ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force
ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force
ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force
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one of the warbird stars of the RNZAF 75th<br />
Anniversary air show was the Grumman<br />
Avenger, which has recently returned to<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> and is now owned by brendon<br />
deere and based at ohakea.<br />
The Grumman Avenger was developed by the Grumman<br />
company, of long Island, <strong>New</strong> York, in response to a US Navy<br />
request for a torpedo bomber to operate from their aircraft<br />
carriers. Powered by a big 1900 hp radial engine, the Avenger<br />
had three crew—pilot, radio operator/bombardier and turret<br />
gunner—and carried a torpedo or four 500 lbs (220kg) bombs in<br />
a roomy internal bomb-bay. Most importantly it had a relatively<br />
low landing speed, necessary to constrain the stress on an<br />
aircraft carrier’s arrestor gear.<br />
Grumman were holding a public launch for the new aircraft,<br />
the TbF, on 7 december 1941, when news of the Pearl Harbour<br />
attack came through. The name Avenger was thus appropriate.<br />
The aircraft was rushed into service, first seeing action from<br />
Midway Island, during the battle of Midway. General Motors<br />
took over production so that Grumman could concentrate<br />
on the new Hellcat fighter; the GM-built Avengers were<br />
designated TbM. by August 1942 the Avenger was the standard<br />
torpedo bomber on US aircraft carriers, and it played a full part<br />
in the naval victories in the Pacific. From 1943 it was in service<br />
in the british Fleet <strong>Air</strong> Arm, where a number of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>ers<br />
flew the type.<br />
The RNZAF was allocated Avengers during late 1943 and<br />
they saw active service in bougainville with No. 30 and 31<br />
Squadrons, March- July 1944. during 1945 some of the RNZAF<br />
Avengers were re-allocated to the british Pacific Fleet to make<br />
up for losses in action from the british carriers.<br />
brendon deere’s aircraft is a TbM, bu. No. 91110 built by<br />
celebrating 75 Years of service to new <strong>Zealand</strong><br />
ThE GRuMMAn<br />
AvEnGER<br />
the eastern <strong>Air</strong>craft division of General Motors at their plant<br />
at Trenton <strong>New</strong> Jersey. It flew for the first time on 5 July 1945<br />
before delivery to the USN. It is now registered in <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong><br />
as Zk-Tbe. brendon and his pilot, Guy Stevenson, flew the<br />
Avenger from Queensland via lord Howe Island and Norfolk<br />
Island to kerikeri. After customs and MAF processing they flew<br />
direct to Taihape where the Harvard from the RNZAF Historic<br />
Flight met the TbM and escorted the historic bomber into<br />
RNZAF ohakea. brendon appreciates that not many people<br />
cross the Tasman in a single-engine aircraft: “The adventure<br />
had taken us 3,200 kms over the Tasman Sea and 9.5 hours<br />
flying time.”<br />
The Avenger was displayed at the RNZAF air show in its<br />
current colour scheme, representing an aircraft of US Navy<br />
squadron VT 83, based on the USS eSSeX (cV9, the ninth<br />
US aircraft carrier). After the ohakea air show it was due to<br />
appear at warbirds over wanaka. brendon now plans to have<br />
the Avenger repainted as NZ2518 ‘Plonky’ of No. 30 Squadron,<br />
which was piloted during the war by Fred ladd, who became a<br />
famous aviation personality in post-war <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>.<br />
Guy Stevenson & brendon deere after<br />
arriving at ohakea, 24 February<br />
<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> news 25