar deck?

[daveswarbirds]

All of our aircraft are touchable, though a few have minimal rope stanchion barriers to keep people from either accidently walking into a pitot tube or trying to climb up onto a wing. It's kind of a policy here at the Midway that guests have access to everything, barring items that aren't repairable or things for safety reasons. You should see the abuse that our five climb-in cockpit sections have to endure - they are continually being repaired/renovated by our airwing department.

Of all of our 30 aircraft, only the TBD will be out of reach to the public, as it will be hanging from the overhead in a back corner of hangar bay #1. It will still be low enough to touch parts (like the torpedo) but for the most part it will not be in an area that guests will access.

It will be hung behind the Wildcat, to the left of the theater that is in the center of the above photo. This will unfortunately obscure it from easy viewing from a distance, but guests will be able to see it better once they get into the Battle of Midway exhibit, and especially as they prepare to enter the theater.

--------------------------------
Here's another bit of trivia on our BOM exhibit: our Wildcat is a rare genuine Grumman F4F-3 with non-folding wings. It was recovered out of the Great Lakes back in the 1990's, and is the only one of our WWII vintage aircraft that is on loan from the NMNA in Pensacola. (All of our others came from private owners.)

[Clifford Bossie]

I think it is a great addition to the Midway Experience. Will it be on display by early October?

[Jesse C.]

I'm embarrassed to say that I live here in San Diego, and yet I have not visited the Midway!

But I guess the wait will be more than worth it!

[p51]

I'm embarrassed to say that I live here in San Diego, and yet I have not visited the Midway!

I've known people who lived right outside the Disney Parks, Kennedy Space center, Washington DC and other tourist destinations and never went. I served with a guy who grew up within one block of the Mall area in DC and never even stepped onto it. Not once, not even with a school group!
The Midway is a great museum ship, I really liked the time I was able to go check it out.

[daveswarbirds]

The TBD is due to come onboard September 19, 2019. It will spend a period of time being reassembled and having final touch-ups done. After that it will be prepared for hanging, and will hopefully be hanging in its final position by the end of the year. Interestingly, the replica weighs much more than a genuine TBD, due to its heavy wood and steel inner framework.

I'll have to do a different post on the restoration of our Vought F7U Cutlass, which has been on the back burner because of the TBD as well as our re-restorations of our A-7 and F-8. I'm hoping that we will see the Cutlass onboard sometime next year, though she still has a lot of work to be done on her.