The Dauntless in Battle

by Peter C. Smith

Overview

“[An] extensively researched complete history of the famous SBD Dauntless dive bomber, hero of the Battle of Midway. Very Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench
 
The Douglas SBD Dauntless, a monoplane dive-bomber designed by Ed Heinemann for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps, arrived in service in the months just preceding America’s entry into World War II. The first such aircraft were being shipped out to the USMC units just as the Japanese Task Force arrived in position to launch their attack on Pearl Harbor, while those Dauntless embarked aboard the American aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet became among the very first casualties of that surprise attack.
 
Very quickly the Dauntless established herself as a highly accurate naval bomber at sea. In the early raids on Japanese-held islands—and in 1942 at the naval battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, Eastern Solomons and elsewhere—she proved herself a key and decisive instrument to first halt and then turn the die against Japanese expansion. The SBD (nicknamed “Slow But Deadly”) fought ashore the bitter fighting at Guadalcanal and the subsequent Solomon Island campaigns working from both shore and carrier bases.
 
The Dauntless continued to fight at sea until right up to 1944 and then carried on with the Marine Corps to provide the American Army with close air support in their conquest of the Philippines.
 
In The Dauntless in Battle, Peter Smith “traces its illustrious history throughout the second world war and beyond in vivid detail” (Books Monthly).
 
“Lots of fine detail on both the aircraft and the crews who flew them in action.” —Military Model Scene

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526704627
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	11/12/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	638,708
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

PETER CHARLES HORSTEAD SMITH was born in Norfolk in 1940. After living in London, Kent and Cambridge he and his wife Pat settled in the small Bedfordshire village of Riseley in 1982 where they currently still reside. Peter is a Member of The Society of Authors, London, and has worked as both a book and a magazine editor but has been a full-time historian and author since 1968. Details of all Peter's books are to be found at: www.dive-bombers.co.uk

Table of Contents

Foreword vi

A Note on Aircraft Names x

List of Tables xii

Maps and Inserts xiv

List of Illustrations xv

Chapter 1 Origins 1

Chapter 2 Opening Rounds 1941-42 8

Chapter 3 Battle of the Coral Sea, May 1942 23

Chapter 4 The Battle of Midway 44

Chapter 5 Derailing the Tokyo Express 79

Chapter 6 Two Carrier Duels 106

Chapter 7 Kiwis at Bougainville 1944 129

Chapter 8 Vindication at the Philippine Sea 153

Chapter 9 US Marine Corps Dauntless in the Philippines 1944-45 169

Appendix 1 The Emperor's New Clothes 197

Glossary of Acronyms 211

Bibliography 216

Index 219

Editorial Reviews

"Smith provides a good background and also presents an excellent discussion of dive bomber development in the 1920s and 1930s."

Air & Space Power History

illustrious history throughout the second world war and beyond in vivid detail.

Books Monthly