Douglas TBD Devastator

The Douglas TBD Devastator was an American torpedo bomber of the United States Navy, ordered in 1934, first flown in 1935 and in service from 1937. It was the first metal monoplane in Navy service and the most advanced aircraft the Navy flew at that point, but it was already outdated by the time the United States entered the Second World War. The Devastator performed well in the Battle of the Coral Sea, then suffered a catastrophic day at Midway, where 41 aircraft recorded no torpedo hits and only six returned to their carriers, a failure later blamed largely on defects in the Mark 13 torpedo. The Navy withdrew it from front-line units after Midway and the Grumman TBF Avenger replaced it. No example survives in a museum or private collection.