Warbird Information Exchange

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Feb 5, 2009 - 9:03:30am

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Slowly but persistently, a group of aviation enthusiasts are continuing their painstaking efforts to put a World War II TBM Avenger torpedo-bomber airplane into flying condition.

"It's a long-term project. What we've got to do is put this thing together. It goes slowly because we only work on it two days a week," said Col. Dick Russell, former commander of the Commemorative Air Force's Florida Wing. "Our people are really dedicated to this project. ... Some people get discouraged because it is not a fast project, but we need to do it right."

Russell is a retired United Airlines 747 pilot and a charter member of the CAF's Florida Wing.

The restoration of the Avenger is the Florida Wing's third aircraft project since the group established its headquarters on the DeLand Municipal Airport in 1996. The CAF rebuilt two other military aircraft, both of them L-17 Navions, used to ferry high-ranking officers and visiting dignitaries in combat theaters in World War II and the Korean War.

The CAF takes these planes to air shows and aviation displays, and it intends to show off the Avenger once it is fully restored. These peacetime missions bring back memories to older Americans, especially veterans of World War II, and they help educate younger people about U.S. wartime history.

The TBM Avenger is one of nearly 10,000 such warplanes built during World War II. Only about 50 of these planes have survived warfare, the scrap heaps, or the ravages of time and weather.


The TBM restoration started in June 2006, after the Florida Wing brought the dilapidated plane — mainly the fuselage, wings and rear stabilizers — to DeLand at a cost of $14,000 from the CAF's national headquarters in Midland, Texas. The workers in the labor-intensive restoration are volunteers.

Think of the project this way: Almost four years — 45 months, in fact — elapsed between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, and the U.S. entry into World War II, and Japan's surrender Sept. 2, 1945. The restoration of the TBM Avenger has already lasted more than 32 months, and Russell could not say when the work may be completed and the plane certified as ready to fly.

"We're making this thing airworthy to the FAA standards," he added.

Many of the plane's pieces and components were missing, and finding spare parts has not been easy. In some instances, the CAF has had to fabricate its own spare parts.

Getting what they need to put the plane back into its near-original condition is not cheap. The brakes for each side of the plane cost $1,600, Russell added. The propeller costs $25,000, and the engine "at least $50,000."

"You can probably buy a flying machine like this for about a million dollars. This should be worth every bit of that," he said.

The CAF also hopes to find a torpedo — not armed, however — that can be fitted into the bomb bay of the TBM, as well as machine guns for the turret.

This particular TBM was built by the Grumman Corp., and it was stationed at the Oceana Naval Air Station near Norfolk, Va. The plane patrolled the Atlantic coast and searched for German submarines threatening American shipping.

After World War II, the TBM was given to the Canadian navy, and it eventually was retired from naval service and put to work fighting forest fires.

Russell hopes to receive more private donations and corporate contributions to meet the costs of restoring the TBM and other vintage aircraft. The Florida Wing of the CAF has a Web site for those interested in learning more about the group: www.caffl.org.