Hi,

I know that the latter had 0.5in MGs in the wings and the former did not, but did the earlier TBF-1 have the MG bay / fairing present, but just lacked the guns, or was the wing somewhow different?

I'll get to the end of this one day!

Many thanks,

Nick

As far as I know the gun-bay doors were a new addition to the TBF-1C; by all appearances there was no intention to increase the armament with wing guns, but in action it was found that a single .30 cal mg wasn't enough firepower to keep the heads of the opposition down. As it was there was plenty of room and strength in the wings to add a couple of puny .50 cals and, apart from some local reinforcing and adding the required hydraulic and electrical systems and heating, probably any of the wing-bays could have been used.
This may be well worth looking into...

thanks Jeff - much appreciated