1:72 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

The torpedo squadrons of 1942

In 1937 the Douglas TBD Devastator was the most modern carrier aircraft in the world: an all-metal monoplane with folding wings, retracted landing gear and a glazed cockpit for a crew of three. Five years later it was already hopelessly slow, and yet the American torpedo squadrons set out with it into the Battle of Midway. The squadron VT-8 from the Hornet lost all fifteen of its machines there and a single man survived. After Midway the type disappeared from the front-line units within a few weeks.

The sheet follows exactly this wartime stage. It offers white T1 of VT-2 from the Lexington, the black eight of VT-6 from the Enterprise, the machine 7-T-7 of VT-7 from the Wasp, black T-18 of VT-8 from the Hornet, the black one of VT-5 from the Yorktown and another black one of VT-6. Six of the machines have the same coloring of a blue-gray upper color over a light gray lower surface, so the only difference between them is made by the markings.

The seventh option goes against the current: 71-S-16 of the scouting squadron VS-71 from the Wasp still carries yellow wings and a black tail from the prewar era, and it is therefore the most colorful item in the whole selection.

The decals are prepared for a 1:72 model of the Devastator and assume that the model already has its camouflage sprayed and varnished.

The Devastator had hydraulically folding wings and unusually long glazing of the canopy, so even on a small model the transparent part takes up a large piece of the upper surface. The markings are therefore applied only at the moment when the glazing is finished and masked.