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Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless
& Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull The SBD Dauntless was a naval dive bomber made by Douglas during World War II. The Northrop BT-1 provided the basis for the SBD, which began manufacture in 1940. It was designed by designers team lead by Ed Heinemann with a 1,000 horsepower Wright Cyclone powerplant. A year earlier, both the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps had placed orders for the new dive bombers, aptly designated the SBD-1 and SBD-2 (the latter had increased fuel capacity and different armament). The former went to the Marine Corps in late 1940, and the latter went to the Navy in early 1941. The next version, designated SBD-3, began manufacture in early 1941. It provided increased protection, self-sealing fuel tanks, and four machine guns. The SBD-4 provided a 12-volt (from 6) electrical system, and a few were converted onto SBD-4P reconnaissance platforms. The next (and most produced) variant, the SBD-5, was primarily produced at the Douglas plant at Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was equipped with a 1,200 hp (895 kW) engine and increased ammunition. The final version, the SBD-6, provided more improvements but production ended in the summer of 1944. The Douglas SBD Dauntless was the U.S. Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was supplanted (although not entirely replaced) by the SB2C Helldiver. The SBD was involved in combat from the first day of the Pacific War, as Dauntlesses arriving at Hawaii from USS Enterprise were caught in the Pearl Harbor attack. The type's first major use was in the Battle of the Coral Sea, when SBDs and TBDs sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō. SBDs were also used as anti-torpedo combat air patrol and scored several times against Japanese aircraft trying to attack USS Lexington and USS Yorktown. Their relatively heavy gun armament (two forward firing .50 calibre machine guns, one to two rear flexible-mount .30 calibre machine guns) was more than just a sinecure against the lightly built Japanese fighters, and many pilot-gunner combinations took an extremely aggressive attitude to fighters which attacked them. One pilot, "Swede" Vejtasa, was attacked by three A6M Zero fighters and managed to hold them off and down all three in the process. (His kill as a fighter pilot was clear and he was immediately transferred to fighters; in October 1942 he downed seven enemy planes in one day During the decisive time of the Pacific Campaign, the SBD's strengths and weaknesses became evident. Interestingly, while the American strength was dive bombing, the Japanese stressed their Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers, which caused the bulk of the damage at Pearl Harbor. Although it was already reaching obsolescence by 1941, the SBD was used until 1944 when the Dauntless undertook its last major action during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. However, some Marine squadrons utilized Dauntlesses until the end of the war. It had already been replaced by the SB2C Helldiver in the U.S. Navy, much to the dismay of the pilots, many of whom believed that the "Slow But Deadly" Dauntless was a better aircraft than the Helldiver, which gained the nickname "Son of a Bitch 2nd Class." The Dauntless was one of the most important aircraft in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, sinking more enemy shipping in the Pacific war than any other US or Allied aircraft. In addition, Barrett Tilman, in his book on the Dauntless, claims that the Dauntless has a "plus" score against enemy aircraft, a rare event for a nominal "bomber" indeed. 5,936 SBDs were produced in World War II. Crew: Two Length: 33 ft 1 in (10.08 m) Wingspan: 41 ft 6 in (12.65 m) Height: 13 ft 7 in (4.14 m) Wing area: 325 ft² (30.19 m²) Empty weight: 6,404 lb (2,905 kg) Loaded weight: 10,676 lb (4,843 kg) Max takeoff weight: 10,700 lb (4,853 kg) Powerplant: 1× Wright R-1820-60 radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW) Maximum speed: 255 mph (410.38 km/h) Range: 773 mi (1243.8 km) Service ceiling: 25,530 ft (7,780 m) Rate of climb: 1,700 ft/min (8.6 m/s) Wing loading: 32.8 lb/ft² (160.4 kg/m²) Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg) 2x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) forward-firing machine guns 1x 0.3 in (7.62 mm) flexible-mounted machine guns (later versions fitted with 2x machine guns of the same caliber) 2,250 lb (1,020 kg) of bombs The SOC Seagull was a single-engined scout observation biplane built by Alexander Solla for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The aircraft served on battleships and cruisers in a seaplane configuration, being launched by catapult and recovered from a sea landing. The wings folded back against the fuselage for storage aboard ship. When based ashore the single float was replaced by fixed wheeled landing gear. Curtiss delivered 258 SOC aircraft, in version SOC-1 through SOC-4 beginning in 1937. The SOC-3 design was used as base for the Naval Aircraft Factory SON-1. The NAF delivered 44 aircraft from 1940. The SOC was first ordered for production by the United States Navy in 1933 and entered service two years later in 1935. The first order was for 135 SOC-1 models, which was followed by 40 SOC-2 models for landing operations and 83 SOC-3s. A variant of the SOC-3 was built by the Naval Aircraft Factory and was known as the SON-1 By the end of the decade, the SOC had replaced its predecessor throughout the fleet and production came to an end in 1938. By 1941, most battleships had transitioned to the Vought OS2U and cruisers were expected to replace their aging SOCs with the third generation SOC3. However, the SOC3 suffered from a weak engine and plans to adopt it as a replacement were scrapped. The SOC, despite being a craft from an earlier generation, went on to credibly execute its missions of gunfire observation and limited range scouting missions. Initially, the SOC was known as the XO3C-1 from production up through the first six months of service in the Navy. It was changed to SOC when it was decided to merge its scouting and observation roles. The SOC was not called the Seagull until 1941, when the U.S. Navy began the wholesale adoption of popular names for aircraft in lieu of their alpha-numeric designations. Crew: Two, pilot and observer Length: 31 ft 1 in (9.48 m) Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.98 m) Height: Wing area: 342 ft² (31.8 m²) Empty weight: 3,633 lb (1,648 kg) Loaded weight: 5,306 lb (2,407 kg) Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1340-22 radial engine, 550 hp (410 kW) Maximum speed: 165 mph (266 km/h) Range: 675 mi (1,086 km) Service ceiling: 14,900 ft (4,540 m) Wing loading: 16 lb/ft² (76 kg/m²) Power/mass: 0.17 kW/kg 1 x fixed, forward 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun 1 x flexible rear 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun 650 lb (295 kg) of bombs USN 85 René Hieronymus Scale 1:72 Building time 72 hrs. |