In this weekend episode, Victor Davis Hanson examines the battles fought over the Philippines in WWII, and, in the news, more Trump nominations, Alvin Bragg’s cases, and Jussie Smollett is let off by the Illinois Supreme Court.
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If I may offer a minor correction regarding the comment about the Douglas SBD Dauntless (also made in last week’s podcast), it wasn’t replaced by the Grumman TBF Avenger. The Dauntless was a dive bomber, while the Avenger was a torpedo bomber. The Avenger replaced the TBD Devastator. True that the Avenger was an excellent torpedo bomber, fast, able to carry a varied load, very rugged, but the Dauntless was a very good dive bomber, with decent speed and range, able to deliver a payload with excellent accuracy. It was also nimble when unloaded, and like the Grumman products, the Douglas aircraft was rugged. It’s main drawback was that it was designed with fixed wings, a disadvantage on a carrier. Its replacement was the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, which was bigger, a little faster than the SBD, and had folding wings. But it was plagued with teething problems in its first 2 models, both technical issues with the plane itself, and production problems at Curtiss. On its trial deployment about the USS Yorktown (CV-10), it performed so badly that the captain recommended the type be abandoned. The program itself was a focus of Senator Truman’s panel on waste and corruption in wartime manufacturing. The technical problems were eventually resolved, and in the last year of the war, it turned in good service. The SBD soldiered on to the end of the war.
The Avenger itself was such a good platform that it remained in service for several years after the war, in other roles.
For a good account of the Battle off Samar and the bravery and sacrifice of the men of “Taffy 3”, read James Hornfischer’s “Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors”.