The Dauntless was the United States Navy foremost dive bomber during the early part of the war in the Pacific. It played a major role in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway during 1942. Over 5,000 examples of
the Douglas SBD Dauntless were built.
The roots of the Dauntless lay in another aircraft, the Northrop BT-1, which entered service with the United States Navy during Spring 1938. A production version of the BT-1 was to be used as a
prototype for a new dive bomber for naval use, which was designated XBT-2. However, by the time this new aircraft entered production, Northrop had been brought by the Douglas company and the
designation of the aircraft was changed to SBD.
The SBD had a crew of two, pilot and gunner, and featured retractable undercarriage, dive brakes or 'Swiss cheese' flaps, featuring 3-inch holes punched into them and watertight compartments,
with the 1st May 1940 seeing the prototype fly for the first time. Prior to this, on the 8th April 1939, the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps had placed an order for 144 aircraft, fifty seven
would be SBD-1s and the other eighty seven, SBD-2s.
The SBD-1 was powered by the 1,000-hp Wright R-1820-32 Cyclone engine, its top speed was 253 mph, range 1,345 miles with a service ceiling of 27,100 ft. Armament was three machine-guns, two forward-firing 0.50-in machine-guns
and one rear-firing 0.30-in machine-gun, bomb load was 1,200lb. The United States Marine Corps received their first SBD-1s towards the end of 1940, when USMC Squadron VMB-2 took delivery of the first examples.
Powered by the 1,000-hp Wright R-1820-32 Cyclone engine, the SBD-2 had a top speed of 252 mph, a range of 1,225 miles and a service ceiling of 27,200 ft. Armament consisted of three machine-guns, two 0.50-in machine-guns firing
forward and one rear-firing 0.30-in machine-gun, with a bomb load of 1,200lb. The aircraft were delivered to the United States Navy towards the end of 1941 to VB-6 aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6), and VB-2, based on the
USS Lexington (CV-2). Eighteen SBD-2s from the USS Enterprise (CV-6) arrived at Pearl Harbor while it was being attacked on the 7th December 1941, and lost seven aircraft.
The next variant, the SBD-3, featured self-sealing fuel tanks, a bulletproof windscreen and armour plating, with March 1941 seeing the type enter service. Powered by the 1,000-hp Wright R-1820-52 Cyclone engine, its top
speed was 250 mph, range 1,345 miles with a service ceiling of 27,100 ft. Armament was four machine-guns, two forward-firing 0.50-in machine-guns and two rear-firing 0.30-in machine-guns, bomb load was 1,200lb.
A modified SBD-3 would be supplied to the United States Army during 1941. known as the A-24 Banshee, they had the arrestor hook removed.
The SBD-4 followed, powered by the 1,000-hp Wright R-1820-52 Cyclone engine, it had a top speed of 250 mph, a range of 950 miles and a service ceiling of 26,000 ft. Armament consisted of four machine-guns, two 0.50-in
machine-guns firing forward and two rear-firing 0.30-in machine-guns, with a bomb load of 2,250lb.
The next variant was the SBD-5, and this featured illuminated gun sights and was powered by the 1,200-hp Wright R-1820-60 Cyclone engine. Its top speed was 252 mph, range 1,115 miles with a service ceiling of 25,530 ft.
Armament was four machine-guns, two forward-firing 0.50-in machine-guns and two rear-firing 0.30-in machine-guns. Bomb load was 2,250lb. January 1945 saw a small number of SBD-5s delivered to the Fleet Air Arm, known as
Dauntless DB Mk Is, they would not enter operational service.
The SBD-6, which was the final production variant, was powered by the 1,350-hp Wright R-1820-66 Cyclone engine. This gave the aircraft a top speed of 262 mph, a range of 773 miles and a service ceiling of 25,200 ft.
Armament consisted of four machine-guns, two 0.50-in machine-guns firing forward and two rear-firing 0-.30-in machine-guns. Bomb load was 2,250lb.
Perhaps the SBD's finest hour was during the Battle of Midway (4th June 1942 - 7th June 1942), when dive bombing attacks either fatally damaged or sank the four Japanese aircraft carriers involved in the battle.
In total, 5,936 SBDs were built.
