Curtiss was forced to replace the Columbus plant manager after drawing the wrath of the Truman Committee, and the company eventually had to open a post-production line to Were so problematic that Curtiss was forced to retain themįor further development, with the first production SB2C-1 suffering The weight crept up as the design was refined, leaving The first prototype flew on 16ĭecember 1940, but its stability proved to be poor in spite of theĭesigners' efforts, and the prototype crashed two months later when itsĮngine failed. Increased by 10 percent and aerodynamically-activated leading edge Was much too high for a carrier aircraft, and the wing area had to be Wind tunnel tests in late 1940 showed that the stall speed Between them, the two services asked for 880 changes to the Unfortunately, the aircraftĪircraft for the Army as well as Navy, which proved too much role for Ordered 370 SB2C-1s on, before the prototype was evenĬompleted, and Curtiss opened a new plant at Columbus, Ohio, to takeĪdvantage of a large local labor pool. Urgent was the perceived need that the Navy Than Curtiss and the SB2A Buccaneer never went into production. Insurance, but Brewster encountered even more development difficulties At the same time, a prototype was ordered for a The preliminary design was accepted by the Navy and a prototype The requirementsįor an internal bomb bay and large fuel capacity were more easily met. Had caused further long delays in the design process. This requirement was eventually abandoned, but not before it

Giving the aircraft its distinctive large tail control surfaces.Īnother demanding requirement was that the aircraft have a power gun To overcome the instability inherent in a short-coupled airframe by Unusually short.) The design team under Raymond C. Short-coupled design (one in which the distance from wings to tail was Designed to a 1938 Navy specification,Īirframe into a footprint small enough for two aircraft to fit onto theĤ0' by 48' (12.2m by 14.6m) carrier elevators planned for the Essex class. Unlike the Dauntless, the Helldiver had largeįolding wings and an internal bomb bay, and it used a much more The SB2C-3E and -4E carried APS-4 airborne radar.ĭive bomber, which was considered obsolescent at the start of The SB2C-5 increased the fuel capacity to 355 gallons (1344 liters). The SB2C-4 could carry an additional 1000 The dive brakes were perforated late in the The SB2C-3 upgraded the engine to a 1900 hpįour-bladed propeller. Wing 0.50 machine guns and one flexible rear The SB2C-1 was armed with 4 fixed wing 0.50 machine Built for the Air Force, but most wereġ194 SBF or SBW by Fairchild and CCF ( Canada) Carrier DiveĢ95 mph (475 km/h) at 16,700 feet (5100 meters)ġ 1600lb (726kg) AP Mark 1 armor-piercing bombġ 130 gallon (492 liter) jettisonable auxiliary fuel tankģ20 gallons internal (two 100 gallon wing tanks and a 120 gallon fuselage tank)ġ210 liters internal ( two 379 liter wing tanks and a 454 liter fuselage tank)Ħ649 from at Curtiss-Wright Corporation andĩ00 A-25/SB2C-1A from late 1943.

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: SB2C Helldiver, U.S.

Sbc2 helldiver