On Mar 27, 7:15 pm, Matt Wiser wrote:
On Mar 27, 2:12 pm, "Ken S. Tucker" wrote:



On Mar 27, 6:15 am, Diogenes wrote:

On Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:47:36 -0700 (PDT), "Ken S. Tucker"

wrote:

This article is 'less than flattering' about the Helldiver,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB2C_Helldiver

If anyone disputes the article please advise, it's a wiki.
It surprised me so many were also built in Canada.
Ken

My father was a WWII fighter pilot but flew the Helldiver several
times on ferry missions. He said it was the worst-handling aircraft he
ever had the misfortune to fly.
Diogenes

Yeah, just looking at it superficially, aerodynamically it's a dog.
Things like a lot of curvature under the tail sucks the tail down,
then the main wing blanks the elevator, your father deserves over
time danger pay just to ferry it, "Helldiver" might be an appropriate,
name.
Ken

There was another name that pilots called the aircraft: "Son of a
Bitch, 2nd Class." The -1 version was the worst, but the -3 onward
handled very well.

Most a/c have 'idiosyncrasies' ((had to look up the spelin of that)),
if the pilot is knowledgeable of them, he'd know what 'not' to do.
It may be a case the Helldiver had a restricted flight envelope that
required more respect (less forgiving) than other aircraft,
so a properly trained pilot could handle the "beast".
I've read that about the F-104, horses and wives.
Ken