The brainchild of legendary designer Ed Heinemann, the SBD was one of the most significant aircraft of World War II. The SBD-1 first flew on May 1, 1940 and the Navy ordered 174 SBD-3s in September 1940. The SBD-3 version featured a more powerful engine than the SBD-1, self-sealing fuel tanks, armor plate, and increased armament. The US Army also procured examples of the aircraft which they designated A-24 Banshee.

On December 7, 1941, SBDs were based on three Navy carriers in the Pacific while the Marines had two SBD squadrons stationed in Hawaii. Though the carriers were not at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack seven SBDs were shot down when they flew unwittingly into the midst of the air raid and seventeen were destroyed on the ground. SBDs did shoot down two Japanese aircraft during the attack, and, three days later, a Dauntless sank the Japanese submarine I-70 – the first enemy warship sunk by US Navy aircraft in the Second World War.

The SBD distinguished itself in subsequent combat, sinking a small Japanese carrier and severely damaging a heavy carrier in the May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, and a month later, in the epic Battle of Midway, SBDs helped destroy four Japanese carriers. The Dauntless played a role in the struggle against Hitler’s Germany as well, patrolling the Atlantic against German U-boats and Vichy French shipping. New Zealand the free French Air Force also used the SBD in combat, and the A-24 flew with the Mexican Air Force.

In October 1942, deliveries began on the SBD-4s, virtually identical to the SBD-3 except for a new electrical system and the deletion of the propeller spinner. Over 3,000 SBD-5s were built, the most numerous Dauntless variant. When production of the legendary aircraft ended in July 1944, 5,936 SBDs and A-24s had been manufactured.

The SBD was credited with sinking 18 enemy warships and shooting down 138 Japanese aircraft, suffering fewer than a hundred lost to enemy fire – the lowest loss rate of any aircraft of World War II. Phased out of carrier operations by July 1944, the SBD continued service with the Marines on land bases until the war’s end. With that, the Dauntless shares with the Grumman Wildcat the distinction of being the only two aircraft to serve the US Navy from December 7, 1941 to the Japanese surrender on September 2, 2945.