The team at the Fighter Factory has has completed the restoration of Military Aviation Museum‘s Avenger. After an unfortunate mishap several years back, the aircraft required extensive overhaul. Waylaid by the need to create several complex custom parts, the restoration has progressed slowly but surely. Shortly before the conclusion of the restoration effort, Fighter Factory General Manager Tom Kurtz said, “As with
any long-term project, we are always filled with excitement as we near completion. We all hope that our efforts have contributed in some small way to keeping WWII history alive.”
With a freshly overhauled engine, propeller and reconstructed cowling fitted, the aircraft was subjected to an extensive series of test runs and test flights before being returned to the museum for display. Now able to be viewed from the Navy Hangar, the Avenger was flown for the public on October 24th and will be included in the museum’s flying schedule again next year.
Originally designed by Grumman, 7,546 of the 9,837 Avengers produced during World War II were actually manufactured by General Eastern Aircraft Division plant in Trenton, New Jersey. Delivered to the Navy on May 26, 1945, the aircraft did not see combat service during World War II, but features in the museum collection as a representation of the overall type.
Avengers, although originally developed as a carrier-based torpedo bomber to replace the obsolete TBD Devastator, would become widely used as conventional bombers, mine layers, scouts, anti-submarine patrol aircraft and even electronic countermeasures platforms across the fleet. From its first service in combat at the Battle of Midway, the Avenger would see service throughout the rest of the war with the US Navy and Marine Corps.
The Military Aviation Museum’s Avenger once again wears the markings of US Navy Ace Captain Richard “Zeke” Cormier of Composite Squadron 1 (VC-1) based on the USS Card (CVE-11). Cormier became an ace while flying the F6F Hellcat in the Pacific following his 75 Atlantic combat missions in the Avenger.
I was privileged to have been employed in that Trenton, New Jersey, plant where the majority of these fantastic machines were assembled. I came aboard 31 years after the end of WWII. My maternal grandmother had worked there too beginning in the early-’50s.
There were photographs of the Avenger in places around the plant. In Personnel, a picture of Senator Harry Truman leaning into the cockpit of an Avenger was featured prominently. I recall seeing that picture often enough over the years. There was one photograph of the final assembly/inspection line which showed about nine or ten Avengers almost ready to be rolled-out of the huge door at the end of the line. Then each plane would taxi across the street to what is now the Mercer County Airport. What a sight that must have been!
In 1983, our Personnel Manager, Mr. Ted Cannon, managed to get a flying, airworthy example of one of the plant’s Avenger’s to make an appearance at the plant for a three or four day open house. It was the celebration of Fisher Body’s 75th year as a part of the General Motors family. It was quite an event. I still have an impression of just how big that Avenger was. Where was my camera then? I simply did not think to take photos of the proceedings but there may be some out there online.
That GM plant where I worked was then called a Fisher Body Plant, part of GM’s Ternstedt Division. It was close to one million square feet of manufacturing space under several very large and some smaller roofs. The final assembly line where the Avengers rolled out into the sunshine became our plant’s Steel Bay.. Raw materials were kept there to sustain plant operations. The plant was closed in the late-’90s and was torn down and lost to history by 2001 or so. It’s a cluster of townhouses and shops now. In my heyday at the Fisher Body plant, we had close to 4,000 souls working there on three shifts. It was a real privilege to have been a part of the operation.