On Apr 5, 10:26 am, Jack Linthicum
wrote:
On Mar 30, 1:37 pm, Matt Wiser wrote:



On Mar 30, 8:13 am, "Jim H." wrote:

On Mar 27, 10:15 pm, Matt Wiser wrote:

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.

I saw a passage in Hugh Ambrose's "The Pacific" where he quoted a Navy
flier who flew both the 'Speedy B' and SB2C. After transitioning from
SBD's, he felt that the SB2C flew 'more like a brick than an airplane'
or words to that effect. Dunno which dash number he flew, but the
book mentioned a four-bladed prop.

Jim H.

That would be the -3 onward.

Pics at the citation

WWII-era plane ID’d
Pilot ditched Helldiver in Maalaea Bay in ’44

By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer
POSTED: April 4, 2010
Email: "WWII-era plane ID’d"
*To:

HARRY DONENFELD photo

The nose of a World War II-era Helldiver bomber rests on the ocean
floor off Maalaea. Divers have identified the wreck as a plane that
crashed during training maneuvers in 1944.

WAILUKU - A World War II-era wreck off South Maui first documented in
January has been identified as an SBC-2 Helldiver, ditched in Maalaea
Bay on a training flight by a Navy pilot in 1944.

Maritime archaeologist Hans Van Tilburg of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration dived to the site Saturday and confirmed
that it was the plane identified by two groups of private divers
separately investigating the wreck. He said the U.S. Navy was in the
process of making a plaque to mark the site, which is protected under
state and federal law, and that officials may also consider installing
a mooring nearby.

Van Tilburg said the aircraft was a rare find, not only because the
wreck was almost completely preserved, but also because there are very
few Helldivers left in existence.

"I'm definitely impressed," he said. "It's remarkably intact. I've
seen a number of aircraft like this, and this one is very intact. That
makes it very special."

When the wreck was first documented in January, it was initially
believed to be an SBD Dauntless dive bomber. But B&B Scuba Maui owner
Brad Varney, who first reported the site to government authorities
after learning about it from a local fisherman, said he realized after
visiting the wreck a second time that it was actually a Helldiver.

Today the plane rests on the sandy bottom of Maalaea Bay in about 50
feet of water, encrusted with coral and surrounded by schools of fish.

According to Navy crash records researched by private divers
investigating the site, the plane was making a dive-bombing practice
attack Aug. 31, 1944, when high-speed maneuvers damaged the tail fin
and jammed the rudder controls. With only limited ability to control
the aircraft, pilot William E. Dill, a Navy lieutenant, made a water
landing, surviving the crash without injuries.

Varney, a self-described "history nut," said it was exciting to pore
over 60-year-old crash reports and other documents as he and
colleagues pieced the story together.

"It was pretty cool," he said. "It wasn't that hard to figure out,
once you had all the records."

Maui-based documentary producer and photographer Harry Donenfeld, who
investigated the site with a group of divers from North Shore
Explorers, said he was impressed by how smoothly Dill put the plane
down in the water with only limited control. The only part of the
plane to break off was the tail fin, which had been damaged during the
maneuvers.

"Clearly he did an incredible landing," he said. "It's like he parked
it there."

According to Navy records researched by Donenfeld, Dill survived
another water landing in a Helldiver just three months later, during
the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where his flight group was assigned to the
USS Essex aircraft carrier. Leyte was the scene of the largest naval
battle during World War II, and it represented a push by the United
States to reclaim the Philippines from the imperial forces of Japan.

Donenfeld said he wanted to research more of Dill's story and hoped to
make contact with his family or people who knew him to help "fill in
the blanks."

"I would love to hear what the rest of his life was like," he said. "I
think it would put an excellent end to the story."

Van Tilburg said the wreck represents an important time in Hawaii's
history, when thousands of soldiers, sailors and pilots came to the
islands to train and prepare for war before being shipped on to the
brutal battles of the Pacific.

As special as this particular wreck may be, the Helldiver off Maalaea
is actually just one of 1,484 naval aircraft known to be lost in
waters off the Hawaiian Islands, most on training flights like the one
made by Lt. Dill, Van Tilburg said.

Pilots like Dill put their planes through extreme maneuvers to prepare
for battle, and those steep dives and sharp turns were too much for
some aircraft to take.

"That's what happened with this one particular crash - the rudder's
broken off completely," he said.

Pilots also practiced how to ditch a plane, and Van Tilburg said he'd
seen cases of pilots who'd survived three, four or even five water
landings over the course of the war.

The Helldiver was a heavy plane with a large payload, designed to
carry 1,000-pound bombs, with a large wing and tail so that it could
take off from the short decks of aircraft carriers.

"They called it 'the Big-Tailed Beast' or just 'the Beast,' " Van
Tilburg said.

While the dive site may see a rush of visitors now that its location
is public knowledge, anyone visiting the wreck should be aware that
the plane is still property of the U.S. Navy, and it's against the law
to touch or disturb the site.

"It's always exciting to dive an aircraft like that, because that was
such a significant period for the island," Van Tilburg said. "It's a
bit of history on the bottom of the ocean. I'm glad to see the dive
shops are taking a careful approach to accessing the site."

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content...id/530164.html

I'll confess to finding this humorous,
"just one of 1,484 naval aircraft known to be lost in
waters off the Hawaiian Islands"
(I wonder how many 'non-naval' a/c there are).
Is that really true?
The Japs didn't need an airforce, just a guy in a row boat with a pair
of binoculars counting splashes!
Ken