- Yes
- No
Hello! and welcome to my suggestion for the Curtiss SBW-1B, A canadian built version of the the SB2C-1C for the Royal navy, dubbed, the Helldiver Mk.I. I feel this could come to game as a low tier Premium or event aircraft for the UK, given its brief, and rather unfortunate time in service with the British.
History
Spoiler
As the Helldiver began to enter service, it was found that there were some issues with production, namely a severe lack of production lines in the US to handle the demand of aircraft, this lead to the Licence production of these aircraft by other companies, and in the Helldivers case, two canadian companies were chosen. The largest, and most important to this suggestion, producer of the Helldivers in Canada was Canadian Car and Foundry Company Ltd, which built almost 900 Helldivers under the SBW, the first production run, the SBW-1, was a direct copy of the Curtiss built SB2C-1C Helldiver (currently in game already) and this design grabbed the attention of the British.
Not long after production began, the british expressed their interest in the Helldiver being built by canada, and quickly placed an order for 450 aircraft to equip its growing carrier fleet, with the British build variant being given the designation SBW-1B, or as the British called it Helldiver Mk.I. The first aircraft were delivered to the Royal Navy’s newly formed 1820 Naval Air Squadron in April 1944, originally being outfitted with 9 of the aircraft the squadrons role was to evaluate the Helldivers suitability for Fleet Air Arm service. However, the Helldiver proved to be a tricky aircraft to handle, with the first tragedy coming in June when the 20th Helldiver, JW120 crashed at Wellesley, Massachusetts, killing both the Pilot and observer. however this initially did not deter the British
The Squadron was set to transfer to Britain in July that year, and began their passage to Liverpool as part of convoy CU 31 onboard HMS Arbiter, however this would not be before a further 3 accidents occured to JW108, 116 and 122 during carrier landing trials onboard USS Charger, 2 of which resulted in the complete loss of the aircraft in the sea. Despite these further issues, the remaining 21 Helldivers that had been delivered during this time arrive in liverpool in late July, and after a short period of leave, began training at HMS Ringtail the following month.
After a brief stint of training at HMS Ringtail, and two more accidents, one fatal resulting in the loss of JW121 to the sea during a dive bombing practice run gone wrong, the squadron moved to HMS Merlin in October, where they were to prepare for deck landing trials onboard HMS Speaker on the 29th, this was completed by the 30th and the Helldivers made one last stop at HMS Merlin before transferring north to Orkney, which upon arrival, the next incident occurred upon JW125 being crashed into the Wildcat JV734 upon arrival at the airfield. The aircraft stayed up north for around a month, returning down south to Merlin in early december before continuing back to HMS Ringtail for one last stint of training, in which the final incident happened when JW107 suffered an engine failure and performed a rough landing at the airfield on the 4th of december.
By mid december only 25 of the original 450 aircraft ordered had been supplied of which, over the course of 6 months, had suffered 8 crashes during testing, 2 of them fatal resulting in the loss of both crews. These incidents sealed the downfall for the Helldivers service, of which its capabilities were judged inadequate given its track record and instead on the 16th of December, 1820 NAS was disbanded and the remainder of the order was cancelled, with the remaining Helldivers being siphoned off to various secondary squadrons, mainly to be used as ground trainers and other non flying roles.
Images (I apologise, there appears to only be two three images of the Helldiver in existence)
Spoiler
A Helldiver Mk.I in flight over the British countryside
A Helldiver Mk.I parked at a stand at HMS Merlin
The colour scheme for the Helldivers in British service
Canadian built aircraft on the production line of Canadian Car and Foundry Company Ltd
Specs/Armament
Spoiler
General Characteristics/Performance
- Crew: 2
- Length: 36.8 ft
- Wingspan: 49.7 ft (22.5 ft Folded)
- Height: 10.8 ft
- Wing Area: 422 Sq ft
- Weights: 12,500 lbs (empty), 14850 lbs (maximum)
- Engine: 1 x Cyclone R-2600-8 engine (1,450 hp standard, 1700 hp max)
- Max Speed: 272 mph
- Time to 5000 ft: 3 mins 52 s
Service Ceiling: 25,600 ft
Armament
-
Guns
- 2 x 20mm AN/M2 Cannons (200 rds/gun)
- 2 x 7.62mm (.30) Machine guns in a defensive turret (500 rds/gun)
-
Bombs (max bomb load: 1000 lbs)
- 2 x 500 lbs bombs
OR - 1 x 1000 lbs bomb
- 2 x 500 lbs bombs
Place in game
Spoiler
I feel this could be a good option for a low tier Premium aircraft for the UK tree, its brief service with the UK, alongside its presence in other trees makes it rather unsuitable for a Tech Tree aircraft (an area that can be filled by other aircraft, such as the later Kittyhawks, or Vengeances (self plug not intended :P). However, due to my Personal connection to one of the bases they were tested from in the UK, I feel this would be a valuable addition for the tree, possibly as a low rank Battle pass reward.
Sources
Spoiler
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver - Wikipedia
Canadian Warplanes 3: Curtiss SB2C Helldivers made in Canada
Curtiss SBC Helldiver | Classic Warbirds
Curtiss Helldiver DB.Mk.I | Aircraft of World War II - WW2Aircraft.net Forums
Donninristle
1820 Naval Air Squadron
SUPP 9-2 USA Types A-K, Page 89, Helldiver (SB2C-1) Aircraft data sheet
