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The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy 's main carrier-based scout/dive bomber from mid-1940 through mid-1944.
During the battle, a two-man Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber crew consisting of pilot Ensign Norman Vandivier and S1 (Radioman) Lee Keaney from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier are in the first wave of dive bombers attacking and sinking a Japanese carrier. In their attempt to escape, their aircraft is struck by enemy fire from a Japanese ...
A SBD-4 Dauntless operated by 25 Squadron was for a time preserved in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram, displayed in the condition which it was recovered after being lost with its crew while on a training mission at Espiritu Santo. One of the SBD-5 aircraft operated by 25 Squadron has been restored to flying condition in America ...
Bombing Six (VB-6) was equipped with Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless dive bombers, Fighting Six (VF-6) with Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, and Torpedo Six (VT-6) with Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers. The fourth squadron, Scouting Six (VS-6) also had the SBD-2 Dauntless, but was more focused on the scout bomber role.
Nevertheless, the type was faster than the Dauntless, and by the end of the Pacific War, the Helldiver had become the main dive bomber and attack aircraft on USN carriers. [1] By the time a land-based variant, known as the A-25 Shrike, became available in late 1943, the Western Allied air forces had abandoned dedicated dive-bombers.
As they made off to attack the enemy, Ens. Vandivier formed his SBD Dauntless dive bomber up with the other planes of Bombing 6's 3d Division. Led by the carrier's group commander, Lt. Comdr. Wade McClusky , the formation winged its way toward the enemy carrier striking force, composed of four of the six carriers which had attacked Pearl Harbor .
Serving as a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber pilot with Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) based on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, Lieutenant Ware and his division of six SBDs attacked the carrier Kaga on 4 June 1942, one of four Japanese carriers sunk in the Battle of Midway.
Kleiss and the other Scouting Six pilots flew the Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber, a two-seat scout-bomber designed by Edward Heinemann. On May 8, Enterprise set sail for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and upon its arrival, Kleiss and the other pilots began training for war, practicing their navigation, gunnery, and dive bombing in the waters around ...