SBD DAUNTLESS UNITS OF WORLD WAR 2 (Osprey Combat Aircraft No 10)

Barrett Tillman

Osprey, 1998.

Unquestionably the most successful dive-bomber ever to see frontline service with any air arm, the Douglas SBD Dauntless was the scourge of the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the crucial years of the Pacific War. 54 SBDs from the carriers Enterprise and Yorktown destroyed the heart of Adm Yamamoto's successful Peart Harbor task force at the pivotal Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942, sending four large carriers to a watery grave in the course of just 24 hours--a defeat that the Japanese Navy never fully recovered from. The revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design of the SBD exhibited airframe strength that made it an ideal dive-bomber; its broad wing, with horizontal center section, and a sharply tapered outer panels with dihedral, boasting perforated split flaps that doubled as dive brakes during steep bombing attacks. The SBD-3 was the version most used in combat, some 584 airframes flown from carrier decks or island bases in the battles for Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, and Midway. This volume examines the aircraft's impressive war record by charting its frontline career with the Navy throughout the Pacific conflict, and describes the fighting experiences of the Marine Corps, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and Free French Air Force. 96 pages.