Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Scharnhorst1943]

Title is pretty self explanatory.



I know nobody probably has the time to model the entire bombadier's cockpit with two positions, One sitting and one prone, so a quick and dirty fix is to add the Norden bombsite in a manner similar to how the B5N2 Kate, TBF-1 Avenger or Pe-2 has their bombsites set up. Just add the Norden bombsite view as a position in the plane. It would be neat also to add the Bombay door key to open the bombadier's doors in the plane.

Devastators were used successfully as level bombers early in the Pacific war attacking airfields and military bases throughout the pacific in major island chains. This was commonly known as "The Early Carrier Raids." Please see below for more information about Devastators carrying Norden Bombsites for level bombing attacks.

 

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_TBD_Devastator

The XTBD Devastator, which flew for the first time on 15 April 1935, marked a large number of "firsts" for the U.S. Navy.[3] It was the first widely-used carrier-based monoplane as well as the first all-metal naval aircraft, the first with a totally-enclosed cockpit, the first with power-actuated (hydraulically) folding wings; it is fair to say that the TBD was revolutionary.[4] A semi-retractable undercarriage was fitted, with the wheels designed to protrude 10 in (250 mm) below the wings to permit a "wheels-up" landing with only minimal damage. A crew of three was normally carried beneath a large "greenhouse" canopy almost half the length of the aircraft. The pilot sat up front; a rear gunner/radio operator took the rearmost seat, while the bombardier occupied the middle seat. During a bombing run, the bombardier lay prone, sliding into position under the pilot to sight through a window in the bottom of the fuselage, using the Norden Bombsight.

In the early days of the Pacific war, the TBD acquitted itself well during February and March 1942, with TBDs from Enterprise and Yorktown attacking targets in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, Wake Island and Marcus Island, while TBDs from Yorktown and Lexington struck Japanese shipping off New Guinea on 10 March.[13] In the Battle of the Coral Sea Devastators helped sink the Shoho on 7 May, but failed to hit the Shokaku the next day.[14]

From:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/t-types/tbd.htm

Though the new Grumman TBF "Avenger" was entering production as its intended replacement, the TBD-1 was the Pacific Fleet's sole torpedo plane for the first part of the war against Japan. It seemingly did well in the raids of February-March 1942 and in the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, serving in both the torpedo attack and high-level bombing roles.

From:
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/aircraft/Douglas-Devastator.html

Though fitted on the production line with wing flotation bags to allow the crew time to escape the aircraft if it ditched, these were removed in wartime. This ensured that the TBD would sink, taking its advanced Norden bombsight with it.

From:
http://books.google.com/books?id=S8qwYCcT_soC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=devastator+bombardier+cockpit&source=bl&ots=Us3G8FKbIV&sig=ooaA2PDCcS970nAhDPKP7imwChI&hl=en#v=onepage&q=devastator%20bombardier%20cockpit&f=false

Please see Page 9 for photos.

[RealDarko]

I will like to see that gunsight too. Hope someone can add it.