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Douglas Dauntless aircraft of WW2
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Douglas Dauntless
The Dauntless can trace it's beginning back to the mid 1930s with the Northrop BT-1 and XBT-1 dive bomber designs. These aircraft were refined in the remainder of the 30s, a period when Northrop was absorbed by Douglas.
First SBD-1 Dauntless Douglas aircraft were delivered to the USMC in 1940. A short while later the Navy took delvery of the improved SBD-2 which had better armour and more fuel capacity.
SBD-3 Dauntless aircraft were next, with deliveries to the US Navy squadrons taking place during 1941.
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By the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (7th December 1941), the Dauntless was the main dive bomber with the US Navy. The USN had both SBD-2 and SBD-3 variants at this time, these serving alongside TBD Devestator torpedo bombers.
During the battle of the Coral Sea (early May 1942) both SBDs and TBDs were used against the Japanese Pacific fleet. It was at this time that the Japanese lost their Shoho aircraft carrier and the US Navy carrier Lexington was sunk.
A month later during at the battle of Midway Dauntless aircraft flying with Devestator's caused massive damage to the Japanese Fleet sinking four carriers and a heavy cruiser. The TBD devastators were cut to pieces by Japanese fighters, but by drawing fire allowed the SBD aircraft to get through.
Midway was a turning point battle in the Pacific and as such the Dauntless had a major impact on history.
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Later variants of the aircraft included the SBD-4 which was fitted out with radar and the SBD-5 which was by far the most widely produced variant of the Dauntless with over 3000 being manufactured. SBD-5 planes had a nine cylinder Wright Cyclone radial engine which produced around 1200hp. This gave the aircraft a maximum speed of over 250mph. Wingspan was abour 41.5 feet and the planes were approximately 33 feet long.
The more powerful SBD-6 was the final production version this having the 1350hp engine fitted to basically a SBD-5 airframe.
USAAC/USAAF used the type, it being known as the A-24 when in their service.
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| Douglas Dauntless SBD-5 |
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| Engine | Wright Cyclone R-1820 radial
1200hp |
Top Speed | over 250mph |
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| Weight | 10,700lb with a load on |
Wingspan | 41ft 6inches |
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| Length | approx. 33ft |
Weps. | 0.5inch mg forward firing (2)
0.3inch mg rear mounted (2)
2,250lb dropable ordnance |
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| Country | USA |
Crew | 2 |
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