The SBD Dauntless was a type of 20th century scout aircraft and dive bomber used by the United States of America and some of its allies during World War II, known for their action in the Battle of Midway.
Service history[]
SBD Dauntlesses, along with the TBF Avenger and F4F Wildcat, were among the aircraft types assigned to the United States Navy's aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet.
On 26 October 1942, following the sinking of the Hornet at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the Enterprise made space on her flight deck for Hornet's surviving aircraft by relocating their SBDs to the hangar bay and forward deck. Landing signal operators squeezed 15 to 20 of their SBDs and F4F Wildcats on the forward deck. Captain Osborne Hardison lamented that SBDs didn't have foldable wings, to pack them closer together. The LSOs proceeded to land more than 60 of Hornet's planes, including all of their Dauntless scouts. (ST - Enterprise Logs short story: "World of Strangers")
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External links[]
- SBD Dauntless article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- SBD Dauntless article at the Aviation History Online Museum.
- SBD Dauntless article at the Naval Encyclopedia.