Apparently the Japanese military had never heard of it until they captured examples early in World War II and even after interrogating captured technicians, did not recognize the “Yagi” as having a Japanese origin.īut the Navy was committed to the change production orders for aircraft and parts had been made and the Dauntless line was shut down. The design was purchased by the United States, Great Britain and Nazi Germany. This was invented by Shintaro Udo of Tokyo Imperial University in 1926. The most outboard gadget (visible in the national insignia) is a Yagi Antenna for VHF navcom. The plane also has external bomb racks and rocket stubs under the wings. The Helldiver had an enclosed bomb bay and interchangeable types of displacement gear so different types of bombs could be carried and thrown clear of the propeller in a dive. As late as The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June, 1944) two fleet carriers were still operating the Dauntless supposedly in one case the ship’s captain had refused to leave port until his bombing squadron was re-equipped with the older Dauntless. But it replaced the Dauntless only gradually. The Helldiver, after a series of over 800 modifications, entered service in November of 1943. The Avenger entered service in June of 1942. The Helldiver was actually shorter ranged than the Dauntless it was replacing. Only Grumman ever provided a turret that was not grossly over weight. Curtiss and the Navy gave up on the power turret requirement. The prototype had difficult handling characteristics, was structurally weak, and its dive flaps generated turbulence that caused buffeting and made aiming in a dive extremely difficult. The original dive flaps were solid and caused nearly unmanageable turbulence but the perforations seen here made things work like they were supposed to.Ĭurtiss struggled. The hint of red that’s visible is because the inside surfaces of the flaps are red this makes it obvious to following aircraft when the lead has opened dive flaps.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |