DND photo.

Former RCN aircraft. DND photo.

DND photo.

DND photo.

DND photo.

DND photo.

Airworthy Avenger at Planes of Fame Air Museum. This aircraft was delivered to the USN as a TBM-3E on 19 Jul 1945. It was assigned as a replacement aircraft for CV-13 USS Franklin, which was severely damaged on 19 Mar 1945 by bombs from a D4Y Judy. The carrier did not return to service by the time the war ended and the Avenger was stored at different naval facilities. It was stricken from the Navy in 1950 and acquired by the museum in 1959. The Avenger is painted with a white diamond on the tail representing VT-5 assigned to CVG-5 aboard USS Franklin in 1945.

Water bomber, operated by Sis-Q Flying Service. Photo by Steve Kraus.

In service at an air tanker, N7027C flew from Newcastle and Casper, Wyoming. It crashed at Casper on August 28, 1964. The hill behind the aircraft excludes both airports. That, combined with a lack of exhaust soot and retardant, suggests the photo was taken where the tank was installed. That is not known. Photo from: Black Hills State University

Originally US Navy bu 53607, this Avenger was with Cisco Aircraft in California by the early 60s. It was sold to Aerial Applications as N8398H in 1963. Hicks & Lawrence bought it in 1971. On May 20, 1975 during a test flight, the aircraft lost power on take-off and the pilot landed straight ahead in swampland north of Juniper Airport, NB.The pilot walked away, but the aircraft was abandoned until the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum recovered it in 1996. Rebuilt in Fredericton, NB using parts from two other Avengers, it's painted Forest Protection Limited's C-GFPL that crashed in 2010.

Three Grumman TBM Avengers were imported by Israeli operators for agricultural use in the late 1960s or early 1970s and some flew on spraying contracts in Greece. In July 1978 the three aircraft were parked on the northeast side of Herzlia Airport still wearing their US registrations. Pictured are (L to R) N7850C (msn 2094, ex US Navy 69355), N6582D (ex-Royal Canadian Navy 385) and N6829C (msn 4646, ex US Navy 91741) with registrations confirmed from my other photographs. N7850C is now preserved at the IAF Museum at Hatzerim AFB and N6582D was seen in Nov. 2017 being restored at Herzlia Airport. The fate of N6829C is not known.

ex US Navy 91264

ex US Navy 91264

ex US Navy 91264. N7835C is incorrectly listed on the USCAR as s/n 7154, which is not a valid TBM c/n.

TBM-3 built by General Motors for US Navy as BuAer 91733 and now preserved airworthy by the Collings Foundation