Helldiver Unveiled at the National Air and Space Museum

[Steve Nelson]

And it is the only one on permanent display anywhere in the US!

Is there any timeline for when Pensacola will start work on theirs? I saw the pieces sitting out on the ramp last summer. At the very least, they need to get it indoors and out of the harsh sun and salt air.

SN

[gary1954]

The ship looks magnificent Great Yob!
My hope is that if Flak Bait goes inside as well, that she will go in un-restored just like she was when she was retired.

[SaxMan]

It almost looks like they "weathered" the paint. When I saw it in the restoration hangar before the hangar was opened to the public, the glossy sea blue was VERY glossy.

[6trn4brn]

Thank you Richard W for unlocking the pix so everybody can see them. I did not realize that there were no pix of the Helldiver up here yet...had I known, I would have tried to take some better ones. Did not know that this was the only one on permanent display either. Ya'll rock! Thanks

[tom d. friedman]

has anyone ever noticed that ww2 curtiss aircraft products all retain the same tail shape configuration?? p- 40 warhawk, c-46 commando, sb2c helldiver. any significance to this, or did they just cop the attitude "if it works don't mess with it"?? although the seagull was used in ww2 it pre-dated the design of the p-40.

[k5083]

It was in the nature of trade dress. Vertical tail shapes have always been somewhat arbitrary, at least up to the era of transonic jets, so it was an identification/marketing feature, a "signature look," for many manufacturers. Thus you see the same basic tail shape in the products of Hawker and its predecessor Sopwith from the 1 1/2 Strutter through the Typhoon; de Havilland's ellipses from the DH-4 to the Vampire; etc.

Not sure what the earliest appearance of this particular tail was, but it was on the SBC biplane (1935) and the Falcon monoplanes. If you use your imagination you can trace the basic shape (straight leading edge, parabolic rudder) back to the Jenny.

August