SBD Dauntless Units of World War 2

The SBD Dauntless of 1942 was a revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design with an airframe strength that made it ideal for dive-bombing. It proved its worth in the Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese carriers. This book examines the aircraft's record and includes interviews with crews.

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Unquestionably the most successful dive-bomber ever to see frontline service with any air arm, the Douglas SBD Dauntless was the scourge of the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the crucial years of the Pacific War. The revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design of the SBD exhibited airframe strength that made it an ideal dive-bomber, its broad wing, with horizontal centre section and sharply tapered outer panels with dihedral, boasting perforated split flaps that doubled as dive brakes during the steep bombing attacks