Other
WWI+WWII

How to Order

Refund Policy

Contact Us

Scale 1:28  Length 14.1"  Wingspan 18"

Photography by Action Asia Photo
© 2002-8 Action Asia Photo - All Rights Reserved
www.actionasiaphoto.com

Ordered by the Navy in 1939, the first SBD Dauntless dive bombers produced by Douglas Aircraft Company were delivered to the US Marine Corps and carrier units in 1940. Some were also produced for the Army as the A-24 Banshee. Of the 5,396 built, only a few remain today.

Known as 'Daunty Lass' and 'Slow But Deadly', the SBD's inherent stability and light control responses made directional corrections easier while dive bombing. It was equipped with a telescopic sight which, despite a tendency to fog over with sudden altitude changes, increased bombing accuracy. The SBD also had a bomb cradle that swung the bomb safely away from the fuselage and propeller at release altitudes between 1500-2000 feet in a near vertical dive. By extending perforated dive flaps during the attack run, air speeds were slowed to permit longer and more accurate tracking of the target with upwards of 6 g-forces being encountered during recovery.

It was in the great carrier battles of the Coral Sea and Midway that the SBD became a legend when it was credited with severely damaging one carrier and helping sink another (Shoho) during the first encounter and sinking four carriers during the latter. The Midway success not only broke the back of Japanese naval carrier aviation but also represented the turning point of the Pacific campaign.

The Dauntless was older and slower than its Japanese opposite number, the Aichi D3A2 Val - but the SBD was far more resistant to battle damage. When the more modern and more powerful Helldiver went into action alongside the SBD  it was soon realized - particularly at the Battle of the Philippine Sea - that the new aircraft was inferior to the Dauntless.  But the Helldiver was already in large-scale production and it was too late to reverse the decision that it should supplant the Dauntless in shipboard service.  The SBD was gradually phased out during 1944

Service feats by the SBDs throughout World War II are nothing less than amazing - shooting down 138 planes and sinking 300,000 tons of enemy shipping while losing less than 100 to enemy fire (the lowest loss rate of any aircraft of the entire war).

Crew:         Pilot and observer/gunner
Length:      33 feet
Wingspan: 42 feet
Weight:     10,400 lbs gross
Speed:       250mph maximum
Climb:        1,500 ft/min
Ceiling:      24,300 feet
Range:      1,125 miles/1,345 miles tactical
Engine:      Wright 1820-32/1820-52 with 1,000 hp or
                   Cyclone  9 cylinder radial  with 1,200 hp
Armament: (later versions)
One 1000lb or 500lb bomb under fuselage
Two 250lb or 100 lb bombs under wings
Two 0.5-inch Browning machine-guns  in nose
Twin manually-aimed 0.3" Browning machine guns in rear cockpit

Related Links
Links welcome, please send to ed@allwoodwings.com