Helldiver, 1941

One outfit that was not surprised by the first shattering havoc wrought by German Stukas was the U. S. Navy. For Navy fliers had first conceived and developed the technique of launching a bomb from an airplane diving as close to the vertical as possible. But because U. S. citizens and their Congress believed in penny-pinching Army & Navy upkeep in peacetime, most of the Navy's dive-bombers today are obsolescent biplanes, descendants of the first Curtiss Helldiver.

Last week the Navy got a 1941 model Helldiver, a slick, fat-bodied monoplane that it designated XSB2C-I. Proudly announced by Curtiss-Wright Corp., the new plane is another of the Navy's new fighting craft sleekly built around a superpower, air-cooled engine--a 1,700-horse-power Wright Double-Row Cyclone. Curtiss-Wright announced that XSB2C-I is 100 miles an hour faster than any dive-bomber now in the air, which would put its top speed around 350 m.p.h. And it will carry twice the load of today's best. Since the Stuka Junkers 87 carries a maximum bomb load of 1,100 Ib., airmen could well assume that Helldiver, 1941 can carry better than a ton in its roomy belly. What also pleased Navy men was XSB2C-I's range (600 miles farther to sea than any other model), and fire power (double the punch of any single-engined Navy airplane now in service). Built for operation from carriers, Helldiver, 1941 is light and nifty on its feet. Curtiss-Wright said that it has a faster take-off than a pursuit plane, is unusually fast and maneuverable in flight.

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