Flightdeck Friday: The AM-1 Mauler

Today — the Martin AM-1 Mauler: In 1943 the Navy issued a requirement for a new series of carrier-based attack aircraft, looking to combine the heretofore separate missions of scout/dive bomber and torpedo bomber. The venerable Dauntless had been replaced by the problematic Curtis Helldiver and the TBF/M Avenger had assumed the torpedo and bomber…