U.S. Navy Carrier Bombers of WWII: TBD Devastator; SBD Dauntless; SB2C Helldiver; TBF/TBM Avenger

The Douglas TBD-1 Devastator has gone down in history as a failure. Its critics point to slow speed, lack of range and limited payload as all contributing to its downfall. So completely was it overwhelmed at the Battle of Midway that of 41 Devastators to attack the Japanese fleet that day, only five returned. One squadron, the ill-fated VT-8, was totally destroyed, every one of its 15 TBDs falling to a combination of effective anti-aircraft fire and hovering Zeros. Yet, to be fair to the Devastator, it should not have even been there and, had the Japanese delayed their plans for even a few months, it would not have been. BuAer Jcnew full well that the TBD was obsolete. Indeed, its successor was already on the production lines and the first examples, ironically in the colours of VT-8, had just arrived in time to be bloodied at that same battle. Like the Brewster Buffalo, whose history is at least superficially similar to the Devastator's, the TBD has been branded a failure when really its only fault was being old.