ORIGINAL: redtail
, I'm sitting here catching h#@% from the wife. This is my anniversary and I'm drooling over these landing gear.
better be careful, you'll be unkinking your tailhook.
You got me interested in the plane, I've always been a fan of these big guys, but never had incentive to read up on them until now.
Another neat tidbit I found was that Grumman was holding an opening ceremony of its Plant #2 in Bethpage, NY (Long Island) where the TBF's were to be built, on December 7, 1941. The company president was called away just before the ceremony and was told of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He withheld the information from everyone until after the party, and then the plant was locked down, swept for saboteurs, and remained that way the remainder of the war.
Now that was an incentive for production.