The Flagship of the Dixie Wing - Movie star of "Midway," "The Winds of War," and "War and Remembrance" - One of only a few SBDs still flying!
Douglas SBD-5
"Dauntless"
The Flagship of the Dixie Wing - Movie star of "Midway," "The Winds
of War," and "War and Remembrance" - One of only a few SBDs still
flying!
| Our "Lady in Blue"
and the pride of the Dixie Wing, the Douglas "Dauntless" SBD-5 dive-bomber was
assigned to us by the headquarters of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) in 1991. The Dixie
Wing's "Dauntless" was built at the El Segundo factory in California. After the
war, it was sold to Mexico as XB-QUC and used for aerial photography until mid-1964. Ed
Mahoney acquired it in 1965 and it was subsequently purchased by the CAF in 1970 and flown
to San Antonio, Texas, and registered as N54532. It moved to Harlingen, Texas in October
1978. Our SBD was withdrawn from flying in April 1990, reassigned to the Dixie Wing. There it was restored for the SBD-5 configuration and color scheme in use at the time of the Battle of the Marianas, or "The Marianas Turkey Shoot." It is authentic right down to the smallest details and is operational today, flying to roughly 20 airshows per year throughout the Southeast and Midwest.
SBD-5 On the Airshow Circuit A member of our wing, Bill Wambach, flew SBDs for a short period
while he was in the Navy. They were finished in nearly the same color
scheme as our Dixie Wing SBD: I also remember meeting up with two other cadets - pre-arranged without anyone else's knowledge - in our SBD's, far from the home field. The most fearless guy took the lead , with me 2nd and the 3rd guy in trail. He lead us down VERY low over the Nueces River, where he proceeded to follow the twists & turns between the trees on the banks. I recall not trusting his judgment and rising over the trees a few times. Then, I saw a dam ahead. I rose, but he stayed low until the last second. I saw a sailboat just above the dam, and it flipped flat in his propwash. We all pulled our noses up so the sailors couldn't read our plane numbers. Then, we flew wide around the base as we heard all the angry chatter over the radio. We approached from a different direction & landed without getting caught. If we had been caught, I'm sure we'd have been washed out, even though we were only a week from graduating! I was a Naval Aviation Cadet at the time. Those were the last training flights before I got my wings & commission as 2nd. Lt.,USMCR(NAVC) on March 20th 1946. I never got to fly an SBD again. I was sent home to Inactive Duty May 5, 1946. I was in the Inactive Reserve till May 14, 1949, flying only SNJ's. However, on Sept. 10, 1999, Tom Barnes gave
me the privilege of flying in the back seat of L82GA with Col Mike Rettke as PIC, from PDK north of Atlanta to Falcon Field (FFC) for the
airshow. What a thrill for this Old Goat to be in an SBD again more than
53 years after my "hotrodding" as a 20-yr-old cadet! See the full transcript of Bill's interview here
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SBD History Northrop Corporation first developed the SBD before World War II. It was first flown in July 1935, but considered obsolete by December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Douglas Aircraft purchased the SBD contract and the SBD-1 was first delivered in late 1940. Over 5,000 aircraft were built and production of the carrier-based scout, dive and torpedo bomber ceased in July 1944. |
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Despite accusations that the aircraft was under-powered, vulnerable, lacking in range and
exhausting to fly for any length of time, the "Dauntless" helped turn the tide
of World War II at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. The "Dauntless" sunk
four major aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy, ceasing Japanese expansion in the
Pacific. The SBD also served with 20 U.S. Marine Corps Squadrons and many SBDs were
retrofitted with Westinghouse ASB radar, the first to be used by the U.S. Navy. Though considered obsolete on that "Day of Infamy" in the skies over Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the SBD was the first American combat aircraft to shoot down a Japanese Zero fighter. It may have been slow, but it was deadly, as that Japanese pilot found out that day. The SBD was the only U.S. combat aircraft to fight from the beginning of the World War II until the end. Considered the most destructive air weapon of the U.S. Navy, the SBD sank over 300,000 tons of enemy ships, a greater tonnage of Japanese shipping than any other Allied aircraft during the war! Eighteen were warships, including five aircraft carriers sunk in the battle of the Coral Sea and Midway. It earned the nickname "Slow, But Deadly!" After the war, the U.S. Marine Corps continued to use the SBD, and in the 1950s, the French Air Force used SBDs in its war in Indo-China. Our SBD is a Movie Star: If you want to see our own "Dauntless" SBD-5 in action, see the film "Midway," or rent the blockbuster mini-series "The Winds of War" and its sequel, "War and Remembrance."
Want to know what it's like to fly it?
Read this article!
Want to see and hear it start? Check
out this short video (3Mb,
mpg format)
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Copyright (c)
Commemorative Air Force, Inc. except as otherwise marked. All rights
reserved.
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