Fagen Fighters’ Helldiver Soars Again!

By Richard Mallory Allnutt 

We are thrilled to report that the world now has a second airworthy Helldiver! Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver BuNo.83393 / N48HD, under long-term rebuild with the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum, made its first post-restoration flight from their facility in Granite Falls, Minnesota today. Well respected CAF Helldiver pilot, Ed Vesely, was at the controls for the initial test hop, which went smoothly according to those present. This aircraft is one of just eight complete Helldivers extant anywhere in the world and will prove an exciting addition to the air show scene, presenting a fine testament to the naval aviators who once wielded “The Beast” in combat.

BuNo.83393’s History:

SB2C-5 BuNo.83393 rolled off the Curtiss production line during the Spring of 1945, with the Navy accepting the airframe on May 3rd and taking delivery on the following day at Naval Air Field Newport, Rhode Island. At Newport, the Helldiver began taking part in aerial torpedo testing, soon moving to Dahgren, Virginia to continue these evaluations. It was while based at Dahlgren that the aircraft was involved in a fatal accident on July 24th, 1945.

Dahlgren Disaster:

The summer heat was building sharply during the mid-morning of July 24, 1945 as Lt. (j.g.) Mark Rancourt Gilbert began taxiing Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver Bu.83393 towards runway 36 at the Naval Proving Grounds in Dahlgren, Virginia. Gilbert, with RM3 (Radioman third class) Edward J. Pierce in the rear crew compartment, was due to conduct aerial torpedo tests on the range nearby. The U.S. Navy’s aerial torpedoes were painfully unreliable at the beginning of WWII, so the service had worked hard to improve them throughout the conflict. Much of the test work took place with the Navy’s primary torpedo manufacturing and test facility on Goat Island, Rhode Island, but there was also a torpedo factory in Alexandria, Virginia, a stone’s throw across the Potomac river from Washington, DC, and just fifty miles or so from Dahlgren. 

Torpedo testing may not have been what Gilbert had in mind when he left the University of Rhode Island to join the US Navy in May, 1942, but he had already proved himself in combat by the time he got to Dahlgren. The native of Providence, Rhode Island and son of French Canadian immigrants earned the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in the Pacific Theatre. Gilbert’s selection as a test pilot was a mark of respect, both for his courage and for his flying skills.

As Lt. Gilbert arrived at runway 36 and after receiving permission for take-off, he pushed the throttle smoothly forward and the Helldiver began roaring down the runway. However, just as the aircraft became airborne, something went terribly wrong. The engine screamed as Gilbert applied emergency power, but still the aircraft struggled to gain altitude. The pilot, desperately trying to maintain control of the Beast, yelled for his radioman to request an emergency landing. Unbeknownst to him, he had actually broadcast this openly, rather than via the intercom; the tower operator heard him clearly over the radio, followed by Pierce’s own transmission. Gilbert quickly gained permission to land, but sadly it wasn’t to be.

In his post-accident interview, the tower operator noted that he saw the Helldiver in a steep left bank at about 300’ altitude, Gilbert apparently attempting a go around. It then leveled off a little before assuming a stall attitude and disappearing from view into trees. The dive-bomber crashed less than a minute after take-off into a thickly wooded area about eight miles from the runway, but still within the confines of the base. It struck the ground at a downward angle of about 45º, left wing low, and then flipped onto its back, breaking into four main pieces. Lt. Gilbert was killed instantly but somehow, Edward Pierce was thrown clear as the aircraft broke up, suffering only a badly broken right leg, along with cuts and bruises. His seemingly miraculous survival was probably due to the aircraft’s low forward velocity during the crash – plus the fact that no fire ensued.

The Navy’s official crash investigation revealed that the Helldiver’s throttle had been cut off prior to impact; a fact corroborated by several witnesses local to the crash site who said that the engine stopped immediately before the aircraft struck the ground. Lt. Gilbert was also found to have released his safety harness before impact. No explanation for either action was determined by the investigation board, nor was there an official reason given for the accident itself.

The Navy recovered the aircraft’s Curtiss-Wright R-2600-20 Twin Cyclone engine for analysis, but determined it played no role in the accident. Some have theorized that the aircraft’s torpedo may have partially broken free during the take-off roll. The aircraft’s bomb bay was too small for its doors to close completely over this particular weapon, and an examination of the crash site photographs reveals that the bomb bay doors were open and pealed back from the front, rather than crushed, as they should have been had the aircraft landed on them.

This is consistent with the theory, as a displaced torpedo would have bulged the bomb bay doors, which wind resistance could then have pealed back – leading to a rapid increase in drag preventing the aircraft from gaining altitude at sufficient speed. This could account for Gilbert’s sudden application of emergency power during takeoff. Had this occurred under normal flight conditions, the doors would simply have torn away from their mountings (along with the torpedo) – as they were designed to do.

But the lower airspeed during the takeoff roll may not have been sufficient to rip the doors away completely – the added drag then making it incredibly difficult to gain altitude. Had the pilot continued flying straight ahead, he might just have been able to gain sufficient speed and altitude to allow for a safe landing. But by placing the aircraft in a turn – hoping to make it back to base – Gilbert’s Helldiver lost critical airspeed and lift, which precipitated a stall and – moments later – a crash.

The chances of survival during rapid loss of airspeed soon after takeoff plummet dramatically if a pilot attempts to return to base, but the initial instinct to save the airplane is a hard one to fight. Indeed this is borne out in the investigation board’s recommendations, which stressed greater emphasis on the correct forced landing procedures for situations immediately after take-off. Despite the plausible theory regarding the accident’s cause, it is unlikely we will ever know for sure.

The Recovery:

The Helldiver wreck lay virtually undisturbed at its crash site for the next forty-eight years. This was partly because it lay within the bounds of an active military base. The U.S. Navy still uses Dahlgren to test weapons, particularly naval artillery, and it remains a secure facility. One of the civilian employees at the base came across the Helldiver wreck sometime in 1993, and proposed saving it. The Navy examined the aircraft remains, and considered them to be no more than battered components, and not worth the effort of recovery. However, the base commander was keen to get the site cleared, but did not want to simply scrap the airframe. A deal was therefore struck with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) to remove the wreck. Ownership of the remains was transferred to NASM for the completion of their own Helldiver, BuNo.83479, then on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation (NMNA) in Pensacola, Florida.

Under NASM’s auspices, the wreck was recovered over several months during 1993. NASM had a few parts removed from the Helldiver that they wished to keep, and then traded the rest to Kevin Smith in 1994 for additional Helldiver items and some rare internal components for their Ford 5-AT Tri-motor and Martin B-26B Marauder (41-31773). 

Kevin Smith, a former naval aviator and US Airways pilot, has been heavily involved in vintage aviation since he was a boy, and amassed a significant collection of aeronautical artifacts. He started a project to restore a Douglas Dauntless in 1991 when he acquired the fuselage of RA-24B, 42-54593, formerly used as a wind machine by MGM. Of course, Kevin jumped at the chance when the opportunity arose to acquire Bu.83393 from NASM. 

The Helldiver’s structure was substantially complete, with the area forward of the cockpit being the only significant section missing; the Navy had removed most of that area for analysis shortly after the crash. Some of the cowlings were left behind though, and later recovered with the rest of the wreck.

The airframe was obviously in need of a total rebuild, of course. While the upper decking on the center section was badly crushed, the main spar and stub wings had survived the impact relatively intact; the main landing gear still tucked safely into their undercarriage bays. The outer wing panels separated from the airframe several feet outside of the wing folds. The starboard wing received the brunt of the trauma during the crash, but the rare wing folding mechanisms and joint structure seem to have survived well. The port outer wing was severed cleanly about three feet from the wing fold, with most of the rib structures and forgings seemingly undamaged, but who’s to say what an X-ray examination may have revealed. 

The tail section separated at the rear gunner’s position and was remarkably well preserved. The only significant damage to the empennage outside of the fuselage break was to the last two feet of port-side elevator, but the control surfaces remained straight.

Kevin Smith collected a large cache of used and new old stock (NOS) components for restoring the Helldiver in the decade following his acquisition of the wreck. Some of these components include the very complete New Old Stock upper decking for the fuselage, starting from the windscreen, and ending in the rear gunner’s canopy. A set of NOS elevators was also acquired, as well as a replacement engine and propeller. Some of the rarest items which Kevin was able to acquire included the rear gunner’s swivel seat assembly and armament mounting. At the time of the aircraft’s sale to Fagen Fighters in 2006, Smith had already had several parts of the aircraft restored, including the vertical stabilizer, which AeroTrader restored to magnificent condition at their facility in Chino, California.

Fagen Fighters Steps into the Frame:

In 2005, Kevin Smith came to the reluctant realization that he didn’t have the resources to restore the Helldiver and the Dauntless as well. He sold the project to Fagen Fighters in 2006 to focus on the Dauntless, although that too moved on in 2022, with the Military Aviation Museum acquiring it as a source of parts for their SBD-5, currently under restoration to flying condition with Pioneer Aero in Ardmore, New Zealand.

The Helldiver is a massive aircraft, and has required commensurate effort to restore it back to flying condition. Fagen Fighters conducted a good deal of the work at their own facility in Granite Falls, Minnesota, while contracting out other aspects, such as the wing center section, which Tri-State Aviation performed significant work on. We have been following Fagen Fighters’ efforts with the Helldiver for some time now, and the quality of their workmanship is clearly of the very highest order.

Author’s Note: I have a personal connection to this aircraft, as in many ways it introduced me  both directly and indirectly to a whole host of experiences and friendships in the vintage aviation world too numerous to name. In 1996 I saw an intriguing want-ad looking for Helldiver parts which Kevin Smith had placed on barnstormers.com. At the time, I thought I knew where all of the extant Helldivers resided, and Fredericksburg, Virginia wasn’t on that list. As it happened, I had just acquired a NOS Helldiver ammunition can on eBay of all places, so I called Kevin up to see if he was interested, since I lived just an hour’s drive from Fredericksburg back then. Meeting Kevin and his then-wife Roma for the first time was a real joy, and we’ve remained good friends ever since. They had a remarkable collection, including several WWII aircraft gun turrets, cockpit sections and one of the earliest known Huey’s in existence. I often teamed up on their projects over the next eight years or so, until Kevin moved to Arizona. In a remarkable quirk of fate, however, their Dauntless project now belongs to the Military Aviation Museum where I currently work on their curatorial staff. But I digress… it is truly magnificent to see this Helldiver in the air again. I knew it would happen eventually, and I am so glad that after Kevin rescued the airframe from likely oblivion, that it found its way to a collection which had the resources to take its rebuild to the finish line. Long may it fly!

Richard Mallory Allnutt (Chief Editor)

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Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.

After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.

Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.

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