"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:49:27 -0700, wrote:
..
It was still a crappy airplane. I've got the NACA report on its
Flying Qualities. Dismal comes pretty close to covering it.
To pull just one example - the friction in the control runs was
so high that it took 40 lbsf of pull force to move the elevators -
while standing still on the ground in no wind.
The SB2C was a prewar design. It took Curtiss nearly all the war
to beat it into marginally acceptable shape.
The Fleet Air Arm had one squadron (1820 NAS) equipped with
Helldivers. After a number of fatal accidents they realised that
the problem was the elevators disintegrating on pullout. An
investigation showed elevator problems on all aircraft.
The type was permanently grounded and the squadron disbanded.
Keith