Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf

TBY Sea Wolf
A production TBY-2
Role Torpedo bomber
National origin United States
Manufacturer Consolidated Aircraft
Design group Vought
First flight 22 December 1941
Introduction 1944
Status Retired
Primary user United States Navy
Number built 180

The Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf was a United States Navy torpedo bomber of World War II. A competitor and contemporary to the Grumman TBF Avenger, the Sea Wolf was subject to substantial delays and never saw combat; only 180 of the type were built before cancellation after VJ Day.

Design and development

The Vought XTBU-1 in December 1941

The original design was not by Consolidated Aircraft, but rather by Vought, who designed the then XTBU-1 Sea Wolf to a 1939 US Navy requirement. The first prototype flew two weeks after Pearl Harbor. Its performance was deemed superior to the Avenger and the Navy placed an order for 1,000 examples.[1]

Several unfortunate incidents intervened; the prototype was damaged in a rough arrested landing trial, and when repaired a month later was again damaged in a collision with a training aircraft. Once repaired again, the prototype was accepted by the Navy. However, by this time Vought was heavily overcommitted to other contracts, especially for the F4U Corsair fighter, and had no production capacity. It was arranged that Consolidated-Vultee would produce the aircraft (as the TBY), but this had to wait until the new production facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, was complete, which took until late 1943.

Operational history

The production TBYs were radar-equipped, with a radome under the right-hand wing. The first aircraft flew on 20 August 1944. By this time though, the Avenger equipped every torpedo squadron in the Navy, and there was no need for the Sea Wolf; in addition, numerous small problems delayed entry into service. Orders were cancelled after production started, and the 180 built were used for training.[2]

Variants

XTBU-1 Sea Wolf
Prototype three-seat torpedo bomber powered by a R-2800-22 engine, one built.
TBY-1 Sea Wolf
Production variant of the XTBU-1, not built.
TBY-2 Sea Wolf
TBY-1 with an additional radar pod mounted under starboard-wing, 180 built, a further 920 were cancelled.
TBY-3 Sea Wolf
Improved variant, order for 600 cancelled, not built.

Specifications (TBY Sea Wolf)

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

  • 1 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun in cowling
  • 2 × .50 in machine gun in the wings
  • 1 × .50 in machine gun in dorsal turret
  • 1 × .30 in (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in ventral mount
  • Up to 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs or one torpedo

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Hansen, Dave. "Vought TBU / Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf." daveswarbirds.com. Retrieved: 29 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Chant, Chris (2007). Aircraft of World War II: 300 of the World's Greatest Aircraft. Grange Books.

Further reading

  • Ginter, Steve, Bill Chana and Phil Prophett. Vought XTBU-1 & TBY-2 Sea Wolf (Naval Fighters number Thirty-Three). Simi Valley, CA: Ginter Books, 1995 . ISBN 0-942612-33-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.