Monday, May 16, 2016

Douglas SPD’s somewhere over the Pacific.


5 comments:

  1. The Dauntless became a game changer in the Pacific. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

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  2. Those are SBD -1's used at midway. You can note the prewar yellow paint on the wing root. The SBD (all models) Was the best dive bomber used by any navy in WW2. It was far and away better than the SB2C that replaced it. Most of those -1's were used up as replacement's for aircraft shot down/wrecked on Guadalcanal. There are no -1's still in existence.---Ray

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  3. This is an SBD-2 with an interesting history. What is left out in the description is that it suffered a hard landing and one wing was damaged. It returned to the states and had a wing re-fitment. It was then transferred to the Great Lakes training ships. It went in the drink at the hands of a rookie trainee. Years later, it was discovered on the lake bottom, recovered and restored. Parts of the aircraft paint were left in the original condition. Also visible are skin repair patches from Japanese gunfire.

    http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/attractions/aircraft-exhibits/item/?item=sbd-2_dauntless

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    Replies
    1. Wow! Great link, Bayouwulf! That's the reason I love the internet, and you can bet that if I'm ever in the neighborhood of that museum, I'm going just to see that plane.

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  4. I grew up in Pensacola so, I have watched the museum grow from a few planes during my high school days (I was in NJROTC) to the tremendous collection it is now. The details I related are from listening to the tour guides. It is a different museum from others in that you can approach the aircraft and displays rather than stand behind a velvet rope. Very hands on oriented. So much to see there you will need the entire day. If you are there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you can watch the Blues fly practice flights over Sherman Field which is behind the museum. Go NOW!

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