The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the U.S. Navy's main carrier-borne scout plane and dive bomber from mid-1940 through mid-1944. The SBD was also flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, both from land air bases and aircraft carriers. The SBD is best remembered as the bomber that delivered the fatal blows to the Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
During its combat service, the SBD was an excellent naval scout plane and arguably the world's best dive bomber. It possessed long range, good handling characteristics, maneuverability, potent bomb load capacity, great diving characteristics, defensive armament and ruggedness. In most of these characteristics, the SBD was superior to the German Junkers Ju 87, the Japanese Aichi D3A "Val", and any dive bomber possessed by the Royal Air Force or the Soviet Air Force.[citation needed] A variant was a purpose-built design for the U.S. Army Air Forces, which used the SBD without an arrestor hook as the A-24 Banshee.
The most produced version, primarily produced at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Equipped with a 1,200-hp engine and an increased ammunition supply. A total of 2,965 were built, and a few were shipped to the Royal Navy for evaluation. In addition to American service, these saw combat against the Japanese with No. 25 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force which soon replaced them with F4Us, and against the Luftwaffe with the Free French Air Force. A few were also sent to Mexico.
USAAF equivalent of the SBD-5; 615 built.
Vijf uitvoeringen mogelijk;
- SBD-5 25th RNZAF F/O L.A.Mac lellan-Symonds - F/S R.F.Bailey; Piva, April 1944.
- SBD-5 VMSB-231 - Major Elmer and M/Sgt.James Boile; Marschall Island 1944.
- Douglas A-24B-1 DT 407th Bomber Group; Aleutine Island 1943.
- SBD-5 - Flottille 4F Aeronavale Carrier "Arromanche"; Indochina 1947.
- Douglas A-24B - Group de Combat 1/18 "Vendee"; France 1944.
Afmetingen;
- Lang; 246 mm.
