Combat performance depends partly on aircrew confidence and institutional self-image, not only on published specifications. Pilots who had accumulated wartime experience expected a clear evolution from the Dauntless, but the SB2C felt rooted in old scout-dive-bomber ideas. The Navy's normal phased-replacement system kept older types in secondary service so trained personnel and force capacity were not lost in an abrupt conversion. That system was sensible for force generation, yet it could not solve the deeper problem that war had changed the mission faster than the Helldiver program had changed its assumptions.
Notable Point · 46:44-50:35
Why experienced aircrews saw an obsolete idea
Combat-experienced crews judged the SB2C against the modern aircraft they expected, while its mission still reflected prewar scout-dive-bomber assumptions.