World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
20 Nov 2010 10:31:33 AM

TBD-1 on finial approach, pilot watches the (LSO) Landing Signal Officer, the man with
the paddles.

If anyone has more information add it to the
ww2db.

2. Ted Mustard says:
4 May 2024 08:37:56 AM

It's over the round-down with a bomb still in its place. A hang-up, maybe?

3. Ted Mustard says:
4 May 2024 12:11:05 PM

Further to my previous comment, pages 5 and 6 of the USN report (dated 1943) on the battle states that the first wave of the Tulagi strike force launched from Yorktown consisted of 12 TBD-1s of VT-5, all equipped with torpedos, and that "one plane failed to release its torpedo". Nevertheless, the store in the image looks more like a bomb.

4. David Stubblebine says:
4 May 2024 01:54:01 PM

Ted Mustard (above):
Indeed it does look like there may be a bomb hung up beneath this airplane. If so, that would certainly make for a dicey landing. The reference to the armament of the Yorktown planes does not help us understand this photo since, if the Navy’s date for this photo can be trusted (a BIG “if”), the Yorktown was engaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea at the time while the Enterprise (seen here) was famously 2,500 miles away. With a little photo enhancement, this Devastator shows Enterprise markings and the Enterprise log states her air group carried out aerial exercises on this date.