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. Between 1942-43, the Dauntless was pressed into service again and again, seeing action in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Guadalcanal campaign. It was, however, at the Battle of Midway, that the Dauntless came into its own, singlehandedly destroying four of the Imperial Japanese Navy's frontline carriers. The SBD (referred to, rather affectionately by her aircrews, as "Slow But Deadly") was gradually phased out during 1944. The June 20th, 1944 strike against the Japanese Mobile Fleet, known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, was the last major engagement in which it was used. From 1942 to 1944, the SBD was also used by several land-based Marine Corps squadrons.

Built as a two-seat, low-wing Navy scout bomber, the Dauntless was powered by a single Wright R1820 1200-horsepower engine. It became the mainstay of the Navy's air fleet in the Pacific, suffering the lowest loss ratio of any U.S. carrier-borne aircraft. A total of 5,936 SBDs were delivered to the Navy and Marine Corps between 1940 and the end of its production, in July 1944.

This particular 1:72 scale SBD-5 Dauntless dive-bomber served with the French Navy aboard the Aircraft Carrier Arromanches (R 95). Only 1,000 pieces produced. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 6-1/2-inches
Length: 5-inches

Release Date: October 2008

Historical Account: "Colossus" - Arromanches (R95) was an aircraft carrier of the French Navy, which served from 1946 to 1974. She was previously HMS Colossus (R15) of the British Royal Navy. She was the name-ship of the Colossus-class of light carriers. She was commissioned in 1944, but saw no combat service in World War II. She served with the British Pacific Fleet in 1945-46, as an aircraft transport and repatriation ship.

In 1946, she was transferred to the French Navy, and renamed Arromanches. Arromanches participated in the First Indochina War in 1948 and 1949 and the Suez Crisis of 1956. In 1968 she was converted to an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) carrier. She was decommissioned in 1974, and broken up in 1978.