INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
water toward Midway Atoll
So far, everything is going according to plan.For over two hours, wave after wave of American aircraft hurl themselves at the fleet
Brave, but hopeless against the enemy fighters
Victory feels close.Above, Zero fighters twist through the clouds, shredding every formation of American torpedo planes
breaking out of the blinding sun, dozens of aircraft with screaming engines fall from the sky in near-vertical dives.The Japanese carriers
Their decks are packed with fueled and armed planes
II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944
The SBD was also flown by the United States Marine Corps, both from land air bases and aircraft carriers.The SBD is best remembered as the
It possessed long range, good handling characteristics, maneuverability, potent bomb load, great diving characteristics from the perforated
By the middle months of 1943 the bomber was considered by pilots to be too vulnerable for service owing to its armament and slow speed, and
was relegated to non-combat roles
Banshee.
Design and Development
Design work on the Northrop BT-1 began in 1935
In 1937, the Northrop Corporation was taken over by Douglas, and the active Northrop projects continued under Douglas Aircraft
Corporation.[3] The Northrop BT-2 was developed from the BT-1 by modifications ordered in November 1937, and provided the basis of the SBD,
which first entered service in mid-1939
Ed Heinemann led a team of designers who considered a development with a 1,000 hp (750 kW) Wright Cyclone engine.The plane was developed at
One year earlier, both the United States Navy and Marine Corps had placed orders for the new dive bomber, designated the SBD-1 and SBD-2
(the latter had increased fuel capacity and different armament)
The SBD-1 went to the Marine Corps in late 1940, and the SBD-2 to the Navy in early 1941, replacing the SBU Corsair and Curtiss SBC
buffeting during diving maneuvers
Unusual for carrier aircraft, folding wings were not chosen for the design, opting instead for structural strength.A United States Navy SBD
releasing a bomb with extended dive brakes on the trailing edgesThe next version was the SBD-3, which began manufacture in early 1941
It had increased armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, and four machine guns
The SBD-4 provided a 12-volt (up from 6-volt) electrical system, and a few were converted into SBD-4P reconnaissance aircraft.The next (and
most produced) version, the SBD-5, was produced mostly in the Douglas plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma
This version was equipped with a 1,200 hp (890 kW) engine and an increased ammunition supply
Over 2,400 of these were built
A few of them were shipped to the Royal Navy for evaluation
In addition to American service, the SBD saw combat against the Japanese Army and Navy with No
Corsairs.Some SBDs were also flown by the Free French Air Force against the German Heer and Luftwaffe
SBDs were also sold to Mexico.The final version, the SBD-6, had more improvements, but its production ended during the summer of 1944.A
Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless on display at the Air Zoo at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Portage, MichiganThe United States
Army Air Forces had its own version of the SBD, called the A-24 Banshee
It lacked the tail hook used for carrier landings, and a pneumatic tire replaced the solid tail wheel
First assigned to the 27th Bombardment Group (Light) at Hunter Field, Georgia, A-24s flew in the Louisiana maneuvers of September 1941
There were three versions of the Banshee (A-24, A-24A and A-24B) flown by the army to a very minor degree in the early stages of the war
The USAAF used 948 of the 5,937 Dauntlesses built.Top Photo: Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless from the Planes of Fame Air Museum Chino CA.Sources:
