King Kong

21 June 2005, 01:19 AM

How is an "O" a Helldiver......"O's" are observation.

I was surprised to learn Curtiss Wright is still in business ....As in not part of Boeing , et al.

joegertler · 21 June 2005, 08:34 AM

The first Curtiss Helldiver (the biplane-not the much later WWII monoplane)was produced in 1928 and went through numerous changes and modifications by Curtiss-Wright until at least 1933. Started as XF8C-8, was modified to O2C (and O3C)which was later modified to F10C and MANY versions in between. There are original factory photos which show many of the experimental modifications (such as enclosed front, rear, or both, cockpits) and designations, with numerous dash numbers of the above, in the library at Seattle Museum of Flight.. One of my favorite archival folders is the Curtiss file which contains the Original art for various insignia proposed for use to designate the "Helldiver". They are colorful original art with lots of devils and bombs as the prevailing theme..

24 June 2005, 01:46 AM

Interesting ! And here I always thought the name "HellDiver" referred to the fact that it was constructed as a "dive" bomber.