Eastern Aircraft TBM Avenger Part 2 Exterior/Interior - Mid-Atlantic Air Museum

Please enjoy an Exterior/Interior tour of the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s TBM. Please inquire if you would like to take a tour or book for your local airshow. Visit MAAM.ORG for more information.
Disclaimer: This video is meant to be for informational purposes only. This should not replace actual training by an FAA Certified Flight Instructor. Use at your own risk.

[@Antidragon-nl7by]

I just learned my Grandfather was a Radioman/bombardier in a USMC Avenger. Thank you for giving me a better idea of what he must have gone through. PS. An amusing anecdote; my mother just told me he used to smuggle cigarettes, booze, record players, and cameras into his bombardier compartment when going on patrol to Australia and back, which he then sold at Munda Airfield for a small fortune!

[@arkwill14]

I, for one, liked the music. It was era-appropriate and put me in the mindset of the 1940s - back in the heyday of this beautiful aircraft.

[@markwilliams2620]

Swing music was uplifting music driven by the kids coming out of the depression and their fathers WW1 PTSD. Playing while showing stuff that kills people is tacky AF. Akin to showing racist Anti-Japanese cartoons as wallpaper. We history buffs can acknowledge it...but we ain't gotta like it..mack.

[@arkwill14]

@@markwilliams2620 I disagree. This was the music loved by many of those same kids who strapped themselves into aircraft like this time and time again with nothing more than a compass and a little luck to get them back home again. I have the utmost respect for them and I don't find the use of _their_ music to be out of place here at all.

[@edmondmcdowell9690]

The music was entirely appropriate for the subject.

[@darryl635]

Whats the title of the music?

[@edmondmcdowell9690]

Collectively called "swing" it was the pop musicic of the era from 1935 too 1950 approx. Great era.

[@Halo.-.]

I do not consider myself a "large" individual. I had the opportunity to walk through a B-25 at a local air show & felt very cramped. I can not imagine being Taller or Larger & having to spend hours inside one of these machines. God Bless all of those who did. They were "The Greatest Generation"

[@warriorofsteel01]

Most of these guys were young bucks a d quite skinny people were smallet back then

[@dougb4956]

@@warriorofsteel01 That's the key. They were young fit men mostly in their early 20s. No 40+ year old fatties!

[@dougb4956]

@@warriorofsteel01 If in San Francisco you should visit the WWII submarine and do a tour. I'm 6'5" 230lbs. I could barely squeeze into that thing. I definitely would not be able to move through it briskly, even if I had to.

[@donaldelfreth553]

@@dougb4956 When I was a Cub Scout I got to tour the old USS Hake. I was about 10 years old and even then it felt cramped in those spaces.

[@cowboywoodard2569]

True, but look at the avg.size and weight of ww11 soldiers, airmen,navy etc. They were small, same as Vietnam today's military obesity runs rampant

[@johnwatson9518]

I am a docent at the Naval Air Stion Fort Lauderdale Museum where Navy Avenger pilots were trained. This video is excellent and allows me to make my museum tours more accurate & interesting to our visitors.

[@eskimopilot3900]

Thanks for that great feedback! That’s why I did these videos!!!!

[@resolute123]

I'm amazed how really big this aircraft is once you crawled through the fuselage. Wow!

[@SavvygeMediaGroup]

same wtf

[@Chief-Solarize]

Even though it was big it could still take off and land at sea. I believe the Avenger used the Pratt and Whitney R2800 like the Corsairs on ship. If I remember correctly around 250mph top speed.

[@jwingo7257]

@@Chief-SolarizeThe P&W Double Wasp R2800 was key to winning the war. It was the engine in: F4U Corsair P-47 Thunderbolt TBF Avenger F6F Hellcat F7F Tigercat F8F Bearcat P-61 Blackwidow A26 Invader Thanks to the amazing engineers and machinists at Pratt & Whitney based in Connecticut!!!

[@woppysue]

My father was a turret Gunner in a TBF and TBM on USS Belleau Wood CVL 24 in task force 58 under Admiral Bull Halsey. They received a presidential unit citation for 13 major battles in 18 months.

[@Mikeyo1209]

Thanks for taking the time to make this. My Grandfather was a rear gunner in an Avenger and finally got to visualize what his station looked like.

[@donaldelfreth553]

My good friend C. William Steckly was a Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd in VTN 91 in the Pacific Theater. He was a turret Gunner, and the stories he told me! Very late in his life he got to visit and close-up inspect the TBM on display at the NAS Wildwood museum. Being around that aircraft made him seem sixty years younger.

[@michaeldriggers593]

A mentor and amazing friend SRG. Jack Homesly USMC Retired taught my my trade (as an Aircraft Mechanic) was a turret Gunner in a TBM during WW2. He also was involved in converting the TBMs in to Air Tankers here in California. They were taken out of service in the 70s. Thanks Jack you were the best and thanks to Hemet Valley Flying Service for operating the TBM!

[@keno1711]

A few of these parts I carried at the beginning of this TBM's journey. It came to the farm it many ,many pieces, in the snow. In a tractor trailer. I am jack kosko's Grandson,Adam. Thank you for this video. My grandfather would be proud.

[@Hey_MikeZeroEcho22P]

D U D E !!!!! That Was the COOLEST video of MY 2nd favorite USN plane of WW2!!! And you narrated SO Well!! Many Great shots of video, and you explain it Terrifically!! From your 1st video of TBM to this one, I got a bit misty-eyed seeing such a beauty A/C. Now imagine..... Seeing these on a carrier deck, prepped for flight against IJN shipping or on bomb runs during the island-hopping campaigns. Pitching deck, bit nervous, but totally serious on mission, you got your brief, you're All loaded up and fueled. Then seeing a young pilot/aircrew like you as a wingman............ BRAVE Men ALL!!! Thanks Vets..... I owe you many. Navy Veteran '84 - 2005

[@barryervin8536]

Back in the 60s when I was a teen, there was an Avenger outside in a small park or playground in Flemington, NJ, not too far from where the TBMs were built in fact. It was just sitting there and all opened up to the elements and kids would crawl around in it. I'm sure this wouldn't happen today. I remember being surprised how big it was and how cramped it was inside.

[@danielebrparish4271]

Those planes sell for a fortune today so it is unlikely that any would be left unrestored or they would be parted out to collectors and restorers.

[@VeritySkiff]

This was a great video. Thanks for posting. The detail that you showed and your explanations were outstanding. My dad was in the 8th Air Force. All World War 2 planes fascinate me. And BTW, I had no problem with the music. That's the stuff my parent's used to listen to and I used to hear them play it all the time when I was a kid!

[@9stripesforliberty]

Exactly my childhood. Dad flew with the Mighty Eighth from the unsinkable carrier England LOL, grew up listening to the crooners and swing. You gotta check out the D-Day Darlings on KZbin, a group of English women that cover all the '40s hits, they're great.

[@VeritySkiff]

@@9stripesforliberty My dad will be 97 soon. He was at Burtonwood in Warrington. I show him some of the content on KZbin and he thinks he is back in England.

[@9stripesforliberty]

My dad passed away Christmas Eve, 2019, I still miss him a lot. Never got too excited over sports "heroes", I got to eat dinner with my hero every night that he wasn't deployed or flying. He was typical of his generation- though he had seen WWII, Korea and Viet Nam he never talked much about it, never complained. He had quiet courage, dignity and honor; a real stand-up guy. Honor your father while he's here.

[@MightyCrazy]

This is an awesome reference for Scale Modelers. Thank you.

[@Hurridale]

Very nicely done! Seeing an adult human squeeze into those spots gives a far better understanding than pics/vids without an operator for scale. I appreciated the timely music volume adjustments. Now to check out that Part 1 you mentioned!

[@jimtownsend7899]

I served years ago with an old ordnanceman who flew as a Bombardier in the TBMs. Oh, the stories that man told! I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the TBM/TBF.

[@Mandalorian94]

My great uncle was a radio operator/ventral gunner in a TBM. I never really got to ask him about his experiences but thanks for giving me an idea of the conditions he worked in!

[@DonVitosLazyEye]

So THATS what the gun cameras look like. So interesting.

[@olbradley]

Real-life: Armed to the teeth, terrifying dive bombers that would haunt sailors. Warthunder: Target practice

[@CatsAreAmazing8187]

@Hunter6213 Ye true after all they aren’t really designed to take hits cuz they are gonna be too heavy to fly without even bombs

[@ltcuddles685]

In the hands of the typically half braindead war thunder player, yeah, anyone that's paying attention, actually very deadly.

[@boomers3193]

True

[@davidcovarubias4729]

Not a dive bomber, was a torpedo bomber. If it dropped bombs the aircraft flew straight and level.

[@mills9402]

I am confused on your comment is it a terrifying dive bomber or did it terrify dive bombers?

[@davidc4219]

Great job. Thank you for showing the TBM some love!

[@matthewnewman7187]

Great video thanks! My uncle was a Radioman Gunner on the Avenger on the aircraft carrier Saratoga. Crash-landed three times in the water!

[@matthewnewman7187]

He had such faith in "that General Motors product" he only bought GM cars!!

[@jasonthorpe4313]

GREAT JOB!!! Thank you. The Avenger was one of my faves!

[@charlie1571]

My father was a turret gunner on a TBM and he was small. But he said every chance he got he would sit in the observers seat especially during take-offs and landings. He also said that the bombay also was fitted with a search light which they used for sub patrols off of Nova Scotia in the Atlantic.

[@cambium0]

7:09 "it was later deemed unnecessary and removed". Interesting because I first heard of this particular gun placement in Saburo Saki's (Japanese zero ace) book. He approached a flight of what he thought were I guess Devastators from below, expecting some easy pickings. He ended up getting shot down by the 30 caliber stingers in one or more of the planes, which turned out to be new Avengers. Great video.

[@jamestheotherone742]

Eventually the Japanese Army/Navy air forces got so beat down that the threat from them became less than the need to save weight to extend range.

[@DesGardius-me7gf]

I saw an Avenger on display in the USS Yorktown, and I was really taken aback at how _huge_ it is.

[@simonjones3863]

That was a fantastic tour, with far more detail than I expected. A pleasure to watch.

[@rnelson6014]

FASCINATING! Can't imagine a better, more complete tour of a real WW2 aircraft! You have set a great standard! I will be looking for more like this, it was very informative and a lot of fun! Thank You!

[@robalsbury6986]

Very well done, thank you!

[@reaper2345]

How could anyone dislike this? That was outstanding.

[@jaykay8570]

Excellent. Wanted a tour of this plane for a long time.

[@vincent-wu7bw]

My Grandparents worked for Eastern. They may have had a part in building this plane! Pretty cool. I have my Grandmother's book from the company, and a pin given to her.

[@gregbradshaw8441]

Excellent. Nice to see the layout and equipment in such detail.

[@buckchesterfield8886]

Awesome production value!

[@tonnywildweasel8138]

Thanks for sharing! Greets from the Netherlands, T.

[@scarcetortillia7004]

Such a Classic and marvelous plane!

[@vincentwang4848]

Many many details!Love it! Keep it coming~~~Plz.

[@carguy1979]

Beautiful bird. Thanks for the tour!

[@SteveAubrey1762]

Another excellent, informative video. I especially liked how the host was dressed in period-appropriate uniform!

[@keltacuk8112]

Absolutely wonderful,thank you so much for doing this tour of such an historic aircraft!....Your clothing makes it all the more evocative!

[@eskimopilot3900]

Glad to! Thanks for the positive perspective!

[@Redwhiteblue-gr5em]

Always wanted to view the inside of this unique aircraft. Thank you!

[@mikem5043]

That is one fine example of a TBM.

[@BRITOJUNIORCAMINHONEIRO2014]

very good! congratulations for all team!!

[@stevebaker1514]

Great job. Very authentic.

[@e-on2704]

Cool tour.👏👏

[@DaPPlschamp33]

Awesome vid

[@titikalagan3024]

Simple, reliable, efficient. Fantastic aircraft , same as hellcat.

[@npdcpa]

Well done!!

[@charleydraper8656]

My favorite navy airplane, followed by the PBY Catalina, Wildcat, and the dauntless.

[@TheMainMayn]

This is so cool bro. Great tour of this war bird! Good stuff man.

[@MrWhiteladder61]

Great job

[@brianl3542]

Great video

[@58fins]

Not a computer in sight, and if properly maintained, it would outlive most of us. I love vintage technology!

[@user-in7qx4ly6f]

実際の運用を分かりやすく撮影なさって、本当に素晴らしい映像です。 アメリカ海軍でも大好きな機体だけに、銃座や無線手席に座られて撮影されてますと配置が図面より理解しやすく有難いです。 機材も美しく維持され、当時の素晴らしい工業力が画面から伝わります。 日本でも戦後運用してましたが、体格の違いで苦労してました逸話は戦車で聴いておりますが、航空機でもありそうですね。 衣装も揃えての撮影、ワクワクいたします。

[@eskimopilot3900]

ありがとうございます。 気に入って頂けてとても嬉しいです。 (私の友達が翻訳してくれました。) またこのようなビデオが撮影できるようにしたいです。 私のインスタグラムも見ていただけると嬉しいです。@eskimopilot

[@roryvonbrutt7302]

interesting and very informative good job sir ! ! !

[@ricksadler797]

Cool thanks ❤

[@pollock_madlad]

Wow, this is interesting.

[@matteotivan3414]

This is my favorite torpedo bomber, if not my favorite aircraft ever. Hope I'll be able to see one irl

[@giljeep]

bravo,tres interressant belles vues merçi

[@pippastone6018]

AWESOME 😎

[@jonny-b4954]

Always loved the Avenger. It's so beefy like the Hellcat. Something about that tall body.

[@88hyperman]

Thanks 😊 for this great piece of history.

[@ryangrimm9305]

Well Done! In particular having as a guide someone of the approximate age who would have FLOWN IN that plane. Just doesn't get across the gravity and immediacy of the time. When I was a kid, it would have been guys around maybe ten years older than the guide who would have been in contact with me and other kids...so, 1959 or so.

[@CarlosGarcia-wr7gx]

Maravilloso, gracias por compartirlo

[@eskimopilot3900]

Gracias!

[@geoluc2357]

Great vidéo 👍 greetings from France 🇨🇵

[@kilcar]

Actor Paul Newman was in the USS Bunker Hill aircraft carrier and flew as radioman gunner. He narrowly missed getting on the wrong avenger which was lost in combat.

[@andrewtaylor2067]

Awesome tour really enjoyed it!! I could be wrong but I think it has slots rather than slats in the leading edge of the wing

[@parsananmon]

I like ur acting. Its like watching old war time military aviation videos.

[@Mephistopholies]

AWSM

[@bayknight20]

This plane was a beast.As a kid I dreamed of being in one, as an adult I am a bit large for it.

[@voxba4900]

Good aicraft شكرا

[@user-in7qx4ly6f]

美しい整備維持、素晴らしい…。うらやましいです！

[@eskimopilot3900]

ありがとう

[@adamconroy2146]

Great work Eskimo or Inuit Pilot.

[@raymondyee2008]

As I understand the British Fleet Air Arm pilots loved the big space of the TBF cockpit though it had its shortcomings. Well better than a Barracuda bomber which they hated it with a vengeance.

[@Not_So_Weird_in_Austin]

Thanks! I can tell by the Yellow filter on the front camera that Black and White film was shot. If color was used the Yellow filter would be removed. Yellow filters darken blue colors and makes green and orange colors appear as lighter tones. It helped create what was considered a natural tonal range as rendered in black and white film

[@ironseabeelost1140]

Enjoyed!! Advertise more!

[@ArmouredCommander]

Man! And I thought the Blackhawk was cramped! Much respect to the greatest generation.

[@vincegedeon6583]

That's quite a payload for small plane🤘🇺🇸🤘

[@stulynn2005]

I love Avenger309

[@steveperry1344]

i saw one of these at the collings museum, it is a very big plane.

[@jeffriggs6703]

Good job, thanks!! If a viewer is offended by the sound track, simply volume down, don't berate the individual that takes the time to post these videos...

[@adlerarmory8382]

Flying in the top turret is a bucket list item for me, but I'm probably too big to fit,

[@djay6651]

It's 2021 and the dials on that radio are still very familiar.

[@_spooT]

"Pick a comfortable position when you engage the enemy" my gunner in WT:

[@tomduke558]

it's amazing... how a single-engine fighter plane can have a load of four bombs.. that plane's huge(3-crew ? i guess, besides the gunner, there's a radioman, right?)

[@eskimopilot3900]

Correct!

[@CatsAreAmazing8187]

I mean in depends on what type of bombs, a German biplane could hold like 6-12 bombs but guess what, they are 12kg bombs

[@CatsAreAmazing8187]

He 51 was the biplane I think, also Hs 123 held a lot of bombs, 4 50kg and 1 250kg

[@danielebrparish4271]

The one at the stinger position was the radioman. There was a crawl space where he could get to the radio equipment which took up most of the area behind the pilot. He was also the bombardier and had had a window to look into the torpedo/bomb bay to check that it was empty at the end of a mission.

[@brandspro]

It’s not a fighter. It’s a torpedo bomber.

[@Kfirc2]

Great videos but why not in 4K?

[@thealliedpowers]

Really impressed by the tech in this aircraft for the time. I really wonder how effective the radar was, could the Avenger be used as an AEW aircraft on the level of an AWACS as a modern equivalent? I also love the swanky-ass 1940's music.

[@eskimopilot3900]

Unfortunately, the radar didn’t provide very good fidelity, so it wasn’t as helpful as you might think.

[@cowboywoodard2569]

You did a fantastic job!!

[@masterwrench4252]

Interesting aircraft, not usually profiled. Good job! I was always interested, now I feel educated. Seriously, good job, made me feel like I was there. "This is this" with the arrow. Good job. Was this the aircraft President Bush Sr. flew in WWII?

[@eskimopilot3900]

Yes, it sure is!

[@louismartinez7040]

I liked the gun camera positions. I thought only fighter types were equipped with them since I've only ever seen footage taken from fighter types. Makes me wonder what happened to all that footage from bomber types?

[@andrewkaminskas7721]

most of the film if not preserved properly just rots away. my dad has his gun gamera footage from saber training and im not even sure its viewable anymore

[@richardmiranda640]

Just great ! Thank you very much ! God bless all freedom fighters ! God damm the aggressors in this bio - warfare attack !

[@steveperry1344]

i wonder how loud those M2 guns were inside there when they were blasting away. maybe some of the noise was out side at the the end of the barrels. the plane fully loaded with bombs, ammo, a full tank of gas and 3 guys must of weighed a ton.

[@danielebrparish4271]

No. 5 tons shipping weight and 8.5 tons maximum takeoff weight. It was the heaviest fighter in the world at that time.

[@steveperry1344]

@@danielebrparish4271 i stood next to it at the museum, wicked tall.

[@EnterpriseXI]

Very nice tour, but one thing you could add still make the tour even more interesting is the operation of the upper ball turret because I can't seem to find any video of a TBM Avenger ball turret in operation

[@eskimopilot3900]

I’ll keep that in mind, but I didn’t want to put power to the plane when I did the tour.

[@bread2135]

*B O M B*

[@jeffyoung60]

I wonder if the Avenger could have performed the DooLittle bombing raid over Tokyo had auxiliary fuel tanks been attached under the wings. Some equipment could have been removed to lighten the weight such as the ventral, 30 cal. machine gun and its ammunition. The Norden bombsight could be dispensed and instead the "Mark Twain" manual aiming device used. I don't know if the backseat observer could be left out, leaving the pilot and bomb aimer/ball turret gunner. Perhaps not. But lets say special large auxiliary fuel tanks could be devised, like the later large fuel tanks used by Mustangs and Thunderbolts for long-distance escort to Berlin and back. The Avenger could have made the one-way trip to Tokyo then on to Free China. Had everything worked out, the launch distance been the planned 450 miles instead of 650 miles, the Avengers might have just barely made their Free China destinations.

[@imperialweimarball]

They wouldn’t have though because it would’ve been more expensive to modify an Avenger for that role and probably risky for the aircraft in the raid I think they would have just used the Mitchell because it would be cost effective compared to making new external fuel tanks and removing stuff for an already risky raid on Tokyo.

[@danielebrparish4271]

The B-25s used in the Doolittle raid had a range of 1,350 miles compared to the Avenger's 1,000 miles. The auxiliary tanks were stored internally. They were able to nearly double the fuel load by removing the radio equipment and the tail gunner. They also replaced the belly turret with a 60 gallon fuel tank. That gave them a maximum range of about 2,500 miles.

[@calmchugh2601]

Fun Fact: George H.W bush flew one of these in the war. And I also didn't realise how big they were

[@Qaiserrifqi1534]

😮

[@agbottan]

Great video! Those gun cameras... their output was on a screen? Like TV?

[@witeshade]

No, the gun cameras recorded to film, they were tied to the gun trigger so that they filmed while the gun was shooting. Then they were used after action to help identify if a kill was made, and for whatever other intelligence and scoring value it had. I think they could sometimes be set to record without actually shooting the gun if they saw something that they felt needed to be recorded.

[@WilliamParmley]

OK, what knife are you wearing? Maybe a Western L66 "shark" knife?

[@Cheese25536]

Where did you find the music for this video?

[@Qaiserrifqi1534]

😱