The legacy of the Helldiver is a mixed one; while it destroyed more shipping than any other U.S. Navy aircraft, it was also, for most of its service life, inferior to the airplane it was replacing, the SBD Dauntless. Design on the Helldiver began in 1940 but due to crashes and stability problems the plane did not see combat until November 1943. Known as “The Big Tailed Beast” and “Son of a Bitch Second Class”, the SB2C was generally disliked by its crews. While it could carry a heavier bomb load faster and farther than the Dauntless, its flight characteristics were generally worse, especially with regards to buffeting problems. It didn’t help either that, during development, weight increased from modifications but engine power didn’t. However, none of this stopped the Navy from trying to fix it and over 7,000 Helldivers were eventually built.
Some 1,100 SB2C-3’s were built by Curtis, with additional numbers built in Canada. It had a crew of two: pilot and radio operator (who also fired the tail gun). The Helldiver uses 64 gallons of aviation gas at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Medium Fighter-Bomber chassis +4, Medium
Fighter-Bomber wings with folding option +3, three retractable wheels +1.
Powertrain: 1417-kW HP aerial gasoline engines with 1417-kW
prop and 320-gallon self-sealing fuel tanks [Wings]; 8,000-kW batteries
Occupancy: 2 CS Cargo: 16.8 Body,
1 Wing
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Wings | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Pilot | 0/+30 | 0/0 | 0/+30 | 0/0 | 0/+15 |
| Gunner | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/+30 | 0/0 | 0/+15 |
Weaponry
2*20mm Long Aircraft AC /M-4 [Wings:F] (400 rounds each)
2*Aircraft LMG/M-2 [Body:B] (1000 rounds each)
1000-lb bomb [Body:U]
2*500-lb bombs [Wings:U]
Equipment
Body: Medium range radio transmitter and receiver, navigation
instruments, autopilot, inflatable liferaft, bomb bay (1,000 lb capacity).
Wings: 500-lb hardpoint each
Statistics
| Size: 37'x50'x13' | Payload: 3.5 tons | Lwt: 7.45 tons |
| Volume: 224 | Maint.: 33 hours | Price: $35,800 |
HT: 8
HP: 210 [body], 330 [each wing], 20 [each wheel]
| aSpeed: 295 | aAccel: 11 | aDecel: 20 | aMR: 5 | aSR: 1 |
Design Notes
Design top speed was 301 mph; the historical value has been substituted,
as well as the actual wing surface area (422 square feet). The design purchased
810 rounds of 20mm ammunition but the historical value was used.
Another 130 gallons of fuel could be carried in a demountable tank in the
bomb bay.
Due to stability and buffeting problems that plagued the Helldiver, aMR and aSR were reduced from their design values and aDecel was based on the new aMR.
Low speed characteristics were quite poor; GMs should feel free to impose a –1 or more on Piloting rolls when operating near stall speed. SB2C-1’s landing on a carrier require a HT+3 roll to avoid landing gear failure. There is also a –2 on the Piloting roll to land, as the plane’s bounce made it difficult for the arrestor hook to catch a line.
Variants
The first 200 SB2C-1’s had two .50-cal M-2 machine guns (Long Aircraft
HMG) with 800 rounds each and a pair of .50-cal M-2’s for the rear gunner.
The remainder of the 978 –1’s were armed as the –3. The engine was a smaller
1,268-kW powerplant reducing top speed to 273 mph.
The SB2C-4 had provisions for a single 500-lb bomb or four 5” rockets under each wing. The –4E (“Electronic”) had provision for a radar set, carried on the right wing hardpoint.
The SB2C-5 (Feb 1945) had increased fuel capacity with 100-gallon drop tanks.
The Army procured some 900 SB2C-1 variants (without arrestor hook and folding wings) and designated it the A-25A Shrike. However, the Army changed its mind and decided it didn’t need dive bombers. Some 410 were taken by the Marines (and named SB2C-1A) and 10 were tested and rejected by the Australians.
The British received 26 Canadian-built Helldivers but never used them operationally.