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 front line 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 replica of a US Navy SBD-3 Dauntless dive-bomber was flown by VS-5, embarked upon the USS Yorktown during the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: June 2006

Historical Account "Collision Course" - The Battle of the Coral Sea, in early May 1942, was one of the major turning points of the Pacific War. It was the first battle in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, and the first naval battle in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon each other. The engagement ended with no clear victor, but the damage suffered, and experience gained by both sides, during and after the conflict, set the stage for the Battle of Midway one month later.