JGC Posted April 9, 2010 #1 Posted April 9, 2010 I have an opportunity to pick up a WWII vintage SB2C Helldiver panel, and I thought I would ask the forum for opinions. This is an area of collecting that I'm not very familiar with, but these things are just to cool to pass up. Thanks for any information you might want to share. Jon
Sabrejet Posted April 9, 2010 #2 Posted April 9, 2010 Nice artefact! Co-incidentally, just an hour ago I was reading Hugh Ambrose's new book, "The Pacific", specifically the chapter where Lt Micheel was sent to collect new SB2Cs direct from the manufacturer. The pilots hated them...they called them Son of Bitch Second Class! The folding wings were very problematic. It took five groundcrewmen to bounce on them to make them lock in place...hardly inspiring confidence in the plane! Apparently, Captain Clark of the USS Yorktown was so tee'd off with them that he refused to deploy them, saying: " Kick those things off my ship. I don't want to see any of them on my ship again!" I think we can safely assume that the SB2Cs were not a success! Anyway, the TBD Avenger was on its way so the USN soon had a better plane on its carrier decks! (Not forgetting the Hellcat and Corsair too. What a trio!) Ian :thumbsup:
mes Posted April 9, 2010 #3 Posted April 9, 2010 Nice piece and extremely rare. While not a popular aircraft to fly or work on it was a success sinking more shipping tonage than other ww2 aircraft according to the sb2c homepage.The army version was the A-20. My mom worked for curtiss wright during the war on the Helldiver cockpit. Mark
HolyHappiness Posted April 9, 2010 #4 Posted April 9, 2010 Nice piece and extremely rare. While not a popular aircraft to fly or work on it was a success sinking more shipping tonage than other ww2 aircraft according to the sb2c homepage.The army version was the A-20. My mom worked for curtiss wright during the war on the Helldiver cockpit. Mark Are you sure it's the A-20? I thought the A-20 Havoc was a twin engine attack bomber.
mes Posted April 10, 2010 #5 Posted April 10, 2010 Hi You are right. The army version was the A-25 Shrike. Sorry! :crying: Mark
Cobrahistorian Posted April 10, 2010 #6 Posted April 10, 2010 The Army A-25 didn't see much service other than as a target tug. As for the Helldiver, it developed into a great airplane, but the early models were hated. SB2C-4 cured most of the issues with the Helldiver and made it an excellent combat aircraft. Jon
Guest Tropicbird Posted March 3, 2014 #7 Posted March 3, 2014 I have an opportunity to pick up a WWII vintage SB2C Helldiver panel, and I thought I would ask the forum for opinions. This is an area of collecting that I'm not very familiar with, but these things are just to cool to pass up. Thanks for any information you might want to share. Jon
Guest Tropicbird Posted March 3, 2014 #8 Posted March 3, 2014 Did you ever get this SB2C panel set? If so, would like to talk with you about possible trades for my collection ---. Tropicbird
JDK Posted March 4, 2014 #9 Posted March 4, 2014 Very nice and very valuable piece! I hope you got this one Jon as complete original instrument panels are very tough to come by! JD
Helldiver son Posted January 2, 2017 #10 Posted January 2, 2017 Nice artefact! Co-incidentally, just an hour ago I was reading Hugh Ambrose's new book, "The Pacific", specifically the chapter where Lt Micheel was sent to collect new SB2Cs direct from the manufacturer. The pilots hated them...they called them Son of Bitch Second Class! The folding wings were very problematic. It took five groundcrewmen to bounce on them to make them lock in place...hardly inspiring confidence in the plane! Apparently, Captain Clark of the USS Yorktown was so tee'd off with them that he refused to deploy them, saying: " Kick those things off my ship. I don't want to see any of them on my ship again!" I think we can safely assume that the SB2Cs were not a success! Anyway, the TBD Avenger was on its way so the USN soon had a better plane on its carrier decks! (Not forgetting the Hellcat and Corsair too. What a trio!) Ian :thumbsup: Actually they faught valiant in combat and yes a number of the crews died from tail rudder not coming out of a dive. The Marine Corps flew Helldivers and my father flew in them and they made many bomb runs working out of Engebi.
northcoastaero Posted February 28, 2017 #11 Posted February 28, 2017 Neat item! I had a USN/USMC SB2C Helldiver fuel gauge at one time. There was an anchor stamped somewhere on the back of the unit along with a data plate. The gauge that is installed in your panel appears to be the same one. I was told that my gauge was from a SB2C-3 or 4 and later Helldiver variants. Somewhere, I have a reprint of the WWII cross-reference manual for aircraft gauges and instruments that were used by the USN/USMC and USAAF. If you provide the contract and part numbers that are on the fuel gauge, I will take a look at the manual when I have time. This should help to narrow down the variant of the Helldiver that your instrument panel is from. Hope this helps.
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