Franklin Mint SBD-3 Dauntless "Ace of Spades" USMC WWII

THE PLANE

The right plane at the right time. That's what the "Slow But Deadly" SBD Dauntless was. When the US Navy was forced to go to war it did so in an aircraft that was considered by many to be obsolete. By the end of the war this "obsolete" plane was responsible for sinking more enemy ships than any other aircraft in the US inventory.

The Dauntless was the standard shipborne dive-bomber of the US Navy from mid-1940 until November 1943, when the first Curtiss Helldivers arrived to replace it. The SBD was gradually phased out during 1944, and the June 20 strike against the Japanese Mobile Fleet - in the Battle of the Philippine Sea - was therefore its last major action. In 1942-43, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, in the bitter Guadalcanal campaign and - most of all - at the decisive Battle of Midway, the Dauntless did more than any other aircraft to turn the tide of the Pacific War. At Midway it wrecked all four Japanese carriers, and later in the battle sank a heavy cruiser and severely damaged another. From 1942 to 1944, in addition to its shipboard service, the SBD saw much action with the Marine Corps flying from island bases.