What is it?

[Scott Rose]

This video was posted on YouTube yesterday and a lurker sent me the link and asked for an id. It shows a radial engined plane, inverted, in 185 feet of water. At first I thought it might be a Texan but it has what appears to be a four bladed prop. It's hard to get a sense of scale. I though maybe one of the members of our community might have an idea what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tm0dwIZlEQ

[RyanShort1]

I'm going to say SB2C Helldiver, but I could be wrong...

Ryan

[MKD1966]

I'm going to say SB2C Helldiver, but I could be wrong...

Ryan

That would be my guess as well...
Mike

[calimero]

for me it's an helldiver.... see the landing gear and radial engine with four blades...

[RickH]

The wheelwell matches SB2C.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Horizontal is definately a Helldiver.

[Obergrafeter]

The Navy is waiting for someone to raise it so they can take it back.

[The Inspector]

It looks like it may have been bellied in as the gear is retracted, but then again, where did all the wing flight controls go to? I doubt any divers would take the time or waste the effort to neatly remove the dive brakes and ailerons. Would be nice to know where this old girl is sleeping it might clarify some questions.
Did it jump, or was it pushed?

[cooper9411]

Upon further review the play stands, it is a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.

[SandyBottom]

The Navy is waiting for someone to raise it so they can take it back.

Since this plane was only found in the last week, the NAVY and CG have not been notified yet.

Last edited by SandyBottom on Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[SandyBottom]

It looks like it may have been bellied in as the gear is retracted, but then again, where did all the wing flight controls go to? I doubt any divers would take the time or waste the effort to neatly remove the dive brakes and ailerons. Would be nice to know where this old girl is sleeping it might clarify some questions.
Did it jump, or was it pushed?

I can tell you the plane is in 185 ft of water which is below the normal recreational dive depth. It is a new find so no other divers have been there or know it's location so no parts have been removed. Since it is upside down there is no indication as to whether the occupants got out or not.

I will say it is off Palm Beach Co., FL and it would be hard to find if you did not know exactly where to look. It's a big ocean.

Can anyone give us an indication where to look for ID numbers on this plane. One thought is to blow the sand away from the tail and see if the number is still visible. Also considering the model and condition of the undisturbed wreckage does anyone have a rough guess as to how long it has been down there.

Additionally, note all the Lion Fish around the plane. I counted at least 12. These are one of the major destructive forces on the local reefs today. They eat all the small reef fish and devastate the reef population.

[cooper9411]

Easiest way is to blow sand away to see number, any tags probably will be gone by now. There really is no way knowing how long it has been there without gathering the tail number

[The Inspector]

That's what throws me (and I'm sure it does for others), the gear is up which might indicate an at sea accident, but the wings flight control surfaces are very neatly missing as in unbolted, not cut or torched off nor evident in the area of the hulk. The brakes appear to be still installed but the wheels and tires are gone, the wheels would dissolve in salt water but the tires should be in the wheel wells and they are missing and the tail wheel is neatly missing. A bit longer and clearer shot of the prop to see if the engine was running or stopped might help. I'm thinking it might have been a training land accident as the bomb bay doors are also not evident in the tape so it's reasonable to suspect the airplane was landed gear up by a student (speculation), was sent to R&D for repair, found to be too damaged for economical repairs,stripped of usable rotables and pushed off a barge.
The BUNO would be under the horizontal stabilizers on the fuselage sides but they were painted on over the blue paint so probably not much luck there. There might be a surviving radio call plate on the instrument panel as I believe they were pantographed on laminated plastic.

[cooper9411]

I can't see where it would pushed off of a barge, chances are the plane was ditched where its at and at some time someone else found it and removed certain pieces. But who knows, anything is possible. With the engine broke off it seems that the plane may have hit somewhat hard. I don't think the engine would be that far away if it broke off when the plane hit bottom.

[Steve Nelson]

It looks like the elevators may be folded under the horizontal. I wonder how strong the currents are..could the tires have washed away once the wheels dissolved (how well do tires hold up in tropical salt water..could they have simply decomposed?) There are some rather large and regular holes in the underside of the wing, almost like some parts were removed before it was dunked. I wonder if it could have been banged up in a training accident, stripped of a few parts, and tossed over the side.

An interesting find in any case..and definitely an SB2C.

SN