Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless began its life as the Northrop BT-1 in 1935. Design work on that prototype started years before World War II erupted across Europe and Asia. In 1937, the Northrop Corporation was taken over by Douglas Aircraft Company. The active Northrop projects continued under the new ownership of Douglas Aircraft Corporation. Ed Heinemann led a team of designers who considered a development with a Wright Cyclone engine. The plane was developed at the Douglas El Segundo, California plant. That facility along with the company's Oklahoma City plant built almost all the SBDs produced. One year earlier both the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps had placed orders for the new dive bomber designated the SBD-1 and SBD-2. The latter model had increased fuel capacity and different armament. The SBD-1 went to the Marine Corps in late 1940 while the SBD-2 went to the Navy in early 1941. These aircraft replaced older squadrons like the SBU Corsair and Curtiss SBC Helldiver on US carriers. Distinctive perforated split flaps or dive-brakes had been incorporated into the design to eliminate tail buffeting during diving maneuvers. Unusual for carrier aircraft folding wings were not chosen for the design opting instead for structural strength.
The SBD's most important contribution to the American war effort came during the Battle of Midway in early June 1942. Four squadrons of Navy SBD dive bombers attacked and sank or fatally damaged all four Japanese fleet carriers present. They disabled three of them in the span of just six minutes including the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu. Later that same day they also hit the Hiryu. The Dauntless squadrons caught two straggling heavy cruisers of the Midway bombardment group heavily damaging them with one eventually sinking. At the Battle of Midway Marine Corps SBDs were not as effective. One squadron VMSB-241 flying from Midway Atoll was not trained in the techniques of dive-bombing with their new Dauntlesses. Its pilots resorted to the slower but easier glide bombing technique which led to many of the SBDs being shot down during their glide. A survivor from these attacks is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum and remains the last surviving aircraft to have flown in the battle. The carrier-borne squadrons proved effective especially when escorted by Grumman F4F Wildcats.
SBDs played a major role in the Guadalcanal campaign operating off both American carriers and from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. They proved lethal to Japanese shipping that failed to clear New Georgia Sound by daylight. Losses inflicted included the carrier Ryuyo sunk near the Solomon Islands on the 24th of August. Three other Japanese carriers were damaged during the six-month campaign. SBDs sank a cruiser and nine transports during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. In the Atlantic Ocean the SBD saw action during Operation Torch the Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942. The SBDs flew from Ranger and two escort carriers. Eleven months later during Operation Leader the SBDs saw their European debut when aircraft from Ranger attacked Nazi German shipping around Bodø Norway. By 1944 the U.S. Navy began replacing the SBD with the more powerful SB2C Helldiver. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 a long range twilight strike was made against the retreating Japanese fleet at or beyond the limit of the combat radius of the aircraft. Of the 215 aircraft only 115 made it back. Twenty were lost to enemy action in the attack while 80 were lost as one by one they expended their fuel and had to ditch into the sea.
The USAAF sent 52 A-24 Banshees in crates to the Philippines in the fall of 1941 to equip the 27th Bombardment Group. Personnel for that unit were sent separately. However after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor these bombers were diverted to Australia. The 27th BG fought on the Bataan Peninsula as infantry. While in Australia the aircraft were reassembled for flight to the Philippines but missing parts including solenoids trigger motors and gun mounts delayed their shipment. Plagued with mechanical problems the A-24s were diverted to the 91st Bombardment Squadron and designated for assignment to Java instead. Referring to themselves as Blue Rock Clay Pigeons the 91st BS based at Malang attacked the enemy-held harbor and airbase at Bali. They damaged or sank numerous ships around Java during the Dutch East Indies campaign. After the Japanese downed two A-24s and damaged three so badly that they could no longer fly the 91st received orders to evacuate Java in early March 1942. The A-24s remaining in Australia were assigned to the 8th Bombardment Squadron of 3d Bombardment Group to defend New Guinea.
The first production Dauntless sent into action was the SBD-3 which was produced for the French Naval Aviation. A total of 174 Dauntlesses were ordered by the French Navy but with the fall of France in the spring of 1940 that production batch was diverted to the U.S. Navy. The Free French received about 80 SBD-5s and A-24Bs from the United States in 1944. They were used as trainers and close-support aircraft. Free French squadrons received 40 to 50 A-24Bs in Morocco and Algeria during 1943. French Naval Aviation received 32 in late 1944 for Flotilles 3FB and 4FB. Squadron I/17 Picardie used a few A-24Bs for coastal patrol. The most combat-experienced of the Banshee units was GC 1/18 Vendee which flew A-24Bs in support of Allied forces in southern France. In April 1945 each SBD-5 averaged three missions a day in the European theater. In 1946 the French Air Force based its A-24Bs in Morocco as trainers. In 1943 the Royal New Zealand Air Force received several SBD-3s and SBD-4s for use in training by No. 25 Squadron.
A total of 5,936 SBDs were produced during the war. The last SBD rolled off the assembly lines at the Douglas Aircraft plant in El Segundo California on the 21st of July 1944. From Pearl Harbor through April 1944 SBDs had flown 1,189,473 operational hours with 25 percent of all operational hours flown off aircraft carriers being in SBDs. Its battle record shows that in addition to six Japanese carriers 14 enemy cruisers had been sunk along with six destroyers 15 transports or cargo ships and scores of various lesser craft. The most produced version was the SBD-5 primarily produced at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Tulsa Oklahoma. Equipped with a 1,200-hp engine and an increased ammunition supply a total of 2,965 were built. A few were shipped to the Royal Navy for evaluation. The final version the SBD-6 provided more improvements including a different engine but production ended in the summer of 1944 with only 450 built. The Navy placed emphasis on the heavier faster and longer-ranged SB2C Helldiver.
A handful of A-24s survived in the inventory of the USAAF long enough to be taken over by the Air Force when that service became independent of the Army in September 1947. The USAF established a new designation system for its aircraft eliminating the A- category through 1962. All of the single-engined A- aircraft were given F- nomenclature or were determined to be obsolete and scrapped. Thus the few remaining A-24 Banshees became known as F-24 Banshees soldiering on in a reserve role until 1950 when they were scrapped. Surviving airframes are currently displayed in museums worldwide including the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola Florida. One veteran of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle of Midway is BuNo 02106 which was recovered from Lake Michigan in 1994 after being ditched in 1943. It was totally restored and placed on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in 2001. Other examples can be found at the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras Oregon and the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston Texas.
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Common questions
When did the Douglas SBD Dauntless begin its development as the Northrop BT-1?
The Douglas SBD Dauntless began its life as the Northrop BT-1 in 1935. Design work on that prototype started years before World War II erupted across Europe and Asia.
What was the total number of Douglas SBD Dauntless aircraft produced during the war?
A total of 5,936 SBDs were produced during the war. The last SBD rolled off the assembly lines at the Douglas Aircraft plant in El Segundo California on the 21st of July 1944.
How many Japanese fleet carriers did the Douglas SBD Dauntless sink or damage at the Battle of Midway?
Four squadrons of Navy SBD dive bombers attacked and sank or fatally damaged all four Japanese fleet carriers present during the Battle of Midway in early June 1942. They disabled three of them in the span of just six minutes including the Akagi Kaga and Soryu.
Where was the Douglas SBD Dauntless manufactured and which plants built almost all units?
The plane was developed at the Douglas El Segundo California plant. That facility along with the company's Oklahoma City plant built almost all the SBDs produced.
When did the Douglas SBD Dauntless production end and what replaced it in the U.S. Navy?
Production ended in the summer of 1944 with only 450 built for the final version known as the SBD-6. The Navy placed emphasis on the heavier faster and longer-ranged SB2C Helldiver by 1944.