[2004.171.

001] Aircraft - 'SB2A Aircraft, Serial Number 462-860'

SB2A Aircraft, Serial Number 462-860

Accession Number 2004.171.001

Accession Date 30/08/2004
Date Created 1940s
Object Desciption The museum's example of the SB2A Buccaneer is actually an Army Air Forces version of the aircraft, which designated the A-34, that was
delivered during World War II and operated from William Northern Field near Tullahoma, Tennessee. Either after a mishap or because of the fact
that the A-34 was not the most popular or capable of trainers, the aircraft was at some point in its service pushed off the runway at that airfield
into a nearby swamp. There, during the mid-1970s, collector Dave Talluchet found it and another A-34, bullet holes visible in the metal not the
result of combat as is normally the case on aircraft wrecks, but rather from the rifles of hunters, who after the war found the swamp to be a
fruitful spot for game.

The next stop for the aircraft was Naval Air Development Center (NADC) Warminster, Pennsylvania, which in part occupied the former buildings
of the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation where they were built. In an agreement with the collector, about sixty former Brewster employees,
some of whom continued to work at NADC Warminster, undertook restoration of one of the Buccaneers, beginning their work in 1978. Nearly
two decades later, their ranks had dwindled to a handful, and with NADC Warminster a casualty of the Base Realignment and Closure
Committee, the volunteers were in jeopardy of losing the countless hours they invested in the Brewster. It was still owned by the collector and
he was preparing to remove it.

At the request of the volunteer group and with the concurrence of the collector, the museum agreed to bring the assorted components of the
aircraft to Pensacola and start the long and involved process to acquire Navy ownership of the bird. In 2004, the Bermuda became museum
property and restoration work began again in earnest. Thanks to the dedication of the volunteers and employees assigned to the project and to
a generous contribution of a Foundation supporter, Mr. John Schumann of Vero Beach, Florida., where a significant number of Buccaneers
operated as advanced trainers during World War II, the complex restoration was completed in 2007 and the aircraft was placed on indoor static
display.
Object Notes Traded from Serial NAVICP 03-001
Place of Origin Warminster, Pennsylvania
Notes When Brewster Aeronautical Corporation began work on the prototype for the SB2A Buccaneer in April 1939, World War II had yet to begin and
the company's future looked bright with the first production F2A-1 Buffaloes, procured by the Navy as its first monoplane fighter, scheduled to
roll out in June. Having designed the all-metal XSBA-1 monoplane, an aircraft technologically ahead of its time, fiver years earlier, Brewster
engineers thought they had a winner in the SB2A and looked with great anticipation to rolling out the first prototype. When that day came, world
events triggered by the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, translated into great interest in the new Brewster dive-bomber. In
addition to the U.S. Navy, which in August 1940 decided to order 511 examples, the governments of Great Britain and the Netherlands, engaged
in a war in Europe and wary of a Japanese offensive against their Pacific colonies, also placed orders for the aircraft.
From drawing board to assembly line, the prototype XSB2A-1 took shape as a two-seat monoplane that resembled its XSBA predecessor, a
notable element of its silhouette being an oversized spinner that capped the propeller powered by a 1,700 horsepower Wright R-2800-8 Cyclone
engine. Six feet longer and nearly three feet higher than the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers serving in the fleet, the aircraft boasted an
impressive array of armament, this attribute explaining the desire of Brewster to nickname the aircraft Blaster instead of the moniker Buccaneer
chosen by the Navy and Bermuda favored by the British. An internal bomb bay could carry up to 1,000 lb. of ordnance, with wing racks allowing
for an additional 250 lb. on each wing. Machine guns included wing and cowl mounted .30 calibers, and the initial design called for a rear turret
mounting one or two .50-calibers. The decision to remove the latter reflected an enduring problem that plagued the XSB2A as it had the XSBA-
weight and its corresponding affects on performance and aerodynamics. The XSB2A-1 came in at 10,409 lb. fully loaded with a top speed of 313
M.P.H, figures that by the SB2A-4 had changed to 12,674 lb. and 288 M.P.H. respectively.

Flight testing revealed that problems continued in flight. In the hands of Brewster and Navy test pilots, the aircraft showed signs of buffeting
with its dive flaps extended and company chief test pilot Woodward Burke commented that aileron problems encountered in one test dive caused
the aircraft to go out of control, with part of the canopy breaking away from the fuselage and the wing structure buckling. Initial British
experience with the Brewster, reflected in a postwar report by the British Air Commission, called the entire procurement program of the
Bermudas "a major problem." In fact, of the over 200 Bermudas that arrived in the British Isles, most never flew, their fates on the ground in
technical schools to instruct maintenance crews or on the scrap heap. Those aircraft destined for the Dutch never made it, the fall of the Dutch
East Indies to the Japanese in 1942 leaving them without a home. This left the U.S. Navy, which relegated most of their allotment of production
SB2As to training duties, the comments made following the tests of the SB2A-3, fitted with folding wings and arresting gear for carrier
operations, reflecting this unintended fate of an aircraft that in 1939 was envisioned to carry the war to the enemy from flight deck. "This
airplane is considered impractical for carrier operations by service pilots."

The only service the SB2A would see with frontline naval aviation squadrons during World War II would be with Marine Night Fighting Squadrons
(VMF(N)) 531 and 532, which shortly after their establishment sought any aircraft that they could find for training flights at Marine Corps Air
Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, N.C. Awaiting the delivery of twin-engine PV-1 Venturas that they ultimately took into combat, the leatherneck
pilots took the Buccaneers into the skies over the Mid-Atlantic, only to find that oversensitive brakes could cause bad endings to training flights
when aircraft occasionally flipped over on their noses. Troubles with the aircraft�s Curtiss propellers, which could be electrically adjusted in
flight, eventually caused the aircraft to be grounded.

In the meantime, prospective dive bomber pilots were experienced their own share of difficulties during operational training at Naval Air Station
(NAS) Vero Beach, Fla. Set amidst an idyllic town along the Atlantic coast of the Sunshine State, the air scented with the sweet smells of oranges
and grapefruit hanging bountifully from miles of groves that surrounded the airfield, NAS Vero Beach received its first SB2As in early 1943. With
Navy and Marine Corps dive-bombers having carried the war to the enemy at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal, the Navy needed a capable
platform to indoctrinate the next wave of dive-bomber pilots for the Central Pacific offensives to come. Unfortunately, the SB2As did not satisfy
this requirement, officials at Vero Beach soon having to take the step of placing limitations on the aircraft when pilots felt vibrations and sections
of the aircraft buckled during high-velocity dive bombing runs. By June 1943, only months after their introduction into the training curriculum, 41
out of the 55 SB2As on hand at NAS Vero Beach were grounded.

The utter failure of an aircraft that for Brewster had held such promise symbolized its demise. In April 1942, under the authority of an Executive
Order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the government had seized temporary control of the company because of its lack of production
in a time when the Allies were clamoring for combat aircraft to fight a two-front war. A chance to redeem itself with a contract to build versions
of the F4U Corsair (designated F3As) under license was hampered by labor unrest and other difficulties that eventually resulted in the closure of
Brewster Aeronautical Corporation on 1 July 1944.
 All told, 771 Buccaneers and Bermudas were manufactured, but none saw combat during World War II.

Manufacturer: Brewster Aeronautical Corporation

Length: 39 ft., 2 in.
Height: 15 ft., 5 in.
Wingspan: 47 ft.
Empty Weight: 9,924 pounds
Gross Weight: 14,289 pounds
Power Plant: One 1,700 hp Wright R-2600-8 engines
Max Speed: 274 mph at 12,000 ft.
Service Ceiling: 24,900 ft.
Range: 1,675 miles
Armament: Two fixed forward-firing .50 caliber guns in fuselage, two .30 cal guns in wings and two in dorsal mounts; 1,000 pound internal
bomb load
Crew: Pilot and observer/gunner
Multimedia
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