Description

The Douglas TBD Devastator came into the mid-1930s as one of the top naval aviation airframes in the world, but before the decade was out, it became a victim of the quickly-changing aviation arms race. The Japanese forces it would have to deal with, especially the Zero, were too fast and powerful for a plane that needed to drop its torpedo at speeds below 115mph. The Devastator wasn’t help by the disastrous American Mark 13 torpedo that basically failed to work most of the time. While performing well at the Battle of the Coral Sea and other early actions, it was the Battle of Midway that signalled the end for the aircraft: 41 Devastators were sent to attack the Japanese carriers, with no hits recorded and only six planes returning. After that, the Devastator was withdrawn from active combat, replaced by Grumman’s TBF Avenger (which ironically proved to be equally ineffectual).

This 176-page book features an extensive amount of new research and many never-before-seen images. Twenty-seven separate sections examine the plane from nose to tail, including the engine, fixed gun, and canopy. The cockpit has four separate sections covering the pilot, assistant pilot, bombardier, and the radio operator/gunner. Wings, flotation gear, landing gear and the bomb and torpedo areas are covered. The book then adds ten chapters on camo and markings, along with individual treatments of the Devastator groups aboard the Lexington, Saratoga, Ranger, Yorktown, Enterprise, Wasp and Hornet, as well as “other units”.