Douglas SBD Dauntless
The aircraft that sank Japan's carrier fleet in five minutes at Midway.
The SBD was obsolete by European standards — slow, fragile, limited in payload — yet it became the most successful naval dive bomber of the war. In the hands of skilled crews using perfected tactics, it delivered blows from which the Imperial Japanese Navy never recovered.
01At the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942, SBDs from USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown caught four Japanese fleet carriers — Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū — with decks full of armed and fuelled aircraft. Within a matter of minutes three were fatally ablaze; the fourth followed later that day.
02The Dauntless was exceptionally accurate in the 70-degree dive, aided by the characteristic perforated split dive brakes. It sank more Japanese shipping than any other Allied type during 1942 and served through the Solomons campaign.
03Gradually phased out in favour of the more powerful SB2C Helldiver, but many SBD crews preferred the older aircraft for its forgiving handling. The type also served with the US Marines, Free French, and was adopted by the USAAF as the A-24 Banshee.
Theatres of operation
- ·Pacific
Principal operators
- ·US Navy
- ·US Marine Corps
- ·USAAF (A-24)
- ·Free French
Others in the same fight.
North American P-51 Mustang
P-51B / C / D / K
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47C / D / M / N
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
P-38F / G / H / J / L
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
P-40B / E / K / N