The USN and USMC were also the only forces in the world to operate single seat, single engine, radar equipped night fighters. USN fighter pilots were pulling off feats nobody else thought possible at war's start. By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the US was using F6F as regular bombers, even in the anti-shipping strike role. In the USN even single engine fighter pilots were making long range strikes with no other aircraft. I believe torpedo bombers had the third crew member because doctrine called for mixed strike packages and since the torpedo bomber had the least need to maneuver, it could most afford the third crew member and it was the torpedo bomber's role to navigate for the entire formation. I don't know about Japanese doctrine, but I suspect it was the same as the west. It's always the pilot who aims and releases the torpedo. I have also read many accounts of torpedo drops by US and British pilots. That bay was filled with electronics and there was no way for a crew member to get up there. The radio operator/navigator could climb up between the turret and pilot on the TBF-1, but the seat there was eliminated late in the -1 production run. The guy behind the bombay could see a little forward at an angle, but he could not see a ship on a torpedo run. I haven't found much information on Coral Sea, but what I have seen indicates the TBDs were flying with a crew of two then too.Īdditionally, the crew positions in a TBF/TBM only had one crew member with any forward visibility at all: the pilot. Um, it is well documented that all TBDs at Midway only had a crew of two. The Jill also had a downward firing gun in the back of the fuselage that could be used by the middle cockpit guy. Japanese torpedo bombers also had a bombsite setup for the guy in the center cockpit. On subsequent versions of the TBF there wasn't even a seat in that position. The TBF-1 also had a set of controls in the middle cockpit and the guy in the belly could crawl up there and use them if the pilot was incapacitated, but that too was dropped. The TBF had a window in the back of the bomb bay with a bomb site for the guy down in the belly, though in practice the pilot dropped the ordinance most of the time when carrying bombs. On land bombing missions those doors were opened and the guy in the middle cockpit had a bomb site that aimed out that door. There were some small doors just in front of the tip of the torpedo (when carried). TBDs only carried the third crew member for land bombing missions. From everything I have read, that was the pilot's job. I don't think the third crew member aimed the torpedo.
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