Curtiss SB2C Helldiver (oz14595)

 

Do you have a photo you'd like to submit for this page? Then email admin@outerzone.co.uk

User comments

Pretty balsa filigree work, Neal :)
Miguel - 02/06/2023
Another great rendition, Neal. My father in-law served aboard CV-39 (USS Lake Champlain) and used to relate stories of Helldivers and Avengers being launched from and retrieved on her flight deck. I think he would have approved of your tribute.
Jan Novick - 03/06/2023
Thanks, Miguel and Jan. Well, I'd like to say she was a real sweetheart, but...truth would be that the SB2C was more of a "love-hate relationship" for those who operated her. There were those who swore by her, and then there were those who, maybe with good reason, were a bit afraid of her. The Helldiver was NOT an aircraft for the novice. It wasn't until early 1945 with the SB2C-5 variant that things finally arrived where they should be, from a technical point of view. Incidentally, I've used a 3-bladed prop on a 1945 variant...which actually was using a 4-bladed unit by that time. Reason: My original intention was to use a scheme as seen on the XSB2C-1 (yellow wings/aluminum overall) in 1939. The more I constructed...the more I researched...I decided to use that dark blue tissue (1945). Dark tissues are generally heavier (more mils) and correspondingly more difficult to apply...at least for me.
Lastly...the love affair with the dive bomber concept was ultimately rendered obsolete by the advent of the 5-inch rocket...as effective with less delivery risk. Still, the SB2C Helldiver soldiered on through the mid-1950's with the French in Indochina.
Neal - 03/06/2023
"The Helldiver was NOT an aircraft for the novice." I suppose everyone in this distinguished company will be aware of the SB2C type spoof designation: Son of a Buick Second Class!
Miguel - 03/06/2023
I'm sure you'll be hearing from General Motors lawyers soon enough.
RC Yeager - 04/06/2023
Nahhh... I've seen it in print in, shall we say, a more graphic manner? In more scholarly places I hasten to add.
Arno - 04/06/2023
Now wouldn't that be an interesting, if not useless and meaningless, libel case...more like no one would want to be associated with such memories. Besides, me thinks General Motors might have greater challenges, such as designing viable electric vehicles (talk about Fulton's Folly). Imagine searching for a charging station on the battlefield...much less having one installed in a world-wide grid!
Poor Curtiss...there are those who contend that the SB2C was its end...a matter of pounding a technological concept into a "rat-hole." By the time it had arrived...it was already gone.
Neal - 04/06/2023
In more scholarly places? I hope MIT ticks that particular box!
https://web.mit.edu/btyung/www/nickname.html, or http://www.b737.org.uk/aircraftnicknames.htm
Enjoy!
Miguel - 04/06/2023
Add a comment