Unquestionably the most successful dive-bomber ever to see frontline service with any air arm, the Douglas SBD Dauntless was the scourge of the Japanese Imperial Fleet in the crucial years of the Pacific War of World War II (1939-1945). The revolutionary all-metal stressed-skin design of the SBD exhibited airframe strength that made it an ideal dive-bomber, its broad wing, with horizontal centre section and sharply tapered outer panels with dihedral, boasting perforated split flaps that doubled as dive brakes during the steep bombing attacks
Author Biography
Barrett Tillman is the world's most prolific US naval aviation author, having published over two-dozen titles on the World War 2 period alone. He has written numerous books for Osprey in recent years, and he is currently working on several future projects too.
