WWII warbirds in a class of their own

Aviation buffs and 260 old planes help maintain the profile of military aircraft, many of which were made in Australia.

A Grumman TBM-3E Avenger, the largest single-engine warbird ever built.

Warbirds. Ah, the evocative sound of a Rolls-Royce Merlin — the engine that powered those magnificent weapons of war such as the Spitfire, Mustang, Mosquito and Lancaster.

It was the Merlin, the Russian T-34 tank and the IL-2 Sturmovik assault aircraft that were the three main ingredients involved in the defeat of the German war machine in World War II. Stalin said of the tank-busting Sturmovik that it was as important to Russia as bread. More than 40,000 were built — the most of any World War II combat aeroplane.

On November 3, the Australian Warbirds Association had their annual meeting in Toowoomba. At that AGM was Randal McFarlane, the founding member, along with legends Guido Zuccoli and Col Pay.

McFarlane was on my RAAF pilots course in 1968 and went on to fly a whole variety of warbirds, which included the Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber.

All hands on deck as HMS Pioneer crew push a WWII Grumman Avenger torpedo fighter on an aircraft carrier off Sydney in January 1946.

Of 8000 TBMs made, 7000 were built by the General Motors car company largely by a workforce of women — “Rosie the Riveter” achieving some fame as part of the war effort.

I remember as a schoolboy attending Air Training Corps camps on RNZAF Base Ohakea. The sound of the radial-engined Grumman Avenger was so different to the loud jet noise of the Vampire fighters and the Canberra bombers the RNZAF operated. Grumman Avengers were initially deployed in the Battle of Midway, where five of the attacking six were shot down by defending Japanese Zeros. The Avengers’ attack profile of 200 knots at 200 feet to drop its fish (torpedo) meant it was vulnerable to defending fighters.

Former US president George HW Bush was shot down by AA (anti-aircraft) fire in his Avenger while on an Iwo Jima bombing mission, and after parachuting, spent three hours in his life raft before being picked up by a US submarinerescue. Grumman Avengers were responsible, along with dive bombers, for sinking with 19 torpedoes the 73,000-tonne super battleship Musashi in October 1944 at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They were also responsible for the sinking of the mighty super battleship Yamato, which set sail with a cruiser and eight destroyers on a one-way suicide mission against the US fleet invading Okinawa. Because of the sister ship Musashi’s sinking, more guns were added to the 73,000-tonne Yamato to increase its anti-aircraft defence.

As well as firing AA shotgun-type shells from its nine huge 18.1-inch main battery guns, which could fire normal 3200-pound (1460kg) shells over 4okm, it had 24, 5-inch AA and 150, 25mm triple-barrelled AA. Over three hours, wave after wave of US carrier aircraft attacked the mighty Yamato. With no air cover of its own, the Yamato fought back with gun barrels blazing red hot and, despite the most intense wall of lead the world had yet seen, some Avengers got through and put torpedo after torpedo into the slowly dying monster. The final death toll on the ship was 2740 out of a crew of 3332.

The bravery of the Avengers’ crews who had to attack that fearful peril head-on is beyond description. Some died and, although it is fighter pilots who get the glory, none were more heroic than the Avenger crews.

The Australian Warbird Association is self-administering, therefore on good terms with CASA. McFarlane tells me that Australia has 550 members and more than 260 aircraft and they appear at numerous air shows around the country.

Warbirds are a testimony to the once-great Australian aircraft manufacturing industry which built, among other great aircraft, Mosquitos, Mustangs, the Avon-powered Sabre and finally the Mach 2 Mirage.

Byron Bailey is a former RAAF fighter pilot and flew B777s as an airline captain.