Douglas SBD Dauntless

• 1. Introduction

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  The Douglas SBD Dauntless sank more enemy shipping in the Pacific than any other Allied bomber flown during the Second World War. Pilot Stanley "Swede" Vejtasa once found himself alone against three Japanese A6M2 Zero fighters. He shot down two of them, then severed the wing of the third with a head-on pass of his own wingtip. That single dogfight captures a puzzle this documentary sets out to answer. How did a plane that started as a 1935 design study become the aircraft that broke the back of Japan's carrier fleet? Why did the U.S. Army's own version of the same airframe fail where the Navy's succeeded? And what happened to the thousands of Dauntlesses built during the war, leaving so few behind for museums to preserve today?

• 2. Building the Dauntless

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  Navy and Marine Corps crews nicknamed the plane "Slow But Deadly," playing off its SBD initials, during 1942. Long range, forgiving handling, strong maneuverability, and a hefty bomb load made it lethal despite its modest speed. Perforated dive brakes let it dive steeply without losing control. The Navy nominally replaced the SBD with the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver in 1944. Combat experience showed the older plane still performed better. The two types flew side by side for the rest of the war.

  Design work on a Northrop aircraft called the BT-1 started in 1935. Douglas Aircraft took over the Northrop Corporation in 1937, and Northrop's active projects continued under the Douglas name. Engineers modified the BT-1 into the BT-2 that November, and this redesign became the direct basis for the SBD. The SBD entered service in mid-1939.

  Ed Heinemann led the team of designers who considered fitting the plane with a 1,000 horsepower Wright Cyclone engine. Douglas built the SBD at its plant in El Segundo, California, with a second facility in Oklahoma City handling nearly all the rest of production.

  A year before the SBD entered fleet service, the Navy and Marine Corps had already placed orders for two versions, designated SBD-1 and SBD-2. The Marine Corps received its SBD-1s in late 1940, and the Navy took delivery of the SBD-2 in early 1941. That delivery retired the older SBU Corsair and Curtiss SBC Helldiver biplanes from carrier decks. Perforated split flaps, nicknamed dive brakes, had already been built into the BT-1 to stop the tail from buffeting during steep dives. Designers chose not to give the SBD folding wings, unusual for a carrier aircraft, opting for structural strength instead.

  The SBD-3 began production in early 1941 with thicker armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, and four machine guns. Its successor, the SBD-4, added a 12-volt electrical system in place of the earlier 6-volt setup, and a handful were converted into SBD-4P reconnaissance aircraft.

  The SBD-5 became the most-produced version, built mostly at Douglas's plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a 1,200 horsepower engine and a larger ammunition supply. More than 2,400 of them rolled off the line, and a few went to the Royal Navy for evaluation. Squadron No. 25 of the Royal New Zealand Air Force flew the SBD-5 in combat against Japan before switching to the larger Vought F4U Corsair. The Free French Air Force flew SBDs against German ground and air forces, and Mexico bought a number of the aircraft as well. The final version, the SBD-6, added further improvements before its production line closed in the summer of 1944.

• 3. Combat Debut at Coral Sea

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  Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 232 lost most of its SBDs on the ground at Ewa Mooring Mast Field when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Most Navy SBDs at Pearl Harbor met the same fate as their Marine counterparts, destroyed before they could take off. On the 10th of December 1941, SBDs launched from a carrier sank the Japanese submarine I-70. Between February and March 1942, SBDs launched from several carriers struck Japanese-held positions across the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands. They also hit New Guinea, Rabaul, Wake Island, and Marcus Island.

  The Battle of the Coral Sea marked the SBD's first major combat use. It joined TBD Devastators to sink a Japanese light aircraft carrier and damage a Japanese fleet carrier. SBDs also flew antitorpedo combat air patrols, scoring victories against Japanese aircraft attacking the carriers Lexington and Yorktown. Two forward-firing M2 Browning machine guns and one or two rear flexible-mount AN/M2 guns gave the SBD real firepower. That armament punished the lightly built Japanese fighters that attacked it.

• 4. The Battle of Midway

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  In early June 1942, four squadrons of Navy SBD dive bombers attacked and either sank or fatally damaged all four Japanese fleet carriers present at Midway. Three of those carriers were disabled within a span of just six minutes. The bombers also caught two straggling heavy cruisers from the Midway bombardment group, heavily damaging both and eventually sinking one.

  Marine squadron VMSB-241, flying from Midway Atoll itself, fared far worse than the carrier-based squadrons that day. Its pilots had only partly converted from the older SB2U Vindicator and had not trained in dive bombing with their new Dauntlesses. They resorted to the slower, more exposed technique of glide bombing, and many of their planes were shot down as a result. One survivor of those attacks is now displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum. It is the last aircraft known to have flown in the battle still in existence. The carrier-borne squadrons fared better, especially when escorted by Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters.

  Three squadrons totaling 47 SBDs, designated VS-6, VB-6, and VB-3, arrived over the Japanese fleet at the same moment. A squadron of 12 TBD torpedo planes and six F4F fighters arrived alongside them. Two of those SBD squadrons approached from a different direction than the rest of the American force. Roughly 40 defending Zero fighters concentrated on the slower TBDs instead, leaving the SBDs free to dive on the carriers largely unopposed. Guadalcanal, still months from resolution, waited to test the Dauntless in a very different kind of fight.

• 5. War Across Two Oceans

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  SBDs flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, alongside others still based on carriers, proved lethal against Japanese shipping. Ships that failed to clear New Georgia Sound, nicknamed the Slot, before daylight rarely escaped damage. A Japanese carrier was sunk near the Solomon Islands on the 24th of August during the campaign. Three more Japanese carriers suffered damage over the following months. SBDs also sank a cruiser and nine transport ships during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

  During Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942, SBDs entered combat over the Atlantic for the first time. They flew from a fleet carrier and two escort carriers. Eleven months later, during Operation Leader, aircraft from the carrier Ranger attacked German shipping near Bodø, Norway, giving the SBD its European combat debut.

  During the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, American pilots launched a long-range twilight strike at the edge of their aircraft's combat radius. The strike force had roughly 20 minutes of daylight over its targets before facing a dark return flight. Of the 215 aircraft that flew the mission, only 115 made it back. Twenty were shot down and 80 ditched into the sea after running out of fuel. All 26 SBDs in the strike returned safely to their carriers.

  The Battle of the Philippine Sea marked the last major engagement for carrier-borne SBDs, though Marine squadrons kept flying them until the war ended. The newer Curtiss Helldiver had a more powerful engine, a higher top speed, and could carry nearly 1,000 pounds more in bombs. Even so, many dive bomber pilots preferred the lighter SBD for its better handling at the low speeds needed for carrier landings. Author Barrett Tillman, writing about the Dauntless, credits it with a plus score against enemy aircraft. That means it downed more enemy planes than it lost, a rare feat for a bomber.

  A total of 5,936 SBDs were built during the war. The last one rolled off the assembly line at El Segundo on the 21st of July 1944. Between Pearl Harbor and April 1944, SBDs flew 1,189,473 operational hours, accounting for a quarter of all hours flown from aircraft carriers. Its battle record included six Japanese carriers, 14 cruisers, six destroyers, 15 transport or cargo ships, and numerous smaller vessels sunk. The Navy's success with the SBD masked a very different story for the Army's own version of the same airframe. That version was built without an arrestor hook and sent to fight on entirely different terms.

• 6. The Army's Banshee

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  The U.S. Army Air Forces built its own land-based version of the SBD, called the A-24 Banshee, replacing the solid tail wheel with a pneumatic tire. The 27th Bombardment Group (Light), based at Hunter Field, Georgia, first flew the type during the Louisiana maneuvers of September 1941. Three Banshee versions eventually reached USAAF squadrons, though the service used only 948 of the 5,937 Dauntlesses built overall. Without specialized dive bombing training, Army crews struggled more than their Navy counterparts. By the middle of 1943, pilots judged the A-24 too vulnerable for combat because of its armament and slow speed.

  In the fall of 1941, the USAAF shipped 52 A-24 Banshees in crates to the Philippines to equip the 27th Bombardment Group. The unit's personnel were sent separately. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forced a diversion to Australia instead, and the 27th's personnel ended up fighting as infantry on the Bataan Peninsula. Missing parts, including solenoids, trigger motors, and gun mounts, delayed the reassembled aircraft. They were sent instead to the 91st Bombardment Squadron for duty in Java rather than the Philippines.

  The 91st Bombardment Squadron called themselves "Blue Rock Clay Pigeons," after a brand of trap-shooting target. Flying from Malang, they attacked the Japanese-held harbor and airbase at Bali. The squadron damaged or sank numerous ships during the Dutch East Indies campaign before Japanese forces downed two of its A-24s and crippled three more. The squadron evacuated Java in early March 1942.

  Aircraft that remained in Australia went to the 8th Bombardment Squadron to help defend New Guinea. On the 29th of July 1942, seven A-24s attacked a convoy off Buna. Japanese fighters shot down five of them and damaged a sixth so badly it failed to reach base, leaving only one aircraft to return unharmed.

  Pilots increasingly regarded the A-24 as too slow, too short-ranged, and too poorly armed for combat duty. Survivors were shifted to training and target-towing roles in the United States. The more powerful A-24B saw a final combat stretch against Japanese-held islands in the Gilbert Islands group. From December 1943 to March 1944, the 531st Fighter Squadron of the 7th Air Force flew A-24Bs from Makin Island against Japanese positions in the Marshall Islands. The type was then withdrawn from combat altogether.

  The A-24B arrived in 1943 with a more powerful 1,200 horsepower Wright R-1820-60 Cyclone engine, letting it fly slightly faster and higher than earlier models. It lacked the small air intake on top of the engine cowling that marked the A-24 and A-24A. That gap was the easiest way to tell the B model apart. The 407th Bomb Group, part of the 11th Air Force, flew A-24Bs against the Japanese-held island of Kiska, Alaska, during July and August 1943.

  A handful of A-24s remained in service long enough to transfer to the newly independent U.S. Air Force in September 1947. When the Air Force retired its "A-" attack designation, these aircraft were renamed F-24 Banshees. They served in a reserve role until they were scrapped in 1950.

• 7. Flying Under Other Flags

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  France ordered 174 SBD-3 Dauntlesses for its own Naval Aviation before the country fell to Germany in the spring of 1940. That order was diverted to the U.S. Navy instead, which added 410 aircraft of its own. The Free French later received about 80 SBD-5s and A-24Bs from the United States in 1944, using them as trainers and close-support aircraft. Free French squadrons in Morocco and Algeria took delivery of 40 to 50 A-24Bs during 1943.

  French Naval Aviation received 32 SBD-5s in late 1944, split evenly between two units, Flotilles 3FB and 4FB. Squadron I/17 Picardie flew a handful of A-24Bs on coastal patrol duty. The most battle-tested Banshee unit, GC 1/18 Vendee, supported Allied forces in southern France and endured heavy losses from German flak in 1944. The squadron flew from North Africa to a newly liberated Toulouse, then went on to support attacks on German-occupied cities along the French Atlantic coast.

  By April 1945, each SBD-5 in the European theater was averaging three missions a day. The French Air Force relocated its A-24Bs to Morocco as trainers in 1946. French Navy Dauntlesses were based at Cognac by the end of 1944. They saw the type's last combat action during the Indochina War, flying from the carrier Arromanches, formerly the Royal Navy's Colossus. In late 1947, during one operation of that war, Flotille 4F flew 200 missions and dropped 65 tons of bombs.

  The Royal New Zealand Air Force took delivery of several SBD-3s and SBD-4s in 1943 to train No. 25 Squadron. Plans had called for four RNZAF squadrons to fly the Dauntless, but only No. 25 Squadron ever did. It entered combat during the Solomon Islands campaign the following year. By 1949, the French Navy had pulled the Dauntless from combat status, though it kept flying the type as a trainer until 1953.

• 8. Valor, Loss, and Legacy

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  Two SBD pilots earned the Medal of Honor during World War II, both for actions during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Lieutenant (junior grade) William E. Hall of Scouting Squadron 2 took part in the attack that sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō. That happened on the 7th of May 1942. The next day, while on antitorpedo patrol, Hall attacked a formation of Japanese torpedo bombers, shooting down the lead plane and scattering the rest. Several A6M Zeros then attacked him; despite serious wounds and a badly damaged aircraft, Hall claimed two Zeros destroyed and landed safely aboard Lexington.

  Lieutenant John James Powers of Bombing Squadron 5 was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for the same battle. On the 4th of May 1942, he took part in three attacks near Tulagi, scoring a direct hit that destroyed a Japanese gunboat or destroyer. Three days later, Powers led a section of three dive bombers in the attack that sank the Shōhō. He dove below the recommended release altitude to guarantee a direct hit. On the 8th of May, during the attack on the Japanese carrier force, he again pressed his dive through heavy fire. He released his bomb at an extremely low altitude. He was last seen trying to pull out of his dive at around 200 feet, amid explosions and smoke from the stricken ship. He was killed in action.

  Not every SBD loss came in combat. On the 7th of December 1943, a joint Navy-Marine training exercise near Pauwela, Maui, ended in disaster. One SBD-5 deployed its dive brakes for a bomb run, and a second SBD-5 following it, without its own brakes out, struck the first aircraft. Both aircraft crashed, and a bomb jarred loose from the lead plane fell among a group of Marines below. It exploded, killing 20 and injuring 24 more. Both pilots parachuted to safety, but both gunners died, one after a failed attempt to bail out. Some records, including those of the Aviation Archaeology Investigation and Research group, list the accident's date as the 6th of December instead.

  Surviving Dauntlesses are scattered across military museums today. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. holds an SBD-6, bureau number 54605. The USS Midway Museum in San Diego, California, displays another SBD-6, bureau number 54654. One recovered SBD-4, bureau number 06833, is displayed today at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. It remains in its recovered condition, part of a simulated underwater exhibit.