XSB2A Buccaneer

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Brewster XSB2A Buccaneer has its maiden flight. More than a year earlier, the chronically mismanaged Brewster Aeronautical Corporation had received orders for 250 aircraft from France, 162 from the Netherlands, 243 from Australia, and 130 from the US Navy. The US Army will appropriate 192 of the purchased aircraft after Pearl Harbor and quickly declare them unsuitable - even for training. The US Navy will assume the cancelled Dutch order and pass them to the Marine Corps [a normal policy for which the Marines carried a valid grudge] which will use them for training. Australia will cancel its order and successfully defend against a Brewster lawsuit. Many Buccaneers will be received and promptly scrapped without having flown operationally. Most of the remaining aircraft will be passed to the British, who designate the SB2A the Bermuda and use them for training and target towing.

 

The XSB2A-1 prototype

 

Brewster Bermudas"