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 replica of a US Navy SBD-5 Dauntless dive-bomber was flown by VB-16, then embarked upon the USS Lexington during April 1943. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: April 2011

Historical Account: "In the Navy" - The fourth USS Independence (CVL-22, also known as CV-22) was a United States Navy light aircraft carrier, lead ship of her class.

Begun as the light cruiser Amsterdam, CL-59, she was launched as CV-22 on August 22nd, 1942, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, located in Camden, New Jersey. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Rawleigh Warner, and commissioned January 14th, 1943, with Captain G. R. Fairlamb, Jr., in command.

The first of a new class of carriers converted from cruiser hulls, Independence conducted shakedown training in the Caribbean. She then steamed through the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet, arriving in San Francisco July 3rd, 1943. Independence got underway for Pearl Harbor on July 14th, and after 2 weeks of vital training exercises sailed with the carriers Essex (CV-9) and Yorktown (CV-10) for a devastating raid on Marcus Island. Planes from the carrier force struck on September 1st and destroyed over 70 percent of the installations on the island. The carrier began her next operation, a similar strike against Wake Island from October 5th to 6th.