General info for Avenger Mk II

• Country Britain
• Vehicle role Frontline Bomber / Naval Bomber / Torpedo-Bomber
• Rank 2

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 2.3
  • realistic battles 3
  • simulator battles 2.7

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Wiki info about Avenger Mk II

Official War Thunder wiki

The Grumman Avenger Mk.I was a single engine naval torpedo bomber/strike aircraft which first entered service with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in 1943. Designed as a replacement for the US Navy’s Douglas Devastator, the Avenger first flew in August 1941 before the first examples left the production line in February 1942. The Avenger’s operational debut at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was less than stellar, with five out of six being destroyed without being able to sink a single enemy ship. Under the lend-lease agreement, Avengers were supplied to the British Fleet Air Arm in January 1943, first equipping 832 Naval Air Squadron. Powered by a 1850 hp Wright Cyclone radial engine, the Avenger Mk.I was capable of reaching speeds of some 260 mph and had an operating range of 1020 miles; 1910 miles if extra fuel was loaded in lieu of ordnance. The Avenger was armed with two .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, a single .30 caliber gun in a ventral position and a further .50 caliber gun in a power operated turret. Its offensive load was a single 22-inch torpedo, up to 2000 lbs of bombs or eight 60 lb rockets under the wings. For the first year of its life in British service, Avengers were known as Grumman ‘Tarpons’ following the Fleet Air Arm’s tradition of naming its naval aircraft after fish or birds. However, from January 1944 onwards the name ‘Avenger’ was re-adopted to standardize with US forces. Avengers were constructed in the United States by both Grumman and also under license by General Motors, termed the TBF-1 and TBM-1 respectively; in Royal Naval service these were known as the Avenger Mk.I and Avenger Mk.II. By the end of 1943, eight Avenger squadrons were active in the Fleet Air Arm, this number rising to fifteen squadrons by the end of the war. Some 1,000 out of nearly 10,000 Avengers built would serve with the Royal Navy. Avengers were employed in several roles across a variety of theatres, including mine laying and Anti-Submarine Warfare in the Atlantic, anti-shipping strikes in the build up to D-Day and Convoy escort from small escort carriers in the icy waters of the Arctic on convoy runs to the Soviet Union. However, it was in the Far East with the British Eastern Fleet and British Pacific Fleet which the British operated Avengers would see their most impressive contribution, culminating in their finest hour during the Battle of Palembang in January 1945, where Avengers formed the majority of the offensive capability of the Fleet Air Arm’s strike package in a series of attacks on Japanese held oil refineries in Sumatra; Avengers of 820, 849, 854 and 857 NAS were responsible for crippling the output of two major oil refineries, causing a severe blow to the supply for Japanese aviation fuel. British Avengers were involved in strikes against mainland Japan by the time the war ended, and subsequent variants of the Avenger would continue to serve with the Royal Navy up until 1959. The Avenger also saw wartime service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force and postwar service with the Royal Canadian Navy.