BoeingFan7879
Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless
In World War II, the carrier forces of the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy employed the same tactical mix of aircraft, using torpedo-carrying aircraft and bomb-carrying dive bombers. Using both at once, the defenders would have to split their fire between the high-altitude dive bombers and the low-altitude torpedo bombers—either weapon would be deadly to enemy ships. Dive bombers had to be more rugged and maneuverable than torpedo aircraft to survive the near 90° dives required for their mission.
At the beginning of World War II in 1939, the principal U.S. Navy dive bomber was the Northrop BT-1, designed by two legendary aircraft designers—Jack Northrop and Edward “Ed” Heinemann. The BT-1 was reliable but underpowered, tending to stall when approaching the carrier. Heinemann, who was now working for Douglas Aircraft, proposed a replacement, broadly similar to the BT-1 but with the more powerful Wright Cyclone.
The proposed aircraft would also be more streamlined, have a larger tail, and be equipped with perforated dive brakes that would slow the plane in a dive and give the pilot more control. Since the propeller on the Cyclone was larger, a bomb carried on the centerline hardpoint was attached to a crutch that would swing forward and release the bomb clear of the propeller arc. The Navy liked what they saw and ordered Heinemann’s design as the SBD-1 Dauntless, which first flew in May of 1940. It was nicknamed "Slow But Deadly" from its SBD initials and a rarely-used accompanying name of “Furious D.”
By the time of the Pearl Harbor attacks in December of 1941, most U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units were equipped with SBD-3 variants, which included crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, as well as .50 caliber machine guns in the wings for strafing purposes. SBDs were involved in the war from the start, and several were lost at Pearl Harbor—but as the carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet escaped the Japanese attack, it meant that the Dauntless would soon be on the offensive.
Over the next four years, the SBD became one of World War II's most influential aircraft types. Operating from carriers and land bases, the Dauntless would account for more Japanese ships sunk than any other aircraft and flew 25% of all sorties of the U.S. Navy in World War II. It would see action in nearly every major battle of the Pacific Theater, including the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf; the aircraft that had started the war in Pearl Harbor would end it by attacking the Japanese home islands.
The basic design of the SBD didn’t change during the war, although the SBD-5 supplanted the SBD-3, the latter of which only had an uprated engine. Despite being given somewhat unflattering nicknames like "Barge," "Clunk," and "Slow But Deadly," referring to its indifferent speed, the Dauntless defied all attempts to replace it; its intended replacement, the SB2C Helldiver, was never as popular or as capable. The SBD gained a reputation for being simple to fly and maintain as well as being surprisingly maneuverable: a skilled Dauntless pilot could use the type’s lack of speed to his advantage, forcing attacking Japanese fighters into overshooting.
If this happened, the Japanese pilot would find himself in front of the SBD’s wing-mounted .50 caliber machine guns, which could easily tear the lightly-built A6M Zero apart. Attacking from the rear was not an easy matter either, as the twin .30 caliber machine guns handled by the rear gunner were often loaded with incendiary bullets that could set the Japanese fighters on fire. Even if the SBD was hit, it was remarkably resilient to damage.
The end of World War II also meant the end of the Dauntless: tactics had changed, and the SBD would prove to be the last dive bomber produced for the U.S. Navy. The SBDs were withdrawn in favor of the AD-1 Skyraider. Other examples were flown by the Mexican Air Force until 1959. A total of 5,936 aircraft were built in 11 different variants; 24 currently survive today, with four of them airworthy.
Built as BuNo 28536, this SBD-5 is a genuine WWII combat veteran. It was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 25 Squadron, flying from Bougainville against isolated Japanese garrisons in the Solomon Islands and Rabaul. It completed 32 missions before being returned to the USMC and returned home in June of 1944. It was sold off at the end of World War II, bought by MGM, and turned into a wind machine with its wings removed. When MGM got rid of their wind machine aircraft, it was a windfall for many warbird collectors: by then, those were some of the last Dauntlesses left in existence.
28536 was acquired by Planes of Fame in 1968 and restored to static display condition; in 1976, it appeared as a prop in the first movie version of "Midway." By 1982, a pair of actual wings had been recovered from a wreck on Guadalcanal, and 28536 was made flyable again, taking to the air for the first time in four decades in 1987. The following year, it was used as Warren Henry's aircraft in the miniseries "War and Remembrance," flying off the USS Lexington (CVT-16), which was simulating the USS Enterprise (CV-6). She has remained at Planes of Fame ever since.
Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless
In World War II, the carrier forces of the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy employed the same tactical mix of aircraft, using torpedo-carrying aircraft and bomb-carrying dive bombers. Using both at once, the defenders would have to split their fire between the high-altitude dive bombers and the low-altitude torpedo bombers—either weapon would be deadly to enemy ships. Dive bombers had to be more rugged and maneuverable than torpedo aircraft to survive the near 90° dives required for their mission.
At the beginning of World War II in 1939, the principal U.S. Navy dive bomber was the Northrop BT-1, designed by two legendary aircraft designers—Jack Northrop and Edward “Ed” Heinemann. The BT-1 was reliable but underpowered, tending to stall when approaching the carrier. Heinemann, who was now working for Douglas Aircraft, proposed a replacement, broadly similar to the BT-1 but with the more powerful Wright Cyclone.
The proposed aircraft would also be more streamlined, have a larger tail, and be equipped with perforated dive brakes that would slow the plane in a dive and give the pilot more control. Since the propeller on the Cyclone was larger, a bomb carried on the centerline hardpoint was attached to a crutch that would swing forward and release the bomb clear of the propeller arc. The Navy liked what they saw and ordered Heinemann’s design as the SBD-1 Dauntless, which first flew in May of 1940. It was nicknamed "Slow But Deadly" from its SBD initials and a rarely-used accompanying name of “Furious D.”
By the time of the Pearl Harbor attacks in December of 1941, most U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units were equipped with SBD-3 variants, which included crew armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, as well as .50 caliber machine guns in the wings for strafing purposes. SBDs were involved in the war from the start, and several were lost at Pearl Harbor—but as the carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet escaped the Japanese attack, it meant that the Dauntless would soon be on the offensive.
Over the next four years, the SBD became one of World War II's most influential aircraft types. Operating from carriers and land bases, the Dauntless would account for more Japanese ships sunk than any other aircraft and flew 25% of all sorties of the U.S. Navy in World War II. It would see action in nearly every major battle of the Pacific Theater, including the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf; the aircraft that had started the war in Pearl Harbor would end it by attacking the Japanese home islands.
The basic design of the SBD didn’t change during the war, although the SBD-5 supplanted the SBD-3, the latter of which only had an uprated engine. Despite being given somewhat unflattering nicknames like "Barge," "Clunk," and "Slow But Deadly," referring to its indifferent speed, the Dauntless defied all attempts to replace it; its intended replacement, the SB2C Helldiver, was never as popular or as capable. The SBD gained a reputation for being simple to fly and maintain as well as being surprisingly maneuverable: a skilled Dauntless pilot could use the type’s lack of speed to his advantage, forcing attacking Japanese fighters into overshooting.
If this happened, the Japanese pilot would find himself in front of the SBD’s wing-mounted .50 caliber machine guns, which could easily tear the lightly-built A6M Zero apart. Attacking from the rear was not an easy matter either, as the twin .30 caliber machine guns handled by the rear gunner were often loaded with incendiary bullets that could set the Japanese fighters on fire. Even if the SBD was hit, it was remarkably resilient to damage.
The end of World War II also meant the end of the Dauntless: tactics had changed, and the SBD would prove to be the last dive bomber produced for the U.S. Navy. The SBDs were withdrawn in favor of the AD-1 Skyraider. Other examples were flown by the Mexican Air Force until 1959. A total of 5,936 aircraft were built in 11 different variants; 24 currently survive today, with four of them airworthy.
Built as BuNo 28536, this SBD-5 is a genuine WWII combat veteran. It was transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 25 Squadron, flying from Bougainville against isolated Japanese garrisons in the Solomon Islands and Rabaul. It completed 32 missions before being returned to the USMC and returned home in June of 1944. It was sold off at the end of World War II, bought by MGM, and turned into a wind machine with its wings removed. When MGM got rid of their wind machine aircraft, it was a windfall for many warbird collectors: by then, those were some of the last Dauntlesses left in existence.
28536 was acquired by Planes of Fame in 1968 and restored to static display condition; in 1976, it appeared as a prop in the first movie version of "Midway." By 1982, a pair of actual wings had been recovered from a wreck on Guadalcanal, and 28536 was made flyable again, taking to the air for the first time in four decades in 1987. The following year, it was used as Warren Henry's aircraft in the miniseries "War and Remembrance," flying off the USS Lexington (CVT-16), which was simulating the USS Enterprise (CV-6). She has remained at Planes of Fame ever since.