The Helldiver’s poor manufacturing was a superficial problem relative to its fundamentally flawed design. The aircraft was simply built wrong. The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was built to replace the ...

A nearly intact Curtiss SB2C-1C Helldiver rests just outside Maalaea Harbor. The plane crash-landed after a training exercise gone wrong in 1944, though both the pilot and radio operator emerged ...

Before the end of the war, the SBD Dauntless would be phased out in favor of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. But, replaced or not, the SBD Dauntless’ contributions to America’s ultimate victory ...