Hello all,

A rare SB2C Helldiver that spent 64 years at the bottom of a California reservoir will get a new resting place at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. The museum owned one, but it was on loan from the Smithsonian Institute from the 1970s until about four or five years ago. Now is one of the best aviation museums on this globe, the proud owner of one “Beast” in their own collection.

The plane, a mud-covered SB2C Helldiver, crashed into Lower Otay Reservoir in Southern California after its engine failed during a training mission on May 28, 1945.
The pilot and gunner aboard ditched the aircraft and both survived. The plane was discovered last year by a fisherman who spotted it on his electronic fish finder.

More than 5,000 of the Helldivers were made during World War II, only six are known to still exist. And only one is still in airworthy condition, owned by the West Texas Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

Hope to see this Beast again soon in the National Naval Aviation Museum.
Regards, Ramon