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CURTISS SB2C HELLDIVER;
Crowood Presss, H/B 1998 (ISBN 1 86126 141 1); 2nd Edition P/B due in August 2004, £14.99, ISBN 1 861 267 10 X
Another much-maligned aircraft, the Helldiver made a major contribution to the successful outcome of the Pacific War and fought hard against the Communists in Indo-China with the French Navy. Here now for the first time, is the complete history, including design, construction and the many modifications subsequently found needed during testing of this, the US Navy's major dive bomber of the 1944-48 period.
Although the "Big Tailed Beast" proved quite a handful for the Curtiss team to tame and ready for combat, when she did eventually join the fleet for the final drive on Japan the SB2C proved her worth, debuting with the attack on Rabaul, she fought at the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf, helped destroy the Yamato and Musashi, the most powerful battleships ever built, and then took the war to the Inland Sea and the Tokyo Plain to finish off the Japanese Navy. Post-war she continued to serve as the only bomber in the fleet until replaced by the Douglas Skyraider, but she also saw much more action with the French Navy at Dien Bien Phu where her accuracy was legendary.
There are those who still state that the Truman Reports shallow observations are the last word on the SB2C, and that the British rejected them outright, the author however, has found documents which prove the exact opposite, with the First Lord of the Admiralty complaining bitterly to Winston Churchill how the American Admiral King was retaining them for his own forces and refusing to equip the Fleet Air Arm despite earlier promises. Eyewitness accounts from the only Royal Navy Squadron to actually employ the Helldiver are included as are American and French Navy pilots recollections of post-war operations. Many rare photographs, table, charts and diagrams make this the definitive history of this aircraft, along with details of the few that survive today. John Matlock in the States awarded the book five stars and wrote that -"This is probably the best written, most complete single airplane book I've read."
Order Peter C Smith's Curtiss SB2C HelldiverToday!