The US Navy Avenger torpedo bomber arrived in the Pacific Theater with a small number of planes defending Midway Island in June 1942. When launching torpedoes, the planes had to fly low over the surface so the torpedo entered the water intact and on target. The original planes were designed and built by Grumman and designated TBF. The design was successful and Martin built additional planes designated TBM. After the war, some Avengers were converted to fire bombers to fight forest fires in the western United States. My father Horace Ng was a US Navy aircraft mechanic at NAS Alameda and worked on Grumman Avengers and Grumman Hellcat fighters. Artist Matt Jones drew from a real example seen in his film
Drawing old planes at the Proud Bird on Youtube. Fast forward to the seven minute mark to see the Avenger drawing in progress.
Matt Jones is a story artist with credits on Pete Docter's
Inside Out, Peter Lord's
The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Bibo Bergeron's
A Monster in Paris, and Tim Burton's
Corpse Bride. He's the author of
Ronald Searle's America and publishes his own work at
Matt Jones on Gumroad. I have the
San Francisco in Line book. My parents brought the family to the city often and I worked in North Beach and Chinatown for six years. Found a lot of memories in Matt's work. The story artist is working on his own projects now.
Matt Jones Original Art on EtsyMatt Jones youtube videosMatt Jones Art Patreon
