12/31/2008. Remarks by
Johan Visschedijk: "During 1940, the USN Bureau of Aeronautics studied Marine expeditionary seaplane and the XSB2C-1 (BuNo. 1758) was selected to be converted with floats after initial trials. The aircraft flew for the first time on December 18, 1940, crashing within eight weeks on February 9, 1941. As a replacement the fifth production SB2C-1 (BuNo. 00005) was selected, however, the first SB2C-1 (BuNo. 00001) did only fly on June 30, 1942.
(
Johan Visschedijk Collection)
BuNo. 00005 was flown from the Curtiss plant at Columbus, Ohio, to
NAS Anacostia, Washington D.C., where it was fitted with two enormous Edo floats (about the same length as the airframe) and it was flown in late September, with rough water tests successfully concluded on March 9, 1943. The aircraft went through a number of armament trials, but by 1944 the interest in combat floatplanes had faded and the program was cancelled on April 14, 1944, including production orders for 287 SB2C-2s."
