After that, their successors, the SB2C Helldiver bombers, took over as in the main dive bomber role. After being key participants of the various battles near Guadalcanal and around the Solomon Islands area, which dealt serious blows to Japanese shipping in the region, they took their last major action during Battle of the Philippine Sea. Defensively, the heavy armament of four machine guns posed a serious threat for Japanese fighters, which generally lacked armor protection. Ww2dbaseAfter Coral Sea and Midway battles, the US Navy developed a highly efficient tactic with the SBD Dauntless dive bombers they attacked at a steep grade with the "helldiving" technique, while torpedo bombers attacked in conjunction to distract Japanese gunners with attack of a different method. It was my observation that as long as the tail gunner was firing, the attacking fighter tended to break off the attack before getting in killing range. At that point, the dive-bomber or torpedo plane is dead. At Midway, a good number of our torpedo plane losses must have come after the gunner was killed. Ww2dbaseOur greatest vulnerability was the inadequate armour protection for the rear seat gunner. I was worked over by two Japanese Type 97 fighters over Maloelap on the afternoon of 1 February 1942, and came out of it unconcerned with fifty holes through the tail surfaces and left wing tip, a hole in the gas tank in the root of my right wing and one small calibre that broke apart when it hit the back of my armoured seat. Ww2dbaseThe Dauntless was a charm rock steady in a vertical dive, completely responsive to the controls and ready to absorb punishment and still get you home. Ww2dbaseA SBD Dauntless crew veteran recalled: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Dauntless dive bombers took part in the destruction of the Japanese carrier Shoho, and in Midway they were involved in all four sinkings of Japanese fleet carriers.
In early 1941, the variant SBD-3 began production, which offered increased protection, self-sealing fuel tanks, and four machine guns. A number of them, known as A-24 Banshee, were employed by the US Army as well the Army versions had no arresting hooks and used different tires. Ww2dbaseThe SBD Dauntless dive bombers were the main dive bombers of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps from late 1940.
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