Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf

The Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf was a United States Navy torpedo bomber of World War II. It was designed by Vought but entered service and was manufactured by Consolidated Aircraft due to high demand for production lines. A competitor and contemporary to the Grumman TBF Avenger, both were designed to replace the older TBD Devastator but the Sea Wolf was subject to substantial delays and never saw combat in WW2. The design was developed a bit further, with a large Navy order for 1100, but only 180 of the TBY-2 type were built before cancellation after VJ Day. An order of 600 for the TBY-3 was also stopped.

The first units were delivered in late 1944 and reserve units were training with it at the end of the war. It was in service for a few years with a reserve unit before being retired in the late 1940s. Major engagements, such as the invasion of Japan never materialized and it was out of service by the time of the Korean War.

Although the design had its first flight in December 1941 as the XTBU-1, Vought was busy with F4U production, and did not have the factory space. So it was going to built by Consolidated-Vultee at a new factory, and this delayed its production and service entry. As with many WW2 aircraft designs, sweeping cancellations due to surplus and interest in new designs after the war meant the TBY was bypassed in favor of other aircraft. In particular, many Navies were focusing on single-seat attack aircraft like the Martin AM Mauler or Blackburn Firebrand or much newer designs like jet aircraft such was the pace of aircraft development in this period.