<p>Without any doubt, the Douglas SBD Dauntless is regarded as being the most successful dive-bomber to be produced by the American aviation industry during World War II. It was successful both in terms of achievement and longevity, blunting the might of the Japanese navy in actions in the Coral Sea, Midway and during the Solomons campaign, but continuing to offer a valuable contribution to US Navy/Marine Corps actions until late 1944, long after contemporary creations had disappeared from the scene.
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<p>A product of John Northrop's influence on Douglas design philosophy, the Dauntless stemmed from the Northrop BT-1 which began to enter service with the US Navy in spring 1938. One of the production BT-1s served as the prototype for a new naval dive-bomber, allocated the designation XBT-2; however, by the time that this entered production in 1940, Northrop had become a division of the Douglas Company, resulting in the SBD designation to identify Douglas as the manufacturer of the new scout/dive-bomber.
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<p>The success of the German Junkers Ju 87 as a dive-bomber, when Hitler's armored columns raced over much of Europe in 1940, made the US Army conscious of the fact that it possessed no significant aircraft within this category. Accordingly, 168 of the US Navy's SBD-3 version were ordered from Douglas as a matter of some urgency, these being delivered in the summer of 1941 under the US Army designation A-24. They were virtually identical to the SBD-3, except for the deletion of the arrester hook, and the provision of an inflated tailwheel tire instead of the solid rubber favored by the US Navy. About a third of these aircraft were dispatched to the Philippines in November 1941 for service with the USAAF's 27th Bombardment Group, but as they were still at sea when Pearl Harbor was attacked, they were diverted instead to Australia, equipping the 91st Bombardment Squadron in February 1942, and subsequently the 8th Bombardment Squadron. Both of these units found the A-24 lacking in performance and range for operational deployment in this theater.
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<p>Despite these apparent shortcomings, the US Army continued to procure A-24s during 1942, receiving first 170 A-24As (equivalent to the US Navy's SBD-4), and finally 615 A-24Bs (SBD-5). None was deployed with significant success, confirming the experience of Ju 87 usage in Europe and Africa, that their role was strictly confined: within that limited role, of course, they were indeed the 'tool for the job'. Their failure in US Army service was due to the fact that there was no identical job for them to do. Despite this, a number remained in USAAF/USAF service for some years after the end of World War II.
<item><hi format=bold>Performance:</hi> maximum speed 255 mph (410 km/h) at 14,000 ft (4,265 m); cruising speed 185 mph (298 km/h) at 14,000 ft (4,265 m); service ceiling 25,200 ft (7,680 m); range (scout-bomber) 773 miles (1,244 km)
<item><hi format=bold>Weights:</hi> empty 6,535 lb (2,964 kg); maximum take-off 9,519 lb (4,318 kg)
<item><hi format=bold>Dimensions:</hi> span 41 ft 6 in (12.65 m ); length 33 ft 0 in (10.06 m); height 12 ft 11 in (3.94 m); wing area 325 sq ft (30.19 m<su>2</su>)
<item><hi format=bold>Armament:</hi> two forward-firing 0.50-in (12.7-mm) machine guns and two 0.30-in (7.62-mm) machine guns on flexible mount, plus underfuselage mountings for up to 1,600 lb (726 kg) of bombs and up to a total of 650 lb (295 kg) carried beneath the wings
