WHEN SHEARWATER GOT THE AVENGERSI was told this story by an older Chief Petty Office when were on some night duty together
In the spring of 1950, Shearwater was a hive of activity as the Royal Canadian Navy prepared for a new era in anti-submarine warfare. The arrival of 125 Grumman TBM-3E Avengers—rebuilt and modified to hunt submarines—meant the base itself had to grow, starting with the lengthening of its runways to accommodate these heavy hitters. Among the personnel were a few American test pilots sent to put the modified "Turkeys" through their paces. The most memorable of the bunch was a boisterous, large-framed pilot known simply as "Tex."One afternoon, the mission was to find the Avenger’s maximum take-off weight. They had successfully cleared several heavy loads, but the real test came when they strapped on 2,500 pounds of ballast. As Tex taxied to the start, construction crews were still working on the runway extension, leaving a sizable mound of excavated dirt right at the very end of the tarmac.Tex opened the throttle, the engine roaring as the Avenger lumbered down the original strip. He tore through the new extension, gunning it for everything the airframe had, but the heavy plane refused to lift. Just as he reached the end of the pavement, the wheels hit that mound of construction dirt. The bump acted like a natural ski jump, launching the massive plane into the Nova Scotian sky. When Tex finally brought the bird back down and climbed out of the cockpit, the engineers asked for his professional assessment. With a grin, Tex leaned back and drawled, "I reckon I could try another couple of hundred pounds... just as long as you don't take away that pile of dirt."
I GOOGLED TEX
When Alvin "Tex" Johnston finally brought the Avenger back down and climbed out of the cockpit, he didn't reach for a flight manual—he reached for a tape measure. Looking at the TBM Avenger, he discovered the violent jolt from the dirt mound hadn’t just launched him; it had actually bent the fuselage.The impact was so severe that the tail section was visibly out of alignment with the nose. Despite the structural damage, the "ski jump" start proved that with enough raw power and a bit of a literal boost, the Avenger could indeed clear the earth at weights it was never intended to carry. Johnston, famous for his Stetson and cowboy boots, later joked that he was the only pilot to ever use a [Nova Scotian](Nova Scotian) dirt pile as an aircraft carrier catapult.Tex Johnston is perhaps most legendary for his later career as a Boeing test pilot, where he famously performed an unauthorized barrel roll of the Boeing 707 prototype (the Dash-80) over Lake Washington. When confronted by Boeing President Bill Allen about the stunt, Tex coolly replied, "I was selling airplanes".
Historical ContextThe Transition: In 1950, the RCN began replacing the Fairey Firefly with the TBM-3E Avenger to bolster its anti-submarine capabilities.Operational History: These aircraft became the backbone of squadrons VS 880 and 881, operating primarily from the aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent.Retirement: The "Guppy" variants (used for Airborne Early Warning) joined the fleet in 1952, and the entire Avenger line served faithfully until they were phased out for the CS2F Tracker in 1960. You can explore more about this era's naval aviation at the Shearwater Aviation Museum.
