The first Curtiss-built US Navy aircraft to bear the name Helldiver was the F8C/O2C biplane of the early 1930's. Second in line was the SBC Helldiver of the late 1930's, the last combat biplane to be built for the US Services. The last and most famous of the line was the SB2C Helldiver of the early 1940's. This was the final combat aeroplane built by Curtiss for the US Marine Corps/US Navy, and the most extensively built of all US Navy scout-bombers, totalling about 8000 SB2C Helldivers.
The example shown was an SB2C-1 Helldiver of VB-17 aboard USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) for strikes against Rabaul in November 1943.
Source: American Aircraft of World War II
Chancellor Press
