Classic Combat Aircraft     |   home
                                                  
Douglas SBD Dauntless
The Dauntless was the standard shipborne dive-bomber of the US Navy from mid-1940 until November 1943, when the first Curtiss Helldivers arrived to replace it. The SBD was gradually phased out during 1944, and the 20 June 1944 strike against the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea was therefore its last major action as a carrier-borne aircraft.


Type: Two-seat carrier-based and land-based dive-bomber
Crew: 2

Dimensions:
length 33' 0";
span 41' 6";
height 12' 11"
Weight 9519-10,700

Engine: 1
Wright 1,200 hp Cyclone 9-cylinder radial

Performance:
speed 252 mph
ceiling 24,300 feet
Range: As dive-bomber 456 miles

Armament:
One 1000lb or 500lb bomb under fuselage
Two 250lb or 100 lb bombs under wings
Two fixed forward-firing 0.5-inch Browning machine-guns in nose
Twin manually-aimed 0.3-inch Browning machine-guns in rear cockpit

Click here for more SBD pictures.