The National Air & Space Museum is hard at work preparing their rare Curtiss SB2C Helldiver for display. The restoration team re-attached the freshly painted wings this past Sunday in the Mary Baker Engen Restoration hangar at NASM’s Udvar-Hazy Center. The vertical stabilizer was due to arrive at the museum on Wednesday for reassembly. The team hope to roll her into position in the main display hall before the weekend, although it may take a couple more days as there are always small details which take longer than expected.
Helldiver Regains Her Wings
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.






