Not Stunt, but need help

I know this is a bit of a weird question, but I am trying to find insignia for the TBF and TBM Avenger Squadrons of the US airforce.
Particularly the Torpedo Squadron off USS Princeton in 1943.

Does anybody know where I could find such information??

First, is that squadron an air force squadron or a navy squadron? If it's off a ship... If it is indeed navy, try contacting the naval aviation museum in pensacola florida, should be easy to find on an internet search.

Second, being a pilot, i've had a million friends buy those little carved wooden "i love me" planes from various companies. most of those companies can get ALL the correct insignia on an airplane if you give them the squadron and date, right down to bureau numbers. try an internet search for them, maybe sporty's, wings and things in pensacola, places like that could put you in touch with a place that supplies the planes.

Tools

Thanks for that.

I am trying to find this stuff out for a friend whos dad flew an Avenger in WWII, he has a 1/4 scale Avneger that he wants to paint the same as the squadron his dad flew for....he knows he flew off the carrier USS Princeton (cvl-23 ) but cant find the squadron number for the Avenger fleet off that carrier...I can find the Hellcat Squadron off the same, but not the Avengers.....I live in New Zealand and have really only got the net to try and find all this stuff.....

Any links or websites would be appreciated greatlky

For the library at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, go to: [email protected]. Not too long ago I asked for a picture of the insignia for VF2 (The Fighting Chiefs) and they had nil on it, but tons of information on later squadrons. They prefer written request, but let them know you are in New Zealand, not conus.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-17-03 AT 02:31 AM (CST)
 
Air Force my anchor. Ha ha. The USS Princeton CVL 23, was a CL (Light Cruiser USS Tallahassee CL 61 hull) converted to a CVL or Light Carrier. She carried VT-27 (Torpedo Squadron 27). Usually, but not always, the air group number was the same as the carriers hull number. Later of course, due to damage, overhaul and repairs, the carrier would be out of action for a while and the embarked air group would be placed aboard a different carrier.
Princeton initially carried only F6F Hellcats (VF23)? and SBD5 (VB23)? Dauntless dive bombers, but these SBDs were replaced with the TBMs before she deployed to the western Pacific. She arived at Pearl Harbor on 9 Aug 1943. While off Luzon on 24 Oct 1944 she was bombed by a lone Japanese dive bomber and her after torpedo magazine blew and she was later sunk by US Navy destroyers. Most of her TBMs were on board at the time and a few F6F Hellcats were airborne. The F6Fs were sent to other carriers and became absorbed into that CVs air group. One interesting note is the fighters of Princeton had the only large squadron insignia in the fleet at the time. They had huge cats mouths painted on the engine cowl, similar to the sharks mouth on various P40s. But it was a cats mouth (Hellcat). These insignia were ordered removed within days of landing on the other carriers. The Navy frowned on ostentatious diplays of insignia and most had a small 12 to 18" diameter insignia on the cowl or near the cockpit. Most Navy fighters and bombers of this period were painted dark blue on top with a very light gray on the bottom. Nothing fancy.

Part of the problem with finding the insignia of an TBM sqadron on a CVL is the fact that they carried a detachment or 1/4 th of a squadron. The CVLs carried a full F6F squadron of 24 planes and only 9 Avengers. So the full TBM squadron would be on four different carriers. Thus the odd number for the squadron vs the CVLs hull number. The SBDs were removed because 9 of them took more space than 12 F6Fs with their wings folded. The SBD did not have folding wings and this caused all kinds of problems on the flight deck and especially in the very small hangar deck. All CVLs were later ordered to replace the TBMs with more F6Fs up to 36. But the war ended before this took place except for one CVL.