CAF Rocky Mountain Wing

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Grand Junction, CO
CAF Rocky Mountain Wing

See www.rmwcaf.org for our WWII warbird rides online Tour Schedule for a location near you. Otherwis You can also fly in these aircraft as a paying pasenger.

We operate one of the few remaining flyable TBM Avengers as part of the CAF's fleet of "flying museum" aircraft. We also fly a Piper J-3 Cub, also known in the military as a "Grasshopper". The Wing grew in membership with this addition of another flying aircraft. This type aircraft had the military designation of L-4 in the Army Air Corps and NE-1 in the Navy. The TBM Avenger and J-3 Cub are avail

able for air shows and fly-overs at local civic events. Member meetings are held the last Saturday of each month

09/10/2026

Here's a to 2017's Planes & Horsepower event at Commemorative Air Force - Utah Wing. To get a ride in 309 at this year's edition, book it at https://rmwcaf.org/warbird-rides/

09/08/2026

We're so excited to be taking the TBM to Heber City, Utah, this weekend to attend the Commemorative Air Force - Utah Wing's Planes and Horsepower event! Come get your photo taken with 309, or better yet, ride with us!

To book your flight, visit: https://rmwcaf.org/warbird-rides/

09/07/2026

Colorado was far from the coast, but the work done here reached ships, aircraft, and military units around the world during World War II.

In eight Denver fabrication plants, steelworkers made sections of ship hulls for the U.S. Navy. They worked around the clock, cutting and welding steel before sending the finished pieces to Mare Island Navy Yard in California for assembly. Many of the workers had never seen an ocean, much less the ships they were helping to build.

A different kind of work took place at Buckley and Lowry Fields. Instructors taught service members how to maintain aircraft weapons, gun sights, and explosives. The schedule at Buckley ran seven days a week in three shifts. More than 50,000 students completed its fighter-armament course in two years, while Lowry trained those assigned to bomber armament.

There is another part of Colorado’s wartime labor history that deserves careful attention.

At Amache, thousands of Japanese Americans were interned by the federal government. People held there farmed the land, treated patients in the camp hospital, and operated a silk-screen shop that produced more than 250,000 posters for the U.S. Navy. They contributed to the war effort while being denied their own civil liberties.

Labor Day gives us reason to consider all of this work, including the difficult circumstances under which some of it was performed. Colorado’s contribution to the war was made in factories, classrooms, fields, hospitals, railroad yards, and many other workplaces far removed from combat.

The CAF Rocky Mountain Wing remembers the people who did that work and the many ways their labor supported the aircraft and crews we honor today.

09/05/2026

Excuse the pretty lady as she clears her throat. 😎

📸 GJT Jet Photos

09/04/2026

On 4 September 1943, TBF Avengers of Torpedo Squadron Four (VT-4) flew in formation over USS Ranger (CV-4) and the destroyer USS Forrest (DD-461) during training off Scapa Flow, Scotland.

Ranger had arrived there on August 19 with Carrier Air Group Four to reinforce the British Home Fleet, whose carrier strength was stretched thin by refits and operations elsewhere. Her air group included Wildcats of VF-4, Dauntlesses of VB-4, and 18 Avengers of VT-4. Their job was to help protect the approaches to Britain and stand ready if German surface warships based in Norway attempted to break into the North Atlantic.

The Avengers photographed that day were still working up with the Home Fleet, but they would soon go to war in European skies. On October 4, Ranger launched Operation Leader, a surprise carrier strike against German shipping along the Norwegian coast.

Ten VT-4 Avengers, carrying bombs rather than torpedoes and escorted by Wildcats, formed the southern attack group. Flying at low altitude, they attacked German shipping around Bodø, destroying a freighter and coaster and damaging other vessels.

It was an unusual chapter in the Avenger's wartime career: an aircraft remembered primarily for its battles against the Japanese fleet flying combat missions from an American carrier alongside Britain's Home Fleet against N**i Germany.

09/03/2026

It's going to be a busy Saturday with Cub Rides here in Grand Junction and TBM rides in Denver! Keep up with all our events at https://rmwcaf.org/events/

📸 GJT Jet Photos

09/02/2026

One year to the day before the Japanese would surrender in Tokyo Bay, a 20-year-old U.S. Navy pilot barely survived his 50th combat mission... then eventually went on to become President of the United States.

On September 2, 1944, Lt. (j.g.) George H. W. Bush flew a TBM-1C Avenger as part of Torpedo Squadron 51 (VT-51) from USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) during a strike against a Japanese radio installation on Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands. His aircraft carried a three-man crew: Bush as pilot, Lt. (j.g.) William G. White as turret gunner, and Radioman Second Class John L. Delaney.

Bush's Avenger was hit by heavy antiaircraft fire while approaching the target, but despite the smoke and flames, he continued his attack and released his bombs on the radio installation. He managed to get the crippled aircraft back over the water before ordering his crew to bail out. Two parachutes were observed. Bush's opened, while the second, believed to have been Delaney's, failed to deploy properly. Neither Delaney nor White survived.

Bush landed in the sea and spent about four hours in a life raft before being rescued by the submarine USS Finback (SS-230). For pressing the attack despite the severe damage to his aircraft, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

08/31/2026

On 31 August 1944, Grumman XTBF-3 Avenger BuNo 24341 was photographed during testing with a large external drop tank. At first glance, it looks like just another Avenger. The "X" in its designation, however, tells us that this particular aircraft was helping develop what would become the most numerous version of the Avenger ever built.

By 1943, the Navy had a problem with the Avenger. It was an extraordinarily useful airplane, but it was getting heavier. The original TBF-1 used the 1,700-horsepower Wright R-2600-8, and the later TBF/TBM-1C added equipment and armament without adding horsepower. With a full combat load, particularly when operating from a carrier deck, more power would be very welcome.

Grumman and the Navy therefore began experimenting with more powerful versions of Wright's R-2600 Twin Cyclone.

One test aircraft, the XTBF-2, was fitted with the 1,900-horsepower XR-2600-10. That engine incorporated a two-stage supercharger intended to improve performance at higher altitudes. It worked, but Avengers generally didn't fight at high altitude, so the added complexity and weight offered little advantage.

The XTBF-3 used Wright's R-2600-20, also rated at about 1,900 horsepower, but without the -10's elaborate high-altitude supercharging arrangement. It provided the additional power without saddling a low- and medium-altitude attack aircraft with equipment it rarely needed.

Installing the new engine wasn't simply a matter of bolting it onto the existing airplane. The -20 required changes to the engine installation and cooling system. The resulting production aircraft could be distinguished by its revised cowling, additional cooling flaps, and altered air intakes. The developing -3 configuration also incorporated provisions that made the Avenger increasingly versatile as a strike aircraft, including underwing attachments for rockets and external fuel.

The tests were successful, but there would be an interesting twist in the designation.

By this point, Grumman was concentrating its production capacity on the F6F Hellcat, while General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Division had taken over Avenger production. So although Grumman's experimental aircraft were designated XTBF-3, there would be no large production run of TBF-3s from Grumman.

Instead, the improved airplane entered mass production at Eastern as the TBM-3.

And mass production is an understatement. More than 4,000 basic TBM-3s were built, followed by hundreds of improved TBM-3Es and numerous specialized versions for radar, reconnaissance, searchlight, and other missions. The -3 became the definitive late-war Avenger and served in the final campaigns against Japan.

08/29/2026

One week from today, folks in Denver can join us at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum Exploration of Flight at Centennial Airport for a ride in the Grumman TBM Avenger! Live a part of WWII history with a flight: https://rmwcaf.org/warbird-rides/

🎥 GJT Jet Photos

08/28/2026

Kick off your Labor Day weekend here in Grand Junction with an unforgettable ride in our Cub on September 5. Grab your seat at https://rmwcaf.org/warbird-rides/

🎥 GJT Jet Photos

Address

780 Heritage Way
Grand Junction, CO
81506

Telephone

+19702560693

Website

http://www.rockymountainwingcaf.org/

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