TBY Sea Wolf

infobox Aircraft
name =TBY Sea Wolf
type =Torpedo bomber
manufacturer =Consolidated Aircraft



caption =
designer = Vought
first flight =22 December 1941
introduced = 1944
retired =
status = Retired
primary user =United States Navy
more users =
produced =
number built =
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =

The Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf was a United States Navy torpedo bomber of World War II. A competitor and contemporary to the very similar TBF Avenger, the Sea Wolf was subject to substantial delays and never saw combat; only 180 of the type were built before cancellation after VJ Day.

Design and development

The original design was not by Consolidated Aircraft, but rather by Vought, who designed the then XTBU-1 Sea Wolf to a 1939 Navy requirement. The first prototype flew 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor. Its performance seemed superior to the Avenger and the Navy placed an order for a thousand examples.

Bad luck intervened; the prototype was damaged in a rough arrested landing trial, and when repaired a month later was again damaged in a collision with a training aircraft. Once repaired again, the prototype was accepted by the Navy. However, by this time Vought was heavily over-committed to other contracts, especially for the F4U Corsair fighter, and had no production capacity. It was arranged that Consolidated-Vultee would produce the aircraft (as the TBY), but this had to wait until the new production facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania was complete, which took until late 1943.

Operational history

The production TBYs were radar-equipped, with a radome under the right-hand wing. The first one flew on 20 August 1944. By this time, though, the Avenger equipped every torpedo squadron in the Navy, and there was not really any place for the Sea Wolf; in addition, numerous small problems delayed things. The Sea Wolf had seen no action by the Japanese surrender, after which all orders were cancelled.

pecifications (TBY Sea Wolf)

Aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=3
length main=39 ft 2in
length alt=11.95 m
span main=56 ft 11in
span alt=17.35 m
height main=15 ft 6in
height alt=4.72 m
area main=440 ft²
area alt=40.88 m²
empty weight main=11,366 lb
empty weight alt=5,142 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=18,448 lb
max takeoff weight alt=8,386 kg

more general=
engine (prop)=Pratt & Whitney R-2800-6 Double Wasp
type of prop=radial engine
number of props=1
power main=2,000 hp
power alt=1,491 kW
max speed main=306 mph
max speed alt=492 km/h
range main=1,500 mi
range alt=2,414 km
ceiling main=27,200 ft
ceiling alt=8,290 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=

more performance=
armament=
*1x .50 cal (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine gun in cowling
*2x .50 cal in the wings
*1x .50 cal in dorsal turret
*1x .30 cal (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in ventral mount
*Up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) of bombs or one torpedo

ee also

aircontent

sequence=TBY

related=

similar aircraft=
* TBD Devastator
* TB2D Skypirate
* TBF Avenger

lists=
* List of military aircraft of the United States

see also=

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Ginter, Steve; Chana, Bill and Prophett, Phil. "Vought XTBU-1 & TBY-2 Sea Wolf" (Naval Fighters number Thirty-Three). Simi Valley, CA: Ginter Books, 1995 . ISBN 0-942612-33-7.

External links

* [http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/tby_seawolf.htm TBY Seawolf at Brown Shoe Navy]
* [http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/seawolf.htm TBY Seawolf at Dave's Warbirds]
* [http://www.airtoaircombat.com/detail.asp?id=552 AirToAirCombat.Com: Vought TBU-1 Sea Wolf]