WIX Archives
NWM Avenger
Posted by AIRIC on Sun Nov 16, 2003 07:52:44 PM
In reply top null posted by null on null
Everyone,
This is the info I received on the ident of the TBM at NWM from a contact of mine.
Thanks Bill.
The TBM-3E located at the NWM is on long term loan from the USMC
Air-Ground Museum at Quantico, VA and is painted in the markings of
VMTB-132, assigned to the escort carrier U.S.S. Cape Gloucester in 1945.
Unfortunately, our Avenger's Bureau Number was lost before it came to
the museum. Several inquiries were made to the USMC but no additional
information has been provided. The BuNo 91752, which is painted on the
AC is the last number assigned to a TBM-3E delivered to the Navy; it was
chosen to give the AC an authentic exterior appearance, rather than
apply no number at all.
BuNos 91753 through 92006 were also assigned to TBM-3Es, but those AC
were canceled before delivery. (We probably should have used one of
those to avoid any confusion later on.)
There is some mention in our documentation that the Avenger is one of
three AC on loan from the USMC that were recovered from the bottom of
the Mississippi River after a flood in St. Louis. That letter is dated
12/97 so the flood was some time before that. The earliest
correspondence in the museum's files is on the Conditional Loan
Agreement between the Museum and the USMC dated 6/05/96. It does not
provide a BuNo and only lists an "Accession Number" of 1993.206.1.
(Have no idea what that means.)