Curtiss XBTC-2 3 view & info?

[frank]

I've always been fascinated by the late WWII - very early Post WWII Attack a/c prototypes. While most seem to have fairly good info about, the Convair XA-41 being somewhat elusive, I can't find much of anything in print or online about the XBTC-2 (not the XBT2C, sort of a Helldiver II). Heck even a Google on the XBTC-2 comes up empty! Does anyone have any info, other than the very basics, of the XBTC-2? Especially I'd like to find at least a 3 view drawing. I'd also like to know what the XBTC-1 was even! Thanks.

 

[Antonio]

Curtiss XBTC-2 basic info and photo at Minidocavia 10. Les Bombardiers et torpilleurs navals Américains. Alain Pelletier. Unfortunately no 3 view.
The BTC had two variants:

XBTC-1 with Wright R-3350 and XBTC-2 with R-4360

 

[Jemiba]

Had a look into the Air International article "From Torpedo and Scout Bombers to Attack
Aircraft", from October 1995 :
The XBTC-1 / 2 were designed for a request for a single seat dive/torpedo bomber in 1942.
A Wright R 3350 with a four bladed ptop should power the -1, a P&W R-4360 with 3-bladed contra
props the -2. Work on both variants was slow, to other commitments and stability problems
were encountered during wind tunnel testing. The -2 was first flown on January 20th 1945,
all work on the -1 was terminated since 1943. The crash of the first prototype in February 1947
and of the second in August 1947 ended the development.
XBTC-2 :
span 15,24m. lenght 11,76m, empty weight 6.481
kg, MTOW 9.372kg, max. speed 620 km/h at 4.940m, range with one torpedo 2.000 km.
(Photo from AI 10.95, sorry for the GA drawings, they are amongst my oldest ones)

 

[frank]

Thanks! I wish I had the indexes (indices?) for later Air Ints. I've got the mags all the way back to V1N1, but only indexes to the '80s. Thanks much for the drawings.

Had a look into the Air International article "From Torpedo and Scout Bombers to Attack
Aircraft", from October 1995 :
The XBTC-1 / 2 were designed for a request for a single seat dive/torpedo bomber in 1942.
A Wright R 3350 with a four bladed ptop should power the -1, a P&W R-4360 with 3-bladed contra
props the -2. Work on both variants was slow, to other commitments and stability problems
were encountered during wind tunnel testing. The -2 was first flown on January 20th 1945,
all work on the -1 was terminated since 1943. The crash of the first prototype in February 1947
and of the second in August 1947 ended the development.
XBTC-2 :
span 15,24m. lenght 11,76m, empty weight 6.481
kg, MTOW 9.372kg, max. speed 620 km/h at 4.940m, range with one torpedo 2.000 km.
(Photo from AI 10.95, sorry for the GA drawings, they are amongst my oldest ones)

 

[Nick Sumner]

So this was one of the competitors to the Douglas Skyraider?

 

[Jemiba]

Again from the mentioned AI :
In early 1942 it was decided to replace the two and three seat scout and torpedo bombers
with single seat bomber-torpedo and 3-seat torpedo-scout types. For the singel seater Curtiss
was asked to submit a proposal and Douglas was instructed to modify its SBD-2 into a single seater,
the BTD-1. The design of the XBT2D, the later Skyraider wasn't drawn before June 1943, when Douglas
tried desperately to get a piece of the cake, because Curtiss, Fleetwings and Martin already had
got development contracts. At this date the XBTC-2 had already lost the race, so it wasn't
a true contender to the Skyraider (Curtiss had offered the XBT2C-1 in the meantime), I think.

 

[Hood]

Some stats for the XBTC-1 from my extensive Excel database from around seven years of research.

Span/length/height/wing area 14.50/11.79/5/38.65m2
Engine: 1x 2500hp PW R-2800
Max Speed: 349mph
Range: 1500 miles
Armament: 2x 20mm 21,600lbs of ordanace could be carried
Crew: 1

 

[VictorXL188]

Doing a trawl through the old posts, I realised I had this pic of the XBTC-2 in flight.

 

[VictorXL188]

Also the following pics and GA showing the crash of the first prototype, the Duplex flap arrangement and the GA. For further pics and text may I suggest the following https://www.history.navy.mil/conten...viation/Naval Aviation News/1980/pdf/nd87.pdf

 

[riggerrob]

Holy complex flap mechanism Batman!
I am assuming that those flaps also served as dive brakes??????????

 

[CaseyKnight]

XBTC-2 :
span 15,24m. lenght 11,76m, empty weight 6.481
kg, MTOW 9.372kg, max. speed 620 km/h at 4.940m, range with one torpedo 2.000 km.
(Photo from AI 10.95, sorry for the GA drawings, they are amongst my oldest ones)

385 mph @ 16000 feet is quite good!