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Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless

Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless
The brainchild of legendary designer Ed Heinemann, the SBD was one of the most significant aircraft of the Second World War. The SBD-1 first flew on May 1, 1940 and the Navy ordered 174 SBD-3s in September 1940. The SBD-3 version featured a more powerful engine than the SBD-1, self-sealing fuel tanks, armor plate, and increased armament. The US Army also procured examples of the aircraft which they designated A-24 Banshee. On 7 December 1941, SBDs were based on three Navy carriers in the Pacific while the Marines had two SBD squadrons stationed in Hawaii. Though the carriers were not at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack, seven SBDs were shot down when they flew unwittingly into the midst of the air raid and seventeen were destroyed on the ground. SBDs did shoot down two Japanese aircraft during the attack and, three days later, a Dauntless sank the Japanese submarine I-70 - the first enemy warship sunk by US Navy aircraft in the Second World War. The SBD distinguished itself in subsequent combat, sinking a small Japanese carrier and severely damaging a heavy carrier in the May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, and a month later, in the epic Battle of Midway, SBDs helped destroy four Japanese carriers. The Dauntless played a role in the struggle against Hitler's Germany as well, patrolling the Atlantic against German U-boats and Vichy French shipping. New Zealand and the Free French Air Force also used the SBD in combat, and the A-24 flew with the Mexican Air Force. In October 1942, deliveries began on the SBD-4s, virtually identical to the SBD-3 except for a new electrical system and the deletion of the propeller spinner. Over 3,000 SBD-5s were built, the most numerous Dauntless variant. When production of the legendary aircraft ended in July 1944, 5,936 SBDs and A-24s had been manufactured. The SBD was credited with sinking eighteen enemy warships and shooting down 138 Japanese aircraft, suffering fewer than a hundred lost to enemy fire - the lowest loss rate of any aircraft of the Second World War. Phased out of carrier operations by July 1944, the SBD continued service with the Marines on land bases until the war's end. With that, the Dauntless shares with the Grumman Wildcat the distinction of being the only two aircraft to serve the US Navy from 7 December 1941 to the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945.

About the Museum's Aircraft
One of 780 SBD-4s built, this aircraft was being flown by Ensign Stanley Bolton on 26 June 1943 when it suffered engine failure during carrier qualifications on the training carrier USS Sable (IX-81). Bolton ditched the SBD into Lake Michigan, and it quickly sank to the bottom. The aircraft was recovered by the US Navy in October 1993 and sent to the San Diego Aerospace Museum, where it underwent a four-year restoration. It is depicted in the markings of Bombing Squadron Sixteen (VB-16) on board the USS Lexington (CV-16) in April 1943, from which it had flown prior to its use in training. The aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.

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