Avengers with interesting white stripes ...

wendovertom · **Posted:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:48 pm

I had never thought of it before but I agree with Pathfinder - once all those engines were started you would have to be super aware of where you were maving about to avoid walking into any one of a dozen spinning props!

As for the white strip - I have no clue

Tom P.

Triplane102 · **Joined:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:55 pm **Posts:** 491

oops !

Tailspin Turtle · **Joined:** Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:11 am **Posts:** 103

That first picture was taken from one of my blogs. See http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/01/ww-ii-color-scheme-anomaly.html. My guess was that it was to easily see the lead that was required in a torpedo run. See http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2008/07/not-as-easy-as-it-looks.html.

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7820

Thanks Tommy for the post. Hope I credited you properly. I've been a follower of your blog for quite some time now. Great stuff always. I've enjoyed your books as well. I just need to catch one of your speaking engagements sometime.

I also agree with your assessment of the white stripes.

Mark

Jim MacDonald · **Posted:** Thu Oct 16, 2014 4:03 am

Mark,

First off, I want to thank you for all of your photo posts. I don't say it enough, but like everybody else here I appreciate all of the effort that you go through to share them with us.

I'm pretty sure that the Avengers are from either VT-12 off of Saratoga or VT-9 off of Essex. Saratoga & Princeton were on the 5 Nov 43 raid on Rabaul & Sara, Princeton, Essex, Bunker Hill & Independence were on the 11 Nov 43 raid. Your photos of the TBFs show SBDs in the background, Princeton & Indy were CVLs & didn't have any SBDs. Bunker Hill's VB-17 was flying SB2Cs, so that eliminates her.

Around this time frame VT-12 also had some of their TBFs at Espiritu Santo. Dang I'm slow :oops:

. Let me check the accident reports & see if I can find one for the TBF with the collapsed gear.

Mac

Mark Allen M · **Joined:** Fri Feb 03, 2012 1:48 pm **Posts:** 7820

Thx Jim, I just post them. No real effort there. It's the folks such as yourself and Tommy's great research that makes the difference and is truly fascinating and appreciated. I love to learn and in my small way help honor the vets and their kin.

Thanks again to all of you who help search out the answers. Means more here than what I ever could do. Great stuff folks.

Mark

SaxMan · **Posted:** Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:33 pm

That is true that a Hellcat and Avenger with their wings folded aren't the easiest to tell apart (until you walk up to one and then the sheer size of the Avenger becomes evident). Heck, Steven Spielberg slipped a Hellcat into the scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when the team finds the Flight 19 TBMs in the Mexican desert.

Triplane102 · **Joined:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 12:55 pm **Posts:** 491

Thanks SaxMan, Fire fighting Avengers look even more so when some were made into single seaters. I'll take another look at Close Encounters! Thanks again for the FYI!

Jim MacDonald · **Posted:** Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:36 am

Mark,

I didn't have any luck finding an accident report for the gear collapse. I looked through all of the TBF/M accident reports from Mar 43 through May 44 to try to cover all of the bases. Also looked through the Sara's cruise book & another book on Sara by John Fry. Neither book had any good flight deck photos to try to spot the stripe on the avenger. Unfortunately, I don't have the microfilm for VT-12.

I'm still leaning towards VT-12, but have no concrete proof.

Mac

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Avengers with interesting white stripes ...

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