The SBD's origins lie in the BT-1, designed by Northrop (which was later bought out by Douglas) in 1936, to a 1934 specification. Around fifty BT-1's were delivered but was found not acceptable for service, though a further development (the SBD-1) was. The SBD officially entered service in 1940.
While officially named the Dauntless, it was known to it's crews by nicknames such as "Barge", "Clunk", "Speedy D" and, perhaps most accurately, "Slow But Deadly." Despite being semi-obsolete when the US was brought into the war, the Dauntless, arguably more so than any other aircraft, decided the war with Japan. In 1942, SBDs were responsible for all four Japanese carriers sunk at Midway as well assisting in the sinking of two other carriers in battles that year, blows the Japanese Navy would never recover from. SBDs also sank and damaged numerous other Japanese warships and island bases before finally being replaced by the Curtiss Helldiver in 1944. SBDs continued to serve on escort carriers for the rest of the war. 5,936 Dauntlesses were built. They were the last Navy carrier planes to not have folding wings.
The SBD mounted three hardpoints, but due to take-off restrictions couldn't carry their maximum rated load. The three most common loadouts were: one 500-lb bomb and two 100-lb bombs, two 500-lb bombs, and one 1000-lb bomb. On scouting missions, no bombs were carried.
The SBD-5 uses 40.3 gallons of aviation fuel per hour.
Subassemblies: Medium Fighter Body +3, Heavy Fighter STOL
Wings
+2
P&P: 895 kW HP gasoline engine w/aerial propeller (2685
lbs thrust)
Fuel: 165 gallons aviation gasoline in self-sealing fuel tanks
(body and wings)
Occ: 2 CS
Cargo: 0.3 VSP Body, 0.8 VSP each Wing
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Wings | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Wheels | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Cockpit | 0/+10 | 0/+20 | 0/+30 | 0/+20 | 0/+20 |
| Gunner | 0/+10 | 0/+10 | 0/+20 | 0/+0 | 0/+10 |
Weaponry
2*Long Aircraft HMG/Browning M-2 [Body:F] (200 rounds each)
2*Aircraft LMG/Browning .30 [Body:R] (250 rounds each)
1600 lb hardpoint [Body]
500 lb hardpoint [RWing]
500 lb hardpoint [LWing]
Equipment
Body: long range radio, environmental controls, navigational
instruments, arrestor hook
Statistics
| Size: 14'x42'x33' | Payload: 2375 lbs | Lwt: 10,400 lbs (5.2 tons) |
| Volume: 100 vsp | Maint.: 41 hours | Price: $24,329 |
HT: 7
HP: 120 [body], 180 [each wing]
| aSpeed: 253 | aAccel: 10 | aDecel: 33 | aMR: 8.25 | aSR: 2 | aDrag: 132 |
| Stall: 63 mph |
Design Notes
Design speed was 288 mph and loaded weight 9,221. The historical values
have been used. Loaded weight and performance statistics assumes one
1,000
lb bomb. While the gunner was partially exposed in action, he has been
given a normal crew station; note, however, he has no armor protection
from the top. The SBD mounts a swing-arm like the Ju 87 (p.Wxx) for the
bomb on the body hardpoint.
Variants:
SBD-1: Initial version; 57
built
SBD-2: Added more fuel tanks
SBD-3: Upgraded fuel tanks to
self-sealing and improved armored
crew protection (580 built)
A-24 Banshee: Same as the
SBD-1, but used by the Army Air Force.