Mystery Airplane Contest – February 2025

In 1941, movie goers were introduced to Warner Brothers' "Dive Bomber" directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, and Ralph Bellamy, with major flying scenes by Paul Mantz, it depicted, Hollywood style, pre-WWII USN dive bomber operations. Europe had already been introduced to the real thing in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

In early WWII battles, dive bombers, operating under an umbrella of air superiority seemed unbeatable. The Junkers Ju-87 Stuka led the blitzkrieg across Poland, the Low Countries, and France. Only in the Battle of Britain, when it came up against RAF Fighter Command's eight-gun Hurricanes and Spitfires, did it show its weaknesses. At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Aichi D3A, later code-named "Val," wreaked havoc on the American Fleet. America's Douglas SBD Dauntless led the way in the Pacific War, sinking six aircraft carriers, a battleship; in total 18 warships. Dauntless crews accounted for 138 Japanese aircraft shot down.

Based on Jack Northrop's BT-1 light bomber, and redesigned by Ed Heinemann, the SBD (and Army A-24) remained in production with increased horsepower Wright R-1820 Cyclones, added radar and armament until July 1944. In all, 5937 Dauntlesses were manufactured and served with the USN, USMC, AAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, France, and Mexico. During the Battle of Midway in June 1942, SBDs from the Hornet, Enterprise, and Yorktown sank the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu. Although destined for replacement by the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, the SBD carried on until the end of the war. RNZAF SBDs flew from Bougainville in early 1944. Free French SBDs and A-24s fought in WWII and French Navy SBDs were in action over Indochina into the 1950s. Mexican SBDs and A-24s soldiered on as trainers and anti-submarine aircraft until 1959.

The SBD-1 (Bu-1612) in this Oshkosh 2021 photo, was delivered to the USMC on 16 September 1940, and assigned to VMSB-132 at Quantico. Later, in March 1942, it was active with VMSB-142 at Camp Kearney. Considered obsolete for combat, it was assigned to the NAS Glenview Carrier Qualification Unit. Two paddle-wheel steamers had been converted to training carriers, the Wolverine and Sable, to give young carrier pilots experience. On 21 November 1942, Ensign Herbert McMinn flying from the 7200 ton Wolverine, ditched in Lake Michigan, one of 38 SBD's lost in the lake. Ensign McMinn vanished and his aircraft remained on the lake bottom until recovered in January 1994.

This month's winner is Gary Kuhn, who photographed a pair of civil registered A-24s (Army SBDs), ex-Mexican Air Force, at Mexico City in December 1963. He noted that my photo was a Lake Michigan recovery. Dan Muxlow and Dave Lundgren also knew the "Slow But Deadly." Blue skies and fair winds.