A belated Happy Turkey Day

TBM Avenger Tanker 13 (Bu# 53200, N9101C, CGLEL)

Last Friday, I wrote that TBM Avenger Tanker #13 arrived in the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula, MT. I continue with a brief history of TBM Avenger #13.

1945: Construction number # 3262
1945-52: US Navy Bureau # 53200
1952-58: Royal Canadian Navy #377
1958-69: Hillcrest Aviation, Lewiston, ID. N9101C. Flew as airtanker, #D6
1969-72: Johnson Flying Service, Missoula, MT. Flew as airtanker #A13
Late 1974: sold to Forest Protection Limited, New Brunswick, CA.
1975-2010: Forest Protection Limited (FPL), A13, 13
1975-93: aerial spray (Budworm, etc)
1993-4, 1996: fire suppression (spare)
1995, 1997-2010: Fire suppression

References for history of TBM Avenger #13
The Warbird Registry's page on TBM Avenger Bureau # 52300 may be found here.

There is a nice website with information archives for TBM Avengers and Forest Protection Limited that may be found here. There is a lot of history here relating to FPL's Avengers as well as TBM's from the U.S. and other Canadian operators used for budworm spraying operations in New Brunswick. You could spend hours on this site. These TBM Avenger/FPL information archives has a nice page devoted to C-GLEL, #13 with her history, names of pilots who flew her, and pictures. Please spend some time on this page to get to know #13.

The video embedded below shows FPL TBM Avenger #24, a sister tanker to #13. Here is a picture of FPL's fleet of air tankers in 2001 , including #13 and #24.:



I have grown to love #13 through spending a couple of hours on the TBM Avenger/FPL information archives. I expect that the folk at FPL and in Fredericton New Brunswick are very sad to her go. I hope that they can take some consolation that many in Missoula, MT are overjoyed to have her at the Museum of Mountain Flying. She is loved by many in Missoula and will be loved by many, many more.

A bit of aerial firefighting history: TBM Avenger air tanker arrives in Missoula

The other day, I read with interest Bill Gabbert's (of Wildfire Today) article on new and old tankers. He wrote about a drop that Neptune Aviation's new jet tanker, T-40 made on a fire in Texas, including a picture. But, it was his reporting on TBM Avenger Air Tanker (T-13) arrival at the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula Montana on Oct. 10 that caught my eye. Bill referenced two articles from the Missoulian, one on  Oct. 8 and another on Oct. 10, at the same time a friend of mine referred me to the Oct. 10 Missoulian article. The byline on both articles is Kim Briggeman.

Simply, the Museum of Mountain Flying was able to secure funding to purchase TBM Avenger T-13, from Forest Protection Limited. She arrived with great fanfare in Missoula on Oct. 10 after a three day flight from New Brunswick, Canada.

I went and read the articles on the Missoulian website, and I hope you will too. Reading the article, I found out that T-13 was a part of Johnson Flying Service's fleet of tankers, flying as tanker A-13. You can read about this history of Missoulia International Airport operations including the Johnson Flying Service here. Johnson Flying Service was based in Missoula and sold A-13 along with five other Avengers to Forest Protection Limited of New Brunswick, Canada in 1974 where she flew as a fire bomber and spraying insects.

Among the interesting pieces of "trivia" that I learned from the Oct. 10th article was that Johnson's six Avengers did spraying in Maine in 1973. This interested me because I used to spend summer vacations camping on the Maine coast as a youth in the 1960s through 1970 and again a couple of trips to the same camping spot in the late 1970s. I had this idea as a youth that airplanes were used to spray for insects. I have no clue where the Avengers sprayed in 1973, perhaps they sprayed in the northern Maine forests. I have no clue if the Avengers sprayed on the Maine coast (for Mosquitos??). But, where ever they were, I rather enjoy the image of these Avengers spraying in Maine in 1973.  I wasn't in Maine that summer, but that doesn't seem to matter.

What came across to me through reading the reporting of Kim Briggeman in the Missoulian is that "A-13" is loved in Missoula. I feel a sort of bond with "A-13" and the other Johnson TBMs because they flew in Maine at least one summer.

But I also know that "A-13" flew for Forest Protection Limited (FPL) for thirty plus years under registration number C-GLEL, tanker 13. In my article on October 17, I'll write more about her history including her military service and her years with FPL. Stay tuned

TBM Avengers revisited

Some of you may recall that I wrote a series of articles on the TBM Avenger last August, these articles may be found here (scroll to the bottom to see the first article in the series). Briefly, the TBM Avenger was used in World War II and then later as a fire bombing aircraft.

She is a magnificent aircraft. Thanks to a new friend, I recently came across this video of a restored Avenger. I love the sound of the radial engine!

I also want to remind everyone about a very nice webpage about the history of the TBM Avenger's service with Forest Protection Limited (New Brunswick, Canada). There are some great photos of the Avenger along with some history of her use in aerial fire fighting and budworm spraying, a listing of pilots who flew the Avenger, and other great information. You could spend hours on this site, go here to get started.

TBM Avenger - Part 6 of 6 - Built in NJ

In my wanderings around the internet as I was researching the TBM Avenger for this series of articles, I happened upon some information (with pictures) about a restored TBM-3E Avenger that is currently on display at the Naval Air Station in Wildwood NJ. She is a beauty, isn't she? I thought that writing a bit about this particular TBM-3E Avenger would be a nice way to wrap up this series of articles.

What I did not know when I started out researching the TBM Avenger is that some 7,500 TBM Avengers (including the subject of this article) were manufactured in New Jersey at General Motors' Eastern Aircraft's Trenton-Ternstedt plant outside Trenton, NJ. After retiring from service with the US Navy in 1950, she saw service with the Canadian Armed Forces until 1960. She spent the rest of her flying life converted for use as an Airtanker in Canada registered as CF-MUD. For more information on the history of this TBM-Avenger, see this page from the National Park Service. Note that in this history, this TBM is referred to as flying as tanker 312 (T312).

CF-MUD saw service with three air tanker operators in Canada: Skyway,  Conair, and Forest Protection Limited (FPL) , flying as T612 and later as T12 (there is no reference here to CF-MUD flying as T312). See the entry for "BU#" 86180, "CDN REG'N" FMUD on the FPL's TBM tanker list page. If you go the FPL TBM tanker purchases, sales and losses webpage, you will see that FPL purchased FMUD from Conair in 1977, and sold her in 2001.

There is a publicly available facebook page about FPL TBM Avengers (no facebook login required) from History of TBM Avengers FPL on Facebook

TBM Avengers - part 5 - Warbird registry

Someone sent me a copy of an article from the American Aviation Historical Society Journal (AAHS) from Fall 1964 (Voume 9, #3) by William T, Larkins, Forest Fire Air Attack System (155-170). It is a wonderful article full of well researched information and facts about the development of aerial wildland firefighting as well as the type of airplanes that were being used as air tankers at the time. One of the gems of this article is a list of Air Tankers with registration and serial numbers) use by some of the US Forest Service Regions in the 1963 fire season. I don't know where you can find a copy on the internet, perhaps you can purchase a back issue from the AAHS or if you are lucky, perhaps your local library can get you a copy (perhaps for a charge).

I spent some time with this list, pulling out some registration numbers (aka bureau numbers), went to the Warbird Registry website, to give you some history and a photo, of a few of the TBM Avengers that were used during that 1963 fire season. Note that the date of last info given on the registry page for each aircraft.

• 85715, flew as tanker #E36 (later (#E27).
• 53200, flew as tanker #D6.
• 53697, flew as tanker #E46.
• 53454, flew as tanker #D13.
• 85869, flew as tanker #C3 (later #E39, #C39).
• 86280, flew as tanker #C50.

Enjoy!

TBM Avenger - Part 4 - historical footage (RAAB 1964 -1971)

I have always loved the Captain Cloud Dancer video that TL Stein has given me permission to post on Nov. 2, 2009. The video is  in memory of his Dad, Chief Thomas W. Stein, from footage that Chief Stein shot at Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base between 1964 and 1971. Please take about 12 minutes and go to my Nov. 2, 2009 article and watch the video again.

I am interested in it at this time because of the footage of TBM3 Avengers, they are painted orange.

In addition to the TBM-3 Avenger, you will also see (in no particular order) see footage of these historical air tankers:

PBY Catalina
B-17
F7F
CL-215 (first use of this type in CA).

TBM Avenger - part 3 - Firefighting

I believe that both of the TBMs shown in these two short videos were Forest Protection Limited TBM's. The forums on the War Birds Information Exchange has a good thread on the TBM Avenger with lots of good photos and history of TBM's that were used in firefighting. At the time I wrote this, the tread was six pages long, go here.

Enjoy!

TBM Avenger - Part 2 - more history

A friend who is an aviation historian tells me the aircraft that you see in this video clip:

First off the deck is a TBM; next, you are looking down at a Curtis SB2C "Helldiver". The next two off after the Helldiver are TBMs. After the two TBMs there is a quickflash of something launching, possibly a Hellcat. The aerial shot is of, (1) a SB2C Helldiver, and (2) Hellcats in formation.

The Air & Space Magazine (Smithsonian, Nov 1, 2001) has a nice article, available online on the history of the TBM Avenger, it may be found here. The article is by Marshall Lumsden. You will read about the military history of the TBM as well as Forest Protection Limited.

TBM Avenger - Part 1 - History and Specs

An article from wikipedia on the Avenger, including a listing all the variants, may be found here. The wikipedia article includes specifications (citation needed) for what they refer to as a TBF Avenger.

Go here for a short military history of the Avenger including specs for the TBM-3. For specs on the TBF-1 Avenger (an early model), read this military factory article.

TBM Avenger - introduction

This series of articles on the TBM Avenger is perhaps long over due. Pretty early on in my writing about aerial wildland firefighting, I learned that TBM Avenger's (most were TBM 3's) were widely used in aerial firefighting beginning in the mid to  late 1950s and into the 1960s by the California Department of Forestry (CDF) and the US Forest Service. According to my aviation historian friend:

"CDF used the TBM until the early 1970s. In other parts of the country, the flew into the late 1970's.  California was the first state to quit using them (citing safety concerns of single engine aircraft). When the S2 came online in 1974-75, the TBM's were grounded in California."

Hearing good reports from the U.S. about their use of TBM Avenger's for firefighting, Canadian aerial operators began to use TBM's in 1957 for aerial spray operations targeting pests, notably  spruce budworms. I'm not quite sure when Canadian aerial operators began to use TBM's for firefighting, but Forest Products Limited (FPL), the last operator of firefighting TBM's in Canada, started to use TBMs for firefighting in the late 1970s. For more information on the history of TBM Avenger's use and acquisition in Canada go here. FPL's company webpage may be found here.

In late 1999, Forest Product Limited began to sell off their remaining TBM fleet as they began to purchase AT-802s and 802F's for use in firefighting. For a list of FPL's purchases, losses, and sales  (loss and sales data through 2004) see this web page.

By early 2010, one of the remaining unsold FPL TBM's had crashed, two are listed in their aircraft chart (accessed on July 16, 2010), and one may be sold but still on the FPL site (see "A few facts" near the top of the FPL purchase, loss, and sale page. The two TBMs that I saw listed on the FPL aircraft chart (cited above) are C-FIMR (#23) and C-GLEL (#13)).

But the story of the Avenger began long before the plane was converted to fly as an air tanker or for pest control. Her history goes back to the early days of WW II. So, I begin this series of articles on the TBM Avenger by looking at military uses of this noble aircraft.

The series:

• Wed. July 28: Part 1 history and specs
• Fri. July 30: Part 2 more on history
• Mon. Aug 2: Part 3 Firefighting 1
• Wed. Aug 4: Part 4 Firefighting 2 Hemet-Ryan 1964 to 1971
• Fri Aug 6: Part 5 Firefighting Avengers up close and personal
• Mon. Aug 9: Part 6 Former firefighting TBM 3E at Naval Air Station Museum in Wildwood NJ