CFS2
Martin T4M "Torpedo Truck"
Well my Grandpa did have bad things to say in his logs. He despised this airplane. He considered this plane a relic by the time he did his first flight in one. This was also his first time in dealing with torpedo tactics since he entered the fleet in 1935.
At the time my Grandpa flew a Torpedo Truck from the Lexington in 1937, the bird was already past its prime, but because the Navy hadn't found a proper replacement that could be justified for purchase the old Trucks had to soldier on into 1938.
My grandfather's notebook says, "I believe I could fly a kite and getter better results thin that bitch can." "I had my first flight in the bitch, today, I can walk faster then that thing at full"
At the time my Grandpa flew the Truck, the torpedo tactics were improving from broadside attack to what would become the "Anvil and Hammer" tactics used in World War II. His first experience in making a torpedo attack occurred off Hawaii in a fleet exercise. Once word had came that Scouting Force had found and made contact with the opposing forces main fleet, The USS Lexington lounched its air group to attack it.
The T4M's took off first because it would take them the longest to reach the target area. For nearly a third of the flight, they had no fighter escort. Once they made contact with the enemy battle line, (USS Oklahoma, USS Nevada and I couldn't make out the third one, smudged ink). His section leader choose to make a broadside run on the Oklahoma. They dropped down to 125 ft, opened the throttles to 100 mph and presented themselves on the broadside for a very low slow run in on target. Three of his, including his plane, were ruled killed in the attack and had to head to Pearl to set the rest out. His section only scored one hit on the Oklahoma. The other section that was in the attack choose to hit a cruiser and made the attack using the newly developed, by the Japanese, anvil attack...that section all survived the wargame and the Brooklyn was ruled dead.
My grandfather blamed his being knocked out of the game as more to bad decisions, but he also said if he had a better torpedo plane he could have got in. Oklahoma was eventally put out of action by the dive bombers in the strike.
So in the end, The old Torpedo Truck just simply had soldiered on past its time.
Grandpa said the best part of that three months in Torpedo planes with VT-2 was the fact that he got a lot of extra unscheduled leave in Honolulu and San Diego.
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Originally Posted by msfossey
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