Grumman TBM Avenger

With orders for the Grumman TBF Avenger outstripping Grumman's production capacity, the decision was taken for General Motors to produce the aircraft as well. These would be known as TBM Avengers.

The first Avenger variant that General Motors would build was the TBM-1. This had a top speed of 262 mph, range of 1,000 miles with a service ceiling of 26,400 ft. Armament was one 0.50-in machine-gun and two 0.30-in machine-guns and either 2,000lb bombs or torpedoes. The TBM-2 never went further than one example, this was a TBM-1 fitted with a 1,900-hp Wright XR-2600-10 engine.

Whilst Grumman had attempted to continue development of their TBF Avenger it would be General Motors who would do so as they produced the TBM-3 which was powered by a 1,900-hp Wright R-2600-20 engine. Whilst similar to Grumman's XTBF-3 prototype, it featured stronger wings to allow for more types of ordnance to be fitted and the dorsal turret was removed on many production versions. The TBM-3 Avenger had a top speed of 267 mph, range of 1,130 miles with a service ceiling of 23,400 ft. Armament was three 0.50-in machine-guns and one 0.30-in machine-gun. Bomb load was either 2,000lb bombs, depth charges or torpedoes. Rocket projectiles could also be carried.

General Motors would also work on the prototype for the XTBM-4, whose main improvement was a strengthened fuselage, however, orders for the new Avenger were cancelled after VJ-Day.

In total General Motors built 7,546 TBM Avengers, which was over 70% of the total produced.