Douglas TBD Devastator

Claim to Fame

On the morning of June 4th, 1942, 41 TBD Devastators were launched from the carriers Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown towards the Japanese fleet operating near Midway Island. Within a few hours, 35 of those aircraft had been lost, including all 15 from VT-8 of the Hornet, of which there was only 1 survivor. Though no hits were scored by the Devastators, their sacrifice did distract the Japanese long enough for Navy dive bombers to score hits that sank three of the four Japanese carriers. Devastators were immediately withdrawn from front line service.

Despite such an inauspicious end, when the Devastators were introduced five years earlier, they were the most advanced naval aircraft in the world. They were the first widely used U.S. Navy carrier based monoplane, first all-metal, first closed cockpit, and the first with hydraulically operated folding wings. Unfortunately, the rapid pace of aviation development in the immediate pre-war years made the Devastators obsolete by the start of the war.