KDR wrote:

Just wondering how come post-WW2 carrierborne torpedo planes such as
Firebrand, AM Mauler, Wyvern were all single-seaters. Only a few years
ago during the WW2, carrierborne torpedo planes required three crews -
pilot, bomber/navigator & radioman/gunner - without exception. What
brought this change?

The knowledge that attack a/c would in future always be escorted (this
wasn't the case pre-war, when the wartime a/c were designed) so they could
do without the gunner(s). The B/N, sometimes the radioman, disappeared
partly because of that and partly for a different reason -- the USN
decided to forgo level bombing by torpedo planes in favor of glide
bombing, so the need to carry a bombardier (to operate the Norden
bombsight) disappeared (when making torpedo attacks, it was usual practice
in other air forces to leave the third crewman behind). Improvements to
radios also reduced the need for a separate crewman to operate them, and
the widespread adoption of A/S radar eliminated most of the need for
separate navigators (not that USN carrier a/c normally employed them in
WW2; that was the pilot's job).

Guy