Douglas Decimator

[thedarkmaster]

I've watched this build all the way through and let me say I'm so impressed. It's turned out to be a fantastic ride and a top class aircraft.

Love your work mate you are an inspiration      

[pyro-manic]

It's a very ugly machine, but that fits perfectly. Superb!

[Weaver]

It looks excellent Craig: I love the fake gun ports and the rocket-guns! Nice one! 

[sequoiaranger]

I finally did the underside that was lacking, and here is the finished pic, as perhaps seen by the outlying picket Japanese destroyer as the Decimator roars overhead heading for the Shinano (note red-centered roundel on the bottom wing, as the Devastators of Torpedo 8 carried at Midway).  On my computer the underside looks almost light green, like "Sky Type S", but on the actual model it is straight-gray like the clouds behind it. The pic is an amalgam of two pics (so my hand wouldn't show holding it up to the sky!)



Then, here is a so-so pic of the "Bloody Bedroll" of Midway 8-T-1's deceased gunner Jay Manning riding on the triumphant return of Torpedo 8 to the Japanese carrier fleet.



So this kind of "closes the chapter" on the model, but the "official" complete backstory is still in the making, and I'll post it here when it's done.

[Pablo1965]

Very nice indeed. Thanks you for giving such good ideas. Now My lonely neuron are working. 

[anthonyp]

Awesome, AWESOME, AWESOME!!!!!!!!!   Very nice job!!!

[sequoiaranger]

Anthonyp and Pablo---thanks! Funny to see this brought back up after over a year, but it *IS* appropriate, as the Midway battle anniversary is nigh! Torpedo 8 will be avenged!!

Hmmmm--I "promised" the full backstory plus the "Death Ride of the Shinano". Well.......maybe later.

[reddfoxx]

Very nice.  I like the backstory and the finished kit.

I used to have a Monogram 1/48 Devastator kit; don't know what happened to it.  Might still have the decals I planned to use, a special sheet of Gay's markings along with a certificate signed by him if I'm remembering right.

[Pablo1965]

As you can see your Decimator is a major success, now I'm making a scale 1 / 48, all thanks to your idea, I created my own version but basically, it's your idea, I hope to make it soon. Thanks

[sequoiaranger]

Here is the story of my Decimator:

The story of the Douglas Decimator will always be inextricably linked with USS Hornet's fabled torpedo-bomber squadron known as "Torpedo 8". Nearly annihilated at Midway flying the old Douglas Devastator from the carrier USS Hornet (and a few TBF Avengers from Midway), the remnants of the squadron fought hard at Guadalcanal, had their carrier sunk out from under them at the Battle of Santa Cruz, then got recalled to Hawaii to re-form with fresh pilots aboard a brand-new, Essex-class carrier with the name USS Hornet. They were issued an all-new attack aircraft, destined to bring even greater glory to the name of Torpedo 8, and in its final iteration, be the last piston-engined attack aircraft used aboard US carriers some twenty years later.

In 1940 the US Navy was looking to phase out its Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber and SBD Dauntless dive bombers to equip its aircraft carriers with a competent successor. Douglas came up with a design suitable for the upcoming Midway-class large aircraft carriers--the immense TB2D "Skypirate" with contra-props and 70-foot wingspan. It was an overly-ambitious project, and a HUGE and heavy aircraft (larger than a B-25). With war looming just over the horizon and a fleet of medium-sized Essex-class carriers already being built, the US Navy was instead poised to forego Douglas products altogether, and pick a Grumman product to re-equip the torpedo squadrons, and a Curtiss aircraft for dive bombers.  Douglas, afraid of getting shut out of Navy aircraft contracts altogether, scrambled to scale back its project and presented plans for its combined dive-and-torpedo bomber, the TB3D "Decimator". The US Navy went ahead with initial production contracts for the TBF Avenger and the new Curtiss SB2C "Helldiver" dive bomber, but left the door open to Douglas' entry if it could be readied soon.

The two-place Decimator looked like a giant Dauntless and was a large, speedy, capable aircraft. For dive-bombing, up to eight 500 lb GP bombs or two 2,000 lb bombs could be carried aloft. Two torpedoes could be carried for typical combat distances, but in a pinch at close range, three torpedoes could be carried for low-level attack. A five-inch rocket-gun and machine gun in each wing gave considerable forward firepower. A 2300 HP Wright engine could pull an unloaded Decimator along at nearly 350 MPH.

At the Battle of Santa Cruz, in the fall of 1942, the "new" Curtiss Helldivers were found to be troublesome "beasts", and the US Navy ordered speed-up of the new Douglas attack bomber project that could replace both the Helldivers and Avengers with a single plane. The Decimator was not ready for the initial thrust of the Essex-class carrier fleets across the Central Pacific, but when the new carrier task forces pushed to the Marianas in the summer of 1944, the new Douglas Decimator was ready.

"Bert" Earnest and Harry H. Ferrier, pilot and gunner, respectively, of the only Torpedo 8 aircraft to make it home from the Midway battle, had been together flying Avengers on the USS Hornet (CV-8) in the Guadalcanal campaigns at sea. When the Hornet was sunk at Santa Cruz, they served on land at Henderson Field and eventually were rotated out and sent home. Bert was promoted and became the leader of a reconstituted "Torpedo 8" squadron destined to serve aboard the brand-new Essex-class USS Hornet (CV-12) named after the sunk carrier.

While working up in Hawaii, Torpedo 8 needed a three-place "command" version of the Decimator for Bert as Air Group Commander. Shore-side mechanics, scrounging from obsolete TBD hacks and trainers at the airfields, improvised a three-place cockpit and canopy from the old Devastators and installed it in the Decimator. They had also painted the Commander's aircraft just like his old Midway Avenger-- the pale blue-gray/light gray scheme with plane numbers in the old style of "8-T-1".  A big grin came across Bert's face, and as a morale-booster for the squadron, he was able to persuade the Navy to allow him to use this super-Devastator and paint all the squadron's planes in the style of the old Midway-era Torpedo 8. His unique personal aircraft had "Commander Air Group Hornet" on the sides. A stylized hornet motif extended from the top of the tail streaking down with an exaggerated stinger from the tail, "giving the finger" in bright yellow. Bert was just itching to get at the Japanese fleet with the modern, powerful aircraft and wreak revenge for the loss of his squadron and failure to get any hits at Midway two years before. When the Japanese carrier fleet responded to the Marianas invasion in the summer of 1944, he got his chance.

The Hornet Task Group carriers were assigned to suppress the Japanese airfields used for staging aircraft into the battle zone and was thus out of position when the Japanese fleet showed up and launched attacks.
The initial long-range dusk attack from the other carriers was successful enough to sink the Hiyo and another light carrier, but night found the standard TBF's and Helldivers running short of fuel and a large percentage of them were lost after the attacks. The unusual Fairchild Flounder twin-engined bombers from the USS Lafayette fared better, and had managed to disable the super-carrier twins Musashi and Shinano enough that they were left behind as the rest of the Japanese fleet fled. Both sides knew that the morrow would bring a swarm of aircraft to finish off the two giants.

The Hornet group was excused from island-bombing duties and loaded up with torpedoes for the follow-up anti-shipping strike against the two giant carriers. Standard load was two torpedoes and a centerline fuel tank. But once the large carriers of the Japanese Fleet had been disabled and within reasonable striking distance, THREE torpedoes would be carried and Torpedo 8 would seek its revenge!

Bert readied his plane and his squadron. His other gunner at Midway, Jay Manning, was killed in that action, but his blood had soaked a Navy blanket that had been kept as reminder, and Bert decided that the old team would lead Torpedo 8. Bert, rather than be a passenger in the middle seat of his Decimator, decided to fly the mission himself, with Jay's bloody blanket in the middle seat, and Harry Ferrier at the rear guns. The three 26-inch "Whopper" (Whitehead-Howell Ordnance, Oxygen Pro-Pelled, Exploder-Rectified) torpedoes carried for this mission had "Bert", "Jay", and "Harry" inscribed on their noses. The twenty-four Decimators of Torpedo 8 would carry seventy-two torpedoes into battle, and this maximum effort would be escorted by the combined fighter groups of all the carriers.

A fierce defense of the new Kawanishi A7K Jinpu-Kai fighters from the Musashi, Shinano, and the Japanese carriers over the horizon out-of-reach of US aircraft met the Hellcat (and new Bearcat) fighters protecting the bombers. The "anvil" attacks had the Flounders on the Musashi, and the Decimators on the Shinano. The two carriers and a few escorting destroyers did their best to put up a shield of AA fire, but the American bombers bored in anyway. A few bombers on the fringe of the attack were downed by fighters, but Bert led Torpedo 8 to the dropping point, and a dozen torpedoes each slammed into the starboard and port sides side of the Shinano. When the towers of spray from the multiple explosions had cleared, the Shinano was clearly down by the bows, and literally minutes later the forward flight deck was awash. The single remaining operating propeller of Shinano was visibly turning in the air as the Shinano nose-dived for the bottom.  Ignomy had turned to glory, and Torpedo 8 got its revenge.

Decimators were used in other actions for the remainder of WW II, but none quite so notable. The two-place Decimator evolved into the single-place Skyraider by the time of the Korean incident. Later marks of this versatile aircraft served into the 1960's as the last piston-engined attack aircraft of the US Navy.

[Pablo1965]

impressive history,I enjoyed reading it, my Decimator will be a Dive Bomber.

[sequoiaranger]

Pablo1965...>my Decimator will be a Dive Bomber.<

And so it is (two years later)!!

Pablo--*YOUR* Decimator is what the rest of the "flock" looked like as *MY* Decimator (with the Devastator cockpit and canopy) led them into the Japanese Fleet! Actually, in my backstory the bomb-equipped versions were hitting the airfields around the Marianas when the rest of the American fleet first were attacked and then took on torpedoes and sortied against the Japanese fleet the next morning.

Anyway, so glad you did it. If only we could meet up at a model exhibition/contest and put our Decimators side-by-side!!

(Ps--do I detect a North American canopy and landing gear?   )

[RussC]

Enjoyed seeing this model and reading the narrative.