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Air Power Propellers 1/72
SBD
From mid -1940 until November 1943 the Douglas Dauntless, nicknamed the “Barge”, “Clunk” and best of all “Slow But Deadly”, was the standard U.S. Navy carrier dive-bomber. It was gradually phased out by the Curtiss Helldiver with the SBDs last major carrier action coming on June 20, 1944 against the Japanese Mobile Fleet during the “Battle of the Philippine Sea”. The aircraft first started out as the Northrop BT-1 but when Douglas took them over it immediately was re-designated the Douglas SBD Dauntless. Since Douglas Aircraft produced the SBD it and its basic role was that of Scout Bomber SBD stood for Scout Bomber Douglas. It had a designation period from 1934 - 1946. Designed with the role of Scout Bomber the plane was crewed by a pilot and an observer.
Designed as a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, various versions of the Dauntless served during the war with the US Marine Corps, Army and Navy. The Dauntless not only served well in the Pacific but is quite often overlooked for the major role it played in the Atlantic. It was used in attacks on German shipping off the coast of Norway, participated in Operation Torch in Morocco, and some even flew sub patrols. Not having the greatest of speed the SBD-3 was dubbed “Speedy 3”.
Designed as a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, various versions of the Dauntless served during the war with the US Marine Corps, Army and Navy. The US Military initially ordered 144 Douglas Dauntless SBD-1s with only 57 actually being produced; the remaining 87 were modified to SBD-2 standards. The Douglas Dauntless was the workhorse of the US Navy in the Pacific and was the only plane to fight in every major Pacific engagement. Production ended in July 1944 with a total of 5,936 had been built in all versions.
Designed as a light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, various versions of the Dauntless served during the war with the US Marine Corps, Army and Navy. The Douglas Dauntless was the workhorse of the US Navy in the Pacific. The Dauntless dive bomber was the only plane to fight in every major Pacific engagement. The SBD-3, sarcastically nicknamed “Speedy Three”, entered service in March 1941, and incorporated self-sealing and larger fuel tanks, armor protection, improved electrical system, a bullet-proof windshield, and four machine guns. Production ended in July 1944, by which time a total of 5,936 had been built in all versions.
The SBD-4 Dauntless had an adjustable Yagi radar antenna under each wing and the adjustable pitch propeller with spinner was changed to a spinner less constant speed propeller. The electrical system changed from 12 volts to 24 to handle the new electronics and electric fuel pumps. 780 SBD-4s were delivered and 170 modified as A-24 Banshees went to the Army. Most SBD-4’s were assigned to land based squadrons because the non-folding wings were a problem on carriers. The Avenger soon replaced all the SBD’s.
The SBD-5 Dauntless was the best variant built with 2,965 aircraft being built. Even with its upgrades there was one major stumbling block for this plane and that was its lack of folding wings. As the USN built more and more carriers for their offensive against Japan this problem became even larger. So after the invasion of the Marianna’s the USN SBDs were assigned to secondary land based operations where they spent the rest of WWII.
