I am always amazed at what lurks in the Life magazine photo archives.
In the center is TBD-1 6-T-16 of VT-6 from
USS Enterprise. They are flying past Diamond Head, Hawaii. Tail is painted True Blue. The cowling, fuselage bands and wings are painted Orange-Yellow. There are no wing chevrons, like the white ones on 6-T-6, since they are the same orange-yellow color as the wings. What's trailing behind 6-T-16 are radio wires.
Looking up TBDs in Lynn Ritger's
site we can identify the Bureau Number and fate of 6-T-16 and 6-T-6.
- 6-T-16 is Bu. No 0346. Was re-assigned to VT-4 aboard USS Ranger. Stricken on Jan. 31, 1944.
- 6-T-6 is Bu. No 0327. Later re-numbered as T-14 of VT-6. Lost at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. Crew for that mission was Ens John Block and ARM3c John Blundell - KIA.
2 comments:
My dad was trained to fly in something like that as a radioman/gunner - but he was still in training and never saw action when the war ended...So many didn't get that chance.
DirtCrashr, you are so right. Millions of lives were destroyed by that war. So many futures.
Glad your dad made it. Radio-gunners were a breed. Not only work machine guns, but run the search radar, man the radios, act as second set of eyes, and if the fuel pump failed man the wobble pump.
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