![]() Of course over time, many improvements were brought up, until the main wartime production variant, the SBD-5. The rest was pretty much the same as for the BT serie. His tail cockpit section could be retracted forward under the central fixed section, rotated down to make room and be kept below the retracted front section. It was still divided into three sections in which the pilot sat at the front, its wind-shield being retractable backwards on rails, as the gunner’s aft position. Gone was the engine ventral cowling and roadwheels carriage fairings of course and the cockpit had now straight framing. Other modifications concerned detailed modifications of the wings and tail, and structural changed, but the main fuselage was still riveted over an aluminium frame. The Dauntless indeed proved to be capable of near-impossible manoeuvres for a dive bomber and high-G forces, allowing dives from a greater altitude, at greater speed, with a delayed resource. That was an unusual and grave trade-off for carrier aircraft use, but it was traded for structural strength, which was greatly appreciated in combat. ![]() However the hydraulic system made it impossible to fold the wings. The main asset was still their perforated split flaps, also called “dive-brakes” which eliminated tail buffeting during diving manoeuvrers. The latter was improved, having increased fuel capacity and a new armament. Navy and Marine Corps placed orders for promising SBD dive bomber, which received production designated as SBD-1 and SBD-2. The latter in fact built almost all the SBDs in wartime.Ĭutaways of the Douglas SBD (Official ordnance documentation)īoth the U.S. However that facility was soon found too cramped for a mass production, so Douglas Oklahoma City plant came in line for mass production which was setup in 1940. The new model was developed at the same El Segundo plant in California, and the latter started production of the SBD-1. Despite its deficiencies, it was still in service in 1942.Įd Heinemann’s team of designers wanted to fit to the BT-2 a 1,000 hp (750 kW) Wright Cyclone. Eventually this model entered service in mid-1939, with the team in charge considered it could be improved. BT-1 modifications asked by the Navy from November 1937 made the basis for the BT-2, later standardized as the SBD. As in 1937, the Northrop Corporation was taken over by Douglas, its local projects went on under Douglas supervision (Jack Northrop meanwhile created his own company). Its airframe was a production Northrop BT-1, but it was heavily modified and redesignated by Douglas XSBD-1.Īs we saw in the preceding article, the Douglas Dauntless was basically an evolution of the 1935 Northrop BT. It was also mass produced to an extent of nearly 6,000 until 1944, still flying in the late 1950s. During all this time, the Dauntless was there, hammering the Imperial Japanese Navy until its overdue retirement in 1945. The battle of Midway was certainly not the most important in scale, nor the last, and it would take the long grinding match of Guadalcanal to really take the decision and eliminate the Kido Butai -still the best naval air force at the time- for good. ![]() Probably as much because of its historical significance and role during the crucial years of 1942-43, but because of the problems of its designated replacement. In the end, it out-shined its designated replacement, the Curtiss Helldiver. Army Air Force equally loved it, and it was also adopted as the A-24 Banshee. When introduced in 1940 it presented a set of precious qualities: It as an excellent naval scout plane, accurate dive bombing characteristics, long range, good manoeuvrability, defensive armament, and ruggedness. The Douglas Dauntless is fondly remembered until now, in particular for this battle. Among these, none but those onboard a handful of Douglas SBD Dauntless had such decisive action at Midway. And it was a complex one, with a grand Japanese strategy, a desperate US Navy hang by its fingernails to its last aircraft carriers… and hundreds of courageous pilots. No battle was so decisive in its long-term effect. It has been told and retold as such, and books tried to moderate the claim, but in the end it still stands strong. ![]() On 4 June 1942, in a remote corner of the Pacific with no land in sight for hundred of miles, an epic clash turned the tide of the pacific war. The image is clear now, since the river of history went by, nearly 80 years ago. USN Dive Bomber 1938-1944 (5,936 built) Fearless Dauntless: USN’ legendary dive bomber ![]()
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