Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Details

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San Francisco (GaeaTimes.com) Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was one of the bomber planes of US navy used during World War II and one of the pieces of history has just been found in Oregon. The plane was missing for the last 60 years.

It is reported that on March 18 loggers discovered sections of the plane missing since 1945. The discovery is important in the context that only one Helldiver exists in the world today. The more intriguing part of the news is that remains of at least two servicemen could be with that plane. The families are not yet notified. Allegedly, police discovered parts include the wing, tail section and the landing gear.

Here are some more details of the aircraft. The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Here replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless in the US Navy Service. The carrier based diver bomber was much faster than the SBD despite its size. However, productions problems persisted throughout its combat service and pilots soon changed their minds about the capability and usefulness of the Helldiver.

The U.S. Navy did not accept the SB2C Helldiver until 880 modifications were made to the airplane. The Curtis Helldiver’s maiden combat occurred in 11 November 1943 with squadron VB-17 on the USS Bunker Hill. They attacked the Japanese held port of Rabaul on the island of New Britain, north of Papua New Guniea.

The Helldiver was not liked by many aircrews because it was underpowered, had shorter range and was equipped with poor electrical system. The Curtis Electric propeller and complex hydraulic system had frequent maintenance problems.