- France: During 1939 the Aeronavale (French Naval Aviation) ordered ninety Curtiss Model 77 (the export variant of the SBC-4) with some minor modifications such as speedometers set in kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour. The .50 in machine guns they were armed with, were replaced with Darne 7.7 mm machine guns and additional space was provided for the French Type B parachute. Manufacturing of these aircraft advanced very slowly as the Curtiss Hawk 75 and Hawk 81 (Curtiss P-36 and P-40 respectively) fighter had priority at the Curtiss Factory. Near the end of May 1940, when the French situation was precarious, the US Government, on French Government request, authorized the release of fifty SBC-4 from the US Naval Reserve, with the condition that the US Navy would replace them with the ones of the original contract, when they were available.
Orders were set in June 1940 to remove the fifty SBC-4 from the various Navy Air Reserve Bases (NARB) around the USA and ferry them to Buffalo, New York, with ten additional spare Wright R-1820-34 engines, propellers and other spare parts.
Once at Curtiss' plant, they were all prepared to be shipped to France, after having done all the aforementioned changes. All distinguishing marks that would imply the USA were erased, French camouflage schemes were applied and the rudders were painted with the tri-colored French flag. The Curtiss employees worked long and hard to get the job done as quickly as possible.
Gradually all fifty of them reached Buffalo and pilots were given instructions on how to proceed. For the ferry flight they would be payed $250.00 ($4.687.72 adjusted for inflation) plus rail ticket back from Canada to Buffalo and would be considered as Curtiss employees. Like the SBC-4 they would have to remove anything from their personal effects that could identify them as US Navy's pilots.
The aircraft were flown in sections of three, from Buffalo to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada, with various stopovers. However, the plan didn't go quite well, as in the border, they were not allowed to fly over Canadian territory and, instead, they were towed by automobiles and tractors, in order to keep American neutrality, to a nearby field, where they had to take off again and flight to Halifax, where the French aircraft carrier Bearn awaited to transport the aircraft to France. The loading operation was completed on 16th June 1940 and the Bearn set to sea on that same date escorted by the Jeanne D'Arc light cruiser. Both ships were on route to France, but, when they were at sea, France surrendered, so both ships turned to the French West Indies island of Martinique, in the Caribbean, where the aircraft were unloaded.
The Helldivers remained there, in the open rotting away, due to diplomatic wrangling. - United Kingdom: Five SBC-4 that couldn't be loaded into the Bearn, were left at Royal Canadian Air Force Base of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where the Royal Air Force acquired them in August 1940. They were designated as "Cleveland Mk.I" and were shipped to England, on board HMS Furious (47). They were assembled at RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire, and delivered to RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire. They were eventually assigned to the No.24 (Communications) Squadron at RAF Hendon, Middlesex, where they evaluated and considered as not fit for operational duty, so they were used ground trainers.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_SBC_Helldiver
2. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 151 - SBC Helldiver in Action
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