Lawrence Works was 20 when he died in a training collision off Anacapa Island in 1945. His 61 letters home show what it was like to be a young Navy aircrewman getting ready for war.
Swell Ships and Flying Coffins: The Letters of Lawrence Works
Tag: TBM Avenger
Revisiting the TBM Avenger: A Deep-Wreck Photogrammetry Project
Photogrammetry model of a deep TBM Avenger that crashed in 1952. Bureau Number is 53439.
TBF-1C Avenger BuNo 47746 (Anacapa Island — 120 fsw)
Two Avengers collided during torpedo practice off Anacapa Island in 1945. One wreck lies at 120 fsw. The other, with three men aboard, has never been found. Includes the accident reports, war diary entries and a photogrammetry model.
Airplane Wrecks of the USS Saratoga (Bikini Atoll — 165 fsw)
Photogrammetry models of six aircraft wrecks around the USS Saratoga at Bikini Atoll: TBM Avengers, Helldivers and a Kingfisher floatplane that wasn’t aboard when she sank. Includes the research, done with Brad Sheard, to identify each plane and match it to the aircraft on deck before the Baker test.
New Wreck : Upside Down TBM Avenger (Pt Loma — 170 fsw)
Background We initially were doing some "round robin" diving on targets back in late October 2022 based upon a long list of targets that Tyler had. We found an upside down aircraft that we believed to be a TBM, but we were not sure if it was a dumped airplane -- of which there are [...]
New Airplane Targets (Point Loma — 170 fsw)
Background Tyler had a few targets that we wanted to look at. They were all in the 170 foot range and so we arranged a day on the Marissa to go take a look. We weren't sure what conditions were going to be like so we had a few different plans but ended up going [...]
Airplane Junkyard Part II & III (Pt Loma — 175-230 fsw)
This is an update to a post back in September 2021 about a "WW II Airplane Junkyard" off of Point Loma. As we have been looking for new targets in the south Point Loma area, we are "plagued" by finding and diving more dumped airplanes. They show up on the sonar similar to real airplanes [...]
“Border TBM Avenger” (San Diego, 105 fsw)
After Tyler and I dove the Missile Tower, we headed over to a relatively unknown TBM/F Avenger wreck. It sits in about 105 feet of water and is close to the border near Imperial Beach. The wreck was originally located around 2002 by Roy Pettus, a local San Diego underwater archaeologist, during a survey for [...]
Second Place (is better than a swift kick in the ass)!
On a whim, I entered the Marissa 2020 Photo Contest and I recently found out that I was the runner-up! https://www.facebook.com/MarissaCharters/photos/a.230572168441/10159356247963442/ I submitted three photos to the contest: Tyler @ Corsair Engine TBM Avenger USS Hogan Drew Wilson, who I've done a lot of diving with in the past year, won the contest (Congrats, Drew!). [...]
TBM Avenger Photogrammetry Model (San Diego, CA — 250 fsw)
I debated whether or not to post this model. I'm not really happy with the results but I've learned quite a bit along the way and figured it might help somebody in the future. This post is pretty long but there are a lot of photogrammetry details included for anybody who cares. Short Version Here [...]
