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The experimental contract for the Helldiver was awarded by the US Navy on 15 May 1939 and the prototype XSB2C-1 first flew on 18 December 1940, although contemporary reports suggest the first flight was made in the previous month. From that date the Helldiver two-seat carrier-borne dive bomber was the subject of constant development. Armour, self-sealing tanks, protected fuel and oil lines, increased armament, a lengthened fuselage and a completely new tail unit with greatly enlarged fixed and moveable surfaces were incorporated in the production SB2C-1, the first of which flew in June 1942. From that date until November 1943 (when the Helldiver first went into action in the Pacific theatre of war) more than 880 design changes were made, some of which were part of the Army-Navy standardisation programme to permit the production of an Army version of the Helldiver as the A-25, which later served with the Marine Corps.
As noted above, the first production version was the SB2G-1 (A-25). This version, 978 of which were built by Curtiss, was powered by a 1,267kW Wright R-2600-8 engine driving a three-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller. Armament consisted of four 12.7mm machine-guns in the wings and one on a hydraulic mounting in the rear cockpit. Following the experimental XSB2C-2 long-range reconnaissance-bomber seaplane version, delivered in 1943, 1,112 examples of the SB2C-3 were produced with 1,416kW R-2600-20 engines and Curtiss Electric four-bladed propellers. Armament changed to two 20mm cannon. The SB2C-4 and SB2C-5, more than 3,000 of which were built, were developments of the SB2C-3 with perforated wing flaps and under-wing bomb racks under the outer wings for eight 115mm rockets.
To supplement Curtiss production, Helldiver contracts were also placed with the Canadian Car and Foundry Company and Fairchild Aircraft, which were terminated in 1945. These were produced as SBW and SBF respectively.
| CREW | 2 |
| ENGINE | 1 x Wright R-2600-20, 1285kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 6385-7550 kg | 14077 - 16645 lb |
| Empty weight | 4800 kg | 10582 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 15.2 m | 49 ft 10 in |
| Length | 10.8 m | 35 ft 5 in |
| Height | 5.0 m | 16 ft 5 in |
| Wing area | 39.2 m2 | 421.94 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 474 km/h | 295 mph |
| Cruise speed | 360 km/h | 224 mph |
| Ceiling | 8400 m | 27550 ft |
| Range w/max.fuel | 1860 km | 1156 miles |
| Range w/max.payload | 1120 km | 696 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 2 x 20mm machine-guns, 1 x 12.7mm machine-guns, 900kg of bombs, 8 missiles |
| Peter Fergus-Moore, fergfamily(@)shaw.ca, 09.08.2009 Canadian Car and Foundry (Cancar)built the Helldiver here in Fort William (Thunder Bay) Ontario, after having built Hawker Hurricanes for the RAF. Not only was the Helldiver a poor, badly designed aircraft, but Cancar's staff were driven crazy by the constant stream of requests for changes and modifications due to the US armed forces' standardization program referred to above. Apparently, the SB-2 was referred to as "Son of a Bitch, Second Class", by US aircrew. | | leo rudnicki, leo_rudnicki(@)hotmail.com, 08.04.2009 I believe the most significant contribution of the Beast was the advancement of the multi-role combat aircraft. The use of Avengers as glide bombers and the shackles added to F6F5 fighters and Corsairs meant that fewer SB2C's were carried onboard and when no one was looking, you could roll them off the side without anyone missing them. Everyone liked the SBD, no one liked the Beast. | | Cortland E. Mehl, airtransporter(@)yahoo.com, 18.06.2008 My uncle Ens Edmund F. Kulka is lost at sea in the Caribean Sea in a SB2C, a plane nicknamed by his fellow pilots as "The Beast" My uncle was with VB76 Squadron during the shakedown cruise of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1946. This was a Coral Sea class carrier that was to be named the Coral Sea but was named the FDR to honor the late president after his death. I understand the SB2C had some significant problems with the tail assemblies and vertical stabilizers and there were problems with the Canadian manufactured aircraft. After the war, many of the SB2C's were used by the greek Air Force and the French in Indo China. I believe several were also sold or given to Latin American countries. There is one on static display at the Pensacola NAS aviation museum. | | Charles Bush, charles243(@)centurytel.net, 04.06.2008 My Father flew the SB2-C in the Pacific. He was shot out of the sky twice over Atsugi Bay Japan and was rescued both times,out at sea; once by a destroyer and once by a submarine. He also lost some of his best friends in that airplane. I've heard they had some problems but dad never got specific.
His name was William W. Bush Jr. 1940 Annapolis. | | Mick Dunne, hotideas(@)hotmail.com, 29.12.2007 What a horrible heap of old rubbish this thing was! I salute the poor bastards that had to fly them...and their achievements! |
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COMPANY
PROFILE
FACTS AND FIGURES© Reliability was poor and handling
was tricky, leading to the
nicknames 'Beast' and 'Son of a
Bitch Second Class' (from SB2C). © The fuselage was lengthened and
the tail enlarged following stability
problems with the prototype. © Most Helldivers had two 20mm cannon in the wings and
twin 7.62mm guns in the real
cockpit. An internal bay could carry
907kg of bombs or other stores. © From the SB2C-4 model onwards
both the upper and lower wing
dive-brakes were perforated. This
reduced buffering during the dive.
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