Manufacturer: Beechcraft

Model: 28C

Name: Roughrider

Type: Seaplane scout bomber

Date: 1942

Status: Experimental

Country: United States of America

Service: U.S. Navy

Designation: XSBB-1

While the U.S. Army Air Force was testing the Model 28 Grizzly as the XA-38 Destroyer, Beechcraft simultaneously offered the Navy a seagoing version of it which was evaluated as the XSBB-1 Roughrider (Model 28C). However, just as was the case with the Air Force variant, the engines were badly required by the B-29 Superfortress with the goal to quickly win the war. The XSBB-1 was thus canceled after only one prototype (c/n S-3) had been completed. By the time the war ended, the Roughrider was superseded by more radical and modern designs such as the Douglas Dauntless II (later renamed Skyraider), and never got a chance to prove itself as floatplanes were no longer seen as desirable.