Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Dive Bomber
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In 1937, Douglas Aircraft Company purchased Northrop Aviation’s El Segundo, California, factory and took over the BT program. With minor modifications by Douglas, the BT-2 Model 8 became the SBD-1 Dauntless in 1939, and deliveries of the aircraft began in June 1940. The basic airframe appearance of the Dauntless was established with the first model and would vary only slightly throughout production.
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was one of the truly great aircraft of World War II. It played a major role throughout the Pacific. On June 4, 1942, during the Battle of Midway, SBDs destroyed four Japanese carriers, dramatically altering the course of the war.
Unquestionably the most successful dive-bomber ever to see frontline service with any air arm, the Douglas SBD Dauntless was the scourge of the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the crucial years of the Pacific War. The revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design of the SBD exhibited airframe strength that made it an ideal dive-bomber, its broad wing, with horizontal centre section and sharply tapered outer panels with dihedral, boasting perforated split flaps that doubled as dive brakes during the steep bombing attacks .For viewing Rare Historical pictures and dauntless air crew in action and their stories plus learn about various models of this aircraft Please download the ebook below.
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