Why was the SB2C refered to as the "Beast" when the TBF was bigger?

The Grumman TBF/TBM seems to be a pretty big plane at 54 feet wingspan
and 40 foot length.
The SB2C is only 50 feet by 37. I haven't looked at all World War 2
carrier planes,
but the TBF is bigger than the F6F (and thus F4F by default) Heck,
even the F4U is
only 41 x 33.5 feet.

Was the name "Beast" in reference to horsepower or flying
characteristics?

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?
(Not counting B-25 for Mitchels Raid)

wrote:

The Grumman TBF/TBM seems to be a pretty big plane at 54 feet wingspan
and 40 foot length.
The SB2C is only 50 feet by 37. I haven't looked at all World War 2
carrier planes,
but the TBF is bigger than the F6F (and thus F4F by default) Heck,
even the F4U is
only 41 x 33.5 feet.

Was the name "Beast" in reference to horsepower or flying
characteristics?

Flying characteristics. See, for example, Eric Brown's "Duels in the Sky"
for a description of its flight characteristics. After describing them, he
summarized it thusly:

"The Helldiver was an airplane riddled with handling faults. It was a
mediocre dive-bomber and a poor deck-landing a/c with a performance that
barely bettered that of its predecessor. It was nicknamed 'The Beast', an
epithet it fully merited. In its main role as a dive-bomber it was
less-effective than the Dauntless it replaced." Another nickname for it,
based on the official designator SB2C, was "Son of a Bitch, 2nd Class". It
was not a popular a/c.

Guy

AF

wrote in message
ups.com...

The Grumman TBF/TBM seems to be a pretty big plane at 54 feet wingspan
and 40 foot length.
The SB2C is only 50 feet by 37. I haven't looked at all World War 2
carrier planes,
but the TBF is bigger than the F6F (and thus F4F by default) Heck,
even the F4U is
only 41 x 33.5 feet.

Was the name "Beast" in reference to horsepower or flying
characteristics?

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?
(Not counting B-25 for Mitchels Raid)

"Edwin Gless" wrote in message
news:WOu0f.8$C51.6@trnddc07...

AF


First flight of the Grumman Guardian was on December 19th, 1945.

In article WOu0f.8$C51.6@trnddc07, Edwin Gless wrote:

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?
(Not counting B-25 for Mitchels Raid)

De Havilland Sea Mosquito? IIRC they became operational from 'carriers
shortly before VJ day. Must have been quite a prospect for deck
handling.

--
Andy Breen ~ Speaking for myself, not the University of Wales
"your suggestion rates at four monkeys for six weeks"
(Peter D. Rieden)

wrote in message
ups.com...

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?
(Not counting B-25 for Mitchels Raid)


It was the Doolittle Raid, the B-25 was named Mitchell.

Are you looking for the largest airplane flown from a carrier during WWII,
or the largest airplane operated from a carrier built during WWII?

On 3 Oct 2005 22:06:00 -0700, wrote:


The Grumman TBF/TBM seems to be a pretty big plane at 54 feet wingspan
and 40 foot length.
The SB2C is only 50 feet by 37. I haven't looked at all World War 2
carrier planes,
but the TBF is bigger than the F6F (and thus F4F by default) Heck,
even the F4U is
only 41 x 33.5 feet.

Was the name "Beast" in reference to horsepower or flying
characteristics?

That, brings up another question: what was the largest planes used on
WW2 carriers?

The largest aircraft (weight and dimension) operationlly used from an
unmodified WWII ESSEX class might be the venerable and ubiquitous S2F
series.

They did not enter service until the early '50s, but did operate off
many ESSEX class boats (with both straigt and angle decks).

Bill Kambic

"Andrew Robert Breen" wrote in message
...

De Havilland Sea Mosquito? IIRC they became operational from 'carriers
shortly before VJ day. Must have been quite a prospect for deck
handling.


I don't think an operational Sea Mosquito was ever operated on a carrier.
De Havilland modified a Mosquito FB.VI with an arresting hook, the necessary
fuselage and landing gear beefup for carrier trials which were conducted in
March 1944. The trials were satisfactory and another FB.VI was modified
with folding wings. These two aircraft served as prototypes of the Sea
Mosquito, but the first Sea Mosquito wouldn't fly until some three months
after the war ended. Only fifty Sea Mosquitoes were built, they were in
operational service less than a year and operated from land bases.

In article . net,
Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

"Andrew Robert Breen" wrote in message
...

De Havilland Sea Mosquito? IIRC they became operational from 'carriers
shortly before VJ day. Must have been quite a prospect for deck
handling.

I don't think an operational Sea Mosquito was ever operated on a carrier.
De Havilland modified a Mosquito FB.VI with an arresting hook, the necessary
fuselage and landing gear beefup for carrier trials which were conducted in
March 1944. The trials were satisfactory and another FB.VI was modified
with folding wings. These two aircraft served as prototypes of the Sea
Mosquito, but the first Sea Mosquito wouldn't fly until some three months
after the war ended. Only fifty Sea Mosquitoes were built, they were in
operational service less than a year and operated from land bases.

You're right, of course. I ought to have checked before posting. My
bad..

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting
money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair)

Syd Bottomley did two traps and two launches in a PBJ on Shangri-La in
November 1944.

Rich