Role: Torpedo bomber
Manufacturer: Consolidated Aircraft
Designed by: Vought
First flight: 22 December 1941
Introduced: 1944
Status: Retired
Primary user: United States Navy

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.

Specifications (TBY Sea Wolf)

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 39 ft 2in (11.95 m)
Wingspan: 56 ft 11in (17.35 m)
Height: 15 ft 6in (4.72 m)
Wing area: 440 ft² (40.88 m²)
Empty weight: 11,366 lb (5,142 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 18,448 lb (8,386 kg)
Powerplant: 1x— Pratt & Whitney R-2800-6 Double Wasp radial engine, 2,000 hp (1,491 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 306 mph (492 km/h)
Range: 1,500 mi (2,414 km)
Service ceiling: 27,200 ft (8,290 m)

Armament

1 x— .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun in cowling
2 x— .50 cal in the wings
1 x— .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

Comparable aircraft

TBD Devastator
TB2D Skypirate
TBF Avenger
Fairey Barracuda

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.

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Source: WikiPedia