HobbyBoss 1/48 TBD-1 Devastator (81783)

The Douglas TBD Devastator holds the unfortunate distinction of being the torpedo bomber that was decimated at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, where all 15 aircraft of VT-8 were shot down without scoring a single torpedo hit. Obsolete by 1942 with its slow speed and low-altitude torpedo run making it fatally vulnerable to Japanese Zero fighters and anti-aircraft fire, it had nevertheless been a capable and modern design when it entered service in 1937 as the first all-metal monoplane in US Navy service. Its sacrifice at Midway was not in vain — the Zeros drawn down to attack the low-level Devastators left the dive bombers free to sink four Japanese carriers. This HobbyBoss 1/48 kit (81783) commemorates this historic aircraft.