On this day in aviation history—April 15, 1935—we mark the 90th anniversary of the first flight of the Douglas TBD Devastator. This aircraft originated from the Douglas XTBD-1 prototype, which emerged victorious in the U.S. Navy’s 1934 competition for a new carrier-based torpedo bomber. Following the award of the contract, Douglas refined the XTBD-1 into what would become the TBD Devastator, a cutting-edge design for its time.
In the early years of World War II, the Devastator saw some success, most notably during the Battle of the Coral Sea, where it played a key role in striking Japanese naval forces. However, as the war progressed, rapid advancements in aircraft design quickly rendered the TBD obsolete. Its vulnerabilities in combat led to its gradual withdrawal from frontline service, replaced by more capable aircraft such as the Douglas SBD Dauntless and the Grumman TBF Avenger.
The Devastator’s reputation suffered greatly following its performance at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Of the 41 TBDs launched in torpedo attacks against the Japanese fleet, none scored a hit, and only six returned to their carriers. However, in the years since, historians and aviation experts have re-evaluated the circumstances. Much of the blame has shifted toward the unreliable Mark 13 torpedo, rather than the aircraft itself.
The TBD Devastator carried a crew of three: a pilot, a torpedo officer/navigator, and a rear gunner/radioman. It was powered by a 900-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial engine. While its top speed was only 206 mph, it was armed with forward- and rear-facing 0.30-inch Browning machine guns and could deliver a single Mark 13 torpedo or a variety of bomb loads, including one 1,000-pound bomb, three 500-pound bombs, or twelve 100-pound bombs.
Today, no complete Douglas TBD Devastators survive in museums or private collections. However, the wreckage of eleven airframes still rests where they were lost during the war, mostly on the seafloor in the Pacific. The only full-scale representation of the aircraft is a 1:1 replica built for the 2019 film Midway, now displayed at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. It serves as a rare and poignant tribute to an aircraft that, while flawed, played a vital role in the early years of carrier warfare and deserves a place in the broader story of American naval aviation. On March 4, 2018, the team aboard Paul G. Allen’s research vessel R/V Petrel discovered the wreck of the USS Lexington resting 3,000 meters (approximately two miles) beneath the surface of the Coral Sea, over 500 miles off Australia’s eastern coast. Nearby, they found the remains of seven Douglas TBD Devastators and an F4F-3 Wildcat. As of January 2023, A and T Recovery is actively working to recover at least four of these aircraft, including one of the Devastators.
Commercial Pilot, CFI, and Museum Entrepreneur, with a subject focus on WWII Aviation. I am dedicated to building flight experience so I can fly WWII Fighters, such as the P-51 Mustang, for museums and airshows, and in the USAF Heritage Flight. I lead and run the Pennington Flight Memorial, to honor local MIA Tuskegee Airman F/O Leland “Sticky” Pennington.
