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The Brewster SB2A Buccaneer (Brewster Model 340), also known as the Brewster Bermuda, is a single-engined mid-wing monoplane scout bomber aircraft built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation for the United States Navy between 1942 and 1944. It was also supplied to the Royal Air Force (RAF), United States Army Air Forces, and United States Marine Corps. The Buccaneer was overweight and lacked maneuverability, and has been described as a "classic failure". While designed as a scout bomber, none saw combat, although a number found use in noncombat roles.

The USAAF received 108 Bermudas, which it called the A-34. The type was considered unsuitable even for training purposes and was used only as "hacks". As the aircraft broke down they were either abandoned or used as targets for artillery training. The A-34s were withdrawn from service in 1944.

Deliveries to the US Navy took place during 1943 and 1944. The service received 80 SB2A-2s and 60 SB2A-3s; the latter variant was fitted with folding wings and an arrester hook to enable them to operate from aircraft carriers. The US Navy also regarded the SB2A as unsuitable for combat and training purposes, and mainly used its aircraft as target tugs and for ground maintenance training. These aircraft were instead assigned by the US Navy to the United States Marine Corps, and delivered with Dutch markings in the cockpits. As the SB2A-4, the Marines used some of these aircraft to establish their first night fighter squadron VMF(N)-531.

Due to the poor performance of the SB2A, many of the completed aircraft were scrapped by the RAF and US Navy without having been flown operationally.

Historians regard the SB2A as a failure. David Donald has labelled it "one of the worst aircraft of World War II". Similarly, the Pima Air & Space Museum website states that the type was "perhaps the least successful Allied aircraft of World War II".

;Bermuda Mk.1

:Model 340-14 production for United Kingdom. Powered gun mounting replaced by flexible gun mounting. Only 468 of 750 ordered were delivered.

  • s/n unknown – in storage at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

Specifications (SB2A-4)

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See also

References

Notes

References

  • Andrade, John M. . U.S Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicester : Midland Counties Publications, First edition 1979. .
  • Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London: Putnam, Second edition 1976. .