Curtiss CW-77

Curtiss CW-77

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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."


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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."