The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a carrier-based naval bomber of military distinction used by the US Navy during World War II. True to its Dauntless name, the superior dive bomber made great contributions to the Battle of Midway and consequently to the victory of the American forces in the Pacific Theater. The physical appearance of the plane is characterized by a series of small holes drilled through its flaps which were used to increase its maximum (dive) speed. These special flaps also served as the Dauntless' dive brakes. The US Army as well as the Royal Navy used the Dauntless which replaced other carrier-based bombers with ludicrously poor performance. The Dauntless performed better in all aspects when compared to Japan's D3A dive bomber.. Its high defensive capabilities helped cover the shortcomings of its successor model, the Helldiver. The Dauntless also saw action on the front lines helping to sink most of of Japan's aircraft carriers.
Problems of misidentification with F4F Wildcats occurred with the aircraft while in action from both American and Japanese forces due to its markings. Sakai Saburou who won fame as a Japanese ace fighter pilot once mistook a Dauntless for a "careless Wildcat". As he approached the enemy aircraft from its rear, he was surprised to have his aircraft hit by machine gun fire from the enemy aircraft's rear mounted guns. The machine gun fire nearly killed him. (Sakai wrote in his journal that the enemy aircraft was a TBF Avenger but it was more likely to have been an SBD Dauntless. Alas, it is clear that it couldn't be satisfied with only one fraud...)
The markings in this image is a SBD of "VB-6" (the 6th Bomber Squadron from CV-6) fooled Sakai into a trap in 1942.
