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Consolidated Vultee TBY Sea Wolf

1944 WORLD WAR 2

Comprehensive History of Vultee TBY Seawolf

The history of the Consolidated Vultee TBY "Sea Wolf" began in April 1940 when rival Vought received a contract from the United States Navy (USN) to use USN 1939 for a single prototype of its "XTBU-1" torpedo bomber The aircraft design and configuration of the Torpedo Bomber Competition and Team Vought was no different from the competing Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. Powered by a 2,000-horsepower Pratt & Whitney XR-2800-6 radial piston engine, the Vought Method has a crew of three standing under a durable greenhouse-like canopy. The hull is deliberately deep for the bomb bay inside.

The pod features a two-piece power door and provides support for conventionally dropped bombs or torpedoes up to 2,000 lbs. Additional armament came from a .30 caliber medium machine gun mounted in a fixed forward-firing mount managed by the pilot, and a 0.50 caliber machine gun in a powered rear turret for dedicated gunners. A .30 caliber machine gun was mounted in a stern-facing belly pod to protect the aircraft's more vulnerable lower rear corners.

The wings were cleared to carry 500-pound bombs and high-velocity, high-explosive rockets.

The XTBU-1, nicknamed the "Sea Wolf", made its first flight on December 22, 1941. Although the U.S. Navy is already working on Grumman's products, the XTBU-1 is advertised as targeting the Avengers.

Although the XTBU-1 prototype was heavier than its competitors, it performed better, giving it a fundamental advantage over the preferred Avenger design, and formal evaluation of the Vought prototype began in March 1942.

The result of this phase was that, at the height of the war in the Pacific, the US Navy commissioned 1,100 Vought TBU-1 torpedo bombers. However, Vought's current commitment is to build thousands of classic F4U "Corsair" carrier-based fighters, leaving little room for new torpedo bombers in the production mix.

In December 1942, the aircraft was outsourced to Consolidated Vultee, which would produce the aircraft as the "TBY-1". A converted truck factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, will be his home.

Both the transition process and employee training have delayed the TBY-1 program by several months as production attempts to ramp up.

The program also suffered two major setbacks when the prototype was damaged, which only further delayed the project. For the first time, during a hook-and-loop landing attempt, the tail was ripped off, forcing a lengthy repair.

The plane's new tail was then caught by the blades of a runaway trainer, triggering another round of repairs. During the break, engineers developed a new, less complex one-piece bomb bay door system, added more cockpit armor, and improved the landing gear.

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800-20 series radial engine also replaced the original range and introduced additional machine guns for increased firepower.

As the delays at the Allentown plant continued, the engine was changed again, this time to the 2,100 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-22 series, a change that led to the new designation "TBY-2".

When completed, the TBY is 39 feet 2 inches long, with a wingspan of 56 feet 11 inches and a height of 15 feet 6 inches. Empty weight is specified at 11,365 pounds, and maximum takeoff weight is 18,450 pounds. The R-2800 Radial has a top speed of 305 mph, a range of up to 1,500 miles, and a range of 27,200 feet.

The Avenger has a top speed of 275 mph, a range of 1,000 miles, and a service cap of 30,100 feet.

The war and the technology associated with it was so advanced that while the Grumman bomber flourished, the TBY quickly fell victim to its own delays. A Vultee aircraft of operational quality did not take to the skies until August 1944, and the US Navy felt it no longer needed Vought products and returned with a reduced purchase order of only 504 aircraft (by comparison, Grumman Production of the Avengers reached over 9,800) End of War). The U.S.

Navy did not receive the first TBY-2 until November 1944, and deliveries continued until 1945.

Production continued at a snail's pace when the war in Europe ended in May 1945. In July, the U.S. Navy reduced its TBY-2 order to 250, and on August 14, the TBY-2 order was completely canceled - the Seawolf's reign is gone forever. In total, only 180 aircraft were delivered to the U.S. Navy, and these outdated machines were used only for training and little else.

By 1947, all Seawolf airframes were scrapped.