Douglas SBD Dauntless

Night Battle: The Barroom Brawl Off Guadalcanal

November 13, 1942, was a Friday, which sailors aboard the cruiser USS San Francisco noted with anxiety. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Hard Charging Landings

To naval aviators, any landing they could walk away from was a good landing. The escort aircraft carrier USS Charger trained men in good landings, but bad landings were also part of the education. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Scout Squadron 6 During the Pearl Harbor Attack

Many people have heard of the six American Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk fighters that actually got off the ground and contested the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Battle of Rennell Island: A Fiery End for the USS Chicago

With bond clerk Marge Henning standing by as a witness, Colonel Frank Eldridge removed the first piece of the puzzle. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The USS Wolverine and Sable in World War II

In August 1942, the U.S. Navy acquired the 1913 USS Seeandbee (using the initials of its parent company, the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company), the world’s largest side-wheel passenger steamer, and began converting it into a training carrier. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Why the Douglas SBD Dauntless Had Such a Stunning Combat Record

On August 7, 1942, Petty Officer 1st Class Saburo Sakai was piloting his Mitsubishi A6M2 “Zero” fighter in the skies over Sealark Channel in the Solomon Islands. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Kiwis Over the Pacific: The RNZAF in World War II

During early World War II operations in the Pacific, Geoff Fisken would become one of the most outstanding pilots of the RNZAF—the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Airborne Defenders of Midway

Prologue: At the start of World War II, Midway Atoll was a key U.S. base in the central Pacific. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Port Chicago Disaster: The Largest Mutiny Trial in U.S. History

After sundown on July 17, something happened at a small port town 40 miles northeast of San Francisco that has never been fully explained…

The 7,500-ton Liberty ship SS E.A. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Battle Of Midway: Turning the Tide in the South Pacific

Rarely in the history of warfare had one nation absorbed such numbing losses in so rapid a time as did the United States in the Pacific War’s first five months. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Torpedo Squadron 8: Their Heroic Flight at the Battle of Midway

The pilots of Bombing Squadron 6 could not believe what they were seeing on the morning of June 4, 1942. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

USS Midway: Floating Museum in San Diego Harbor

A boat trip through San Diego harbor provides visitors with tangible proof of America’s military might. San Diego is one of the U.S. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher

He was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Eastern Solomons: Death Struggle Off Guadalcanal

Lieutenant David C. Richardson spotted the four-engined flying boat silhouetted against the ocean by the late morning sun. Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Battle of Cape Esperance: A Sorely Needed Naval Victory

“One large, two small vessels, one six miles from Savo off northern beach, Guadalcanal. Will investigate closer.” Read more

Douglas SBD Dauntless

The Douglas SBD “Dauntless” Dive-Bomber

World War II gave us many stories of aerial warfare, men and their machines fighting their way to victory and glory in the name of humanity. Read more