Hobby Master Archive

VMSB-241 “Sons of Satan”. Off the shores of this tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, a naval battle took place that has to rank at the top as one of the most analyzed battles of modern time, air, sea or land. The “Battle of Midway” on June 4, 1942. By the time of the battle off Midway, at least two VMSB squadrons were brought together on March 1 to form VMSB-241, the “Sons of Satan”. The squadron was equipped with two types of airplanes, the SBD and the SB2U and each type operationally worked as separate squadrons. Most of the pilots and gunners had adequate to good training; none had any combat experience. Lack of fuel meant greatly reduced training flights and much needed experience. The 241 received their SBDs on May 26 which meant they unknowingly only had 9 days to train on an aircraft that was all new to them. This left very little time to practise the art of “Helldiving” which was the term given to the method of attack. This is where the SBDs replacement would get it’s name, SB2C “Helldiver”. The Marines VMSB-241’s SBD-2s were hand me downs from VB-2 as the Navy VB/VS squadrons received the SBD-3 aircraft in mid-1941. By June 4 when the battle started, all USN and USMC aircraft involved had been painted and received the marking scheme that would be used into 1943. Up until about a month prior to the battle the aircraft wore the national insignia that had a red circle in the center of it and the red and white stripes on the rudders were also removed. Though theDauntless was slow in speed and lightly armed, SBD pilots and gunners shot down 138 enemy aircraft in air to air combat.