Warpaint Magazine Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Special Issue

This latest Warpaint Special features over 100 pages packed with historical photographs and information and is a welcome addition to the series. Colour profiles and scale plans by Sam Pearson complete this tour de force by author Kev Darling.
The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was one of those aircraft that was either loved or hated, there was no middle ground. Forged in a hurry for the forthcoming war the Helldiver was designed in a hurry and built by mostly underskilled personnel while being bombarded by the customer with their extra changes and demands. Despite this pressure Curtiss managed to produce a prototype that flew, even though it would soon reveal strength and build problems. The first production model, the Dash-1, was beset by many problems that saw one carrier captain demanding that the Helldivers be removed and the offloaded Douglas Dauntless dive-bombers be reinstated. From the SB2C-3 onwards, after undergoing a full modification programme, a competent combat aircraft would emerge.

Used throughout 1944-45 the Helldiver squadrons, now operating from the fast carriers, took the war to the Japanese all the way to Tokyo. Post 1945 the Helldiver would stay on active service until replaced by the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider. Overseas usage would see later build models being operated by France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Thailand. The Royal Navy also formed a single squadron that would never deploy on active service. Undergoing flight testing in Britain, Eric 'Winkle' Brown would declare that the Helldiver was the worst aircraft he had ever flown.