5 Things You Never Knew About the SBD 'Dauntless' Dive Bomber

This is another edition of my "Countdowns" series. These are 5 things you never knew about the SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber. This was made using the World War II flight simulator IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles series. Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder

Huge thanks to the Commemorative Air Force and CAF Airbase Georgia for their support in making this video. Make sure to check them out here!

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[michaellillis]

Major Henderson's sacrifice at Midway inspired the Marines who invaded Guadalcanal to name the captured airfield Henderson Field in his honor.

[areska]

My father was a Dauntless pilot. was on the Yorktown. Was involved in Battle of Philipine Sea. Sank a Heavy Cruiser. Then ran out of fuel. He then received The Navy Cross.

[BP-]

My father was an SBD pilot. He flew off the USS Hornet (CV8) and the USS Lexington (CV16) He saw combat at the battles of Midway, Santa Cruz, the Philippine Sea as well as may other raids at Truk, Kwajalein, Palau, the Gilberts, the Solomons, and the Marianas. Pilots would refer to the SBD as "Slow But Deadly". He shot down two zeros in his SBD. The first was after he hit the Shokaku with his 1000 lb. during the battle of Santa Cruz and was on his return to the Hornet. The second was during an attack at Kwajalein. But his most his notable zero kill came during a raid at Truk. He was carrying one 500 lb. bomb and two 250 lb. bombs. After diving to drop his 500 lb bomb on a warehouse on Moen, he was pulling out of his dive and found himself over an airstrip where he saw a lone zero starting to taxi for takeoff. Acting quickly he knew he better try to get the zero first or it would be on his tail after taking off. He lined up on the zero but was too low to fire his 50 calibers. Almost over the zero, he pulled up slightly and released both of this 250 lb. bombs. His SBD lurched as he flew over the blast and immediately his rear gunner started screaming "You got him!"

[bongobreathman]

My father was a tail gunner in the SBD. When I was 11 years old, my father was being sued (he was in business for himself and sometimes 'things' happened)...anyway, I asked him if he was "scared." He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Son, when you are 18 years old, sitting in the rear of a slow moving dive bomber, and a Japanese Zero is barreling down on you, and he is shooting, not at the plane, but directly at you and you can hear the bullets going by your ears, THAT is scary. If I go to court and lose, I will lose some money, that's all...they won't kill me." I never saw my father fear anything in all his years. (BTW, he didn't lose the court case, in fact, he won in a counter-suit.) I grew up around a lot of WWII Vets and can attest without any reservations whatsoever those that fought in WWII were truly the Greatest Generation, bar none. Remember: If you can read this, thank a teacher, if you can read this in English, thank a WWII Veteran.

[KandRbar]

Extra fun fact. The Dauntless also had flight controls for the radio/rear gun operator.

[josephnason]

This video is excellent. I'm lucky to have my dad's flight logs. With 338.2 flight hours he carrier qualified on May 5th 1944 on the USS Sable in Lake Michigan flying SBD 10378. Duration of flight that day was 1.9 hours. June 1st he instrument qualified with "total hood time" of 18.5 hours. He later saw combat flying the Helldiver from CV 18 USS Wasp. Then Skyraiders from CV 21 USS Boxer in Korea. He is now resting in peace.

[jonathanhorne]

My dad was a prewar naval aviator and was at Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomon’s and Guadalcanal. he didn’t fly during those battles as he was assigned as an SOC pilot on the USS New Orleans. I have his diary and it had interesting notes about these battles, in real time. Sadly he passed in 2016 at age 99, he was lucid until his last days. He was a participant member of the battle of midway association. He did log time in the SBD in early 1943 with VS-55 Noumea.

[johnneill]

Another fact, the SBD usually flew without fighter escort.
Its range was longer and its cruse speed slower which complicated things.
And when we were down to just one carrier we needed every fighter to cover the Big E.
Yeah, usually they were on their own.

[kevinramlo]

My Grandfather Second Lieutenant Orvin Ramlo was a SBD pilot at Midway with MVSB-241. Instead of making the bombing run he dropped his load, turning to fight the Japanese air cover and shot down 5 planes earning The Navy Cross. He was shot down that same day.

[josephwear]

Wanna know why Clarence Dickinson had a new gunner that day? He lost his original gunner at Pearl Harbor. Yes Dickinson was AT Pearl Harbor on December 7th. He was one of 18 SBDs that were launched that day on a routine recon patrol. During the attack, his gunner actually shot down a Japanese plane before their SBD was mortally wounded. Dickinson bailed but his gunner did not.

[chuckw]

Here is a bonus fact. At the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola there is an SBD-2, #2106, on display. It was flown at Midway by Marine Lieutenant Iverson on that mission, and he returned with over 200 flak, machine gun and cannon holes in the airframe. The aircraft was returned to the US for repairs. It was then assigned to Glenview Naval Air Station, Illinois, for use in training. She was used for carrier training where pilots flew from Glenview out over Lake Michigan to the training carriers Sable and Wolverine. On one such flight, the pilot crashed into the lake, and the aircraft remained until 1996, when it was salvaged off the lake floor (along with about 30 other Navy planes). Many of the planes were sent to other museums and flying teams, but #2106 went to Pensacola because she had not only at Midway, but had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, and had flown off USS Lexington for the raid on Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea, in March of 1942.

[SatBchMagicer]

At the end, Peter Hague's comments on the honor he felt being able to fly a former WWII Dauntless pilot with a current day flyable SBD... brought tears to my eyes- priceless!

[TheTexasmick]

Back in the 70s I had a dear friend that had been a Dauntless pilot, and he said he was on a mission with his squadron, and they saw a Japanese ship. The entire squadron made a run on that ship, but he was the only pilot that hit the ship with his bomb and sank the vessel. He actually had photos he took of the ship on fire and sinking. He worked for LTV when I knew him.

[mikeguthrie]

I was born 2 weeks before Pearle Harbor. I don't have too much of a recollection of the early parts of the war, but I do remember my Dad and uncles re-acting to the stories. Anyway, I love the WWII airplanes. I have lots of models of them scattered over all of my house. In 1960 I joined the AF and worked on B-52Ds and KC-135s. Then I later went work on DC-6Bs and Convair 340s for United Airlines. Of course I worked on the jets too, but my favorites have always been the "recips". I REALLY like seeing videos like this of the planes of that era. Thanks for showing.

[derweibhai]

Thanks TJ! I wish my Grandfather would have been willing to talk to me more about his experiences as an SBD Tailgunner. To painful I guess, but unfortunately most of his stories died with him in 2004.

[gregorymaupin]

It’s sad my father passed away in 2009 he was a Marine who fought on Saipan, I am a retired Navy veteran as well we both loved aviation, I was a carrier sailor and loved it. My disability has kept me from finishing my career and I’m blessed that many of brothers I still keep in contact with. When you have been through bled together there’s always a bond.

[matchrocket]

My friend's step father flew Hellcats in WWII. He must have had it tough because he never talked about it. I must have gotten through to him once, though, because he opened up to me. He told me whenever he fired the guns, the rifling from the six fifty caliber machine guns would cause the aircraft to yaw and he would have to correct for it. Can you imagine dog fighting and keeping your aircraft in control while it's fighting you along with everything else in the sky?

[paulmazan]

How about a video on the Catalina? From finding the Bismark to the Black cats in the Pacific to antisubmarine patrols the obsolete cat served in every theater until the end of the war.

[RenerDeCastro]

I first learned of the SBD Dauntless through an old Discovery Channel documentary called "Wings Over The Pacific".

[StuckOnAFireHydrant]

I'm excited for that veterans day episode! We are losing our WW2 vets at such a quick rate they're going to be all gone soon. It is important we preserve and thank them for they have done for us.

It's still my personal goal of thanking at least one WW2 vet from every branch, but I don't know where to look or how to find one sadly.