Meant to replace the beloved SBD Dauntless, the Helldiver arrived with such persistent handling and structural problems that crews joked its designation stood for 'Son of a Bitch, Second Class.' Once the bugs were worked out it became the Navy's principal carrier dive bomber for the last two years of the war, flying at Leyte Gulf and against the Japanese home islands.
A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver in tricolour scheme and tail markings for Bombing Squadron 80 (VB-80), which operated off the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19), in February 1945.This aircraft is the SB2C-5, BuNo 83589. It isUnknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · sourceA Royal Australian Air Force Curtiss A-25A Shrike in flight over the United States, circa in 1943. A land-based variant of the U.S. Navy SB2C-1, 150 A-25s were ordered by the RAAF to fill the dive-bomber role. Due to itsU.S. Navy · Public domain · sourceEight Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver dive bombers (Escadrille 3F) and six Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighters (Escadrille 1F) on the flight deck of the French aircraft carrier Arromanches (R95) in the Gulf of Tonkin, circa 1951. ThU.S. Navy · Public domain · source
_flight_deck_1951.jpg){kind=link}