On 3 Oct 2005 22:06:00 -0700, wrote:


The Grumman TBF/TBM seems to be a pretty big plane at 54 feet wingspan
and 40 foot length.
The SB2C is only 50 feet by 37. I haven't looked at all World War 2
carrier planes,
but the TBF is bigger than the F6F (and thus F4F by default) Heck,
even the F4U is
only 41 x 33.5 feet.

Was the name "Beast" in reference to horsepower or flying
characteristics?

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?

The largest aircraft (weight and dimension) operationlly used from an
unmodified WWII ESSEX class might be the venerable and ubiquitous S2F
series.

They did not enter service until the early '50s, but did operate off
many ESSEX class boats (with both straigt and angle decks).

Bill Kambic