12/19/2003. Remarks by Charles
Mac Kay: "This is a nice shot of the French CW-77 before
delivery. CW-77 was the export designation for the SBC-4 Helldiver.
Fifty were ordered by the French Navy and on June 8, 1940 they were
diverted from the US Navy to the USAAC for delivery to France.
US Navy BuNo. were 1307/1311, 1474/1477, 1479/1487, 1489/1496,
1500, 1503, 1810/1811, 1813/1815, 1820/1822, 1825/1828 and
1832/1841.
They were loaded on the French carrier Berne and shipped to
Martinique, there they were off loaded and as France fell in late
June 1940 they languished away till the wars end.
However, five of these aircraft reached the UK and were designated
Cleveland Mk.I and received s/ns AS467/AS471. One (AS467) was tested by
the Royal Navy at the Aircraft and Armament Experimental
Establishment at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, in August 1940. AS467,
AS469 and AS470 were marked M for instructional airframes and
became 2668M, 2669m and 2785M. They were flown right into 1944 and
were seen regularly flying in the south of England."