This series is dedicated to the gallant service performed by the brave airmen of World War 2 who risked all so that we may enjoy our American way of life. The phrase “Big Brother, Little Brother” refers to the way the heavy bomber and fighter escort aircraft pilots called each other on the radio chatter.
On a personal note, my father “John” served as a flight engineer on a B-25 Mitchell out of Italy in 1944 and 1945. He made it back alive, as did my father-in-law “Danny” who served as a belly gunner on a B-24 Liberator out of Libya. “Danny” was one of the few airmen who flew in both Ploesti oil field raids to Romania (June 1942 and August 1943) and did so without so much as a scratch. He flew his 25 missions and returned to the US as a gunnery instructor (Lead, Dammit, Lead!).
Finding all the caches will display a GeoArt form of the Big Brother, Little Brother relationship on your map. The caches were not meant to be difficult to find. If you can’t find a cache, it’s probably missing. Send me a picture of the location by email, I’ll accept the find and replace the cache.
SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a naval dive bomber made by Douglas during World War II. The SBD was the United States Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was largely replaced by the SB2C Helldiver. The aircraft was also operated by the United States Army as the A-24 Banshee.
Although relatively slow and outmoded when it began its combat career, it was rugged and dependable and sank more Japanese shipping than any other aircraft during World War II.
Their relatively heavy gun armament was effective against the lightly built Japanese fighters, and many pilot-gunner combinations took an aggressive attitude to fighters which attacked them. One pilot- Stanley "Swede" Vejtasa was attacked by three Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters but managed to shoot two of them down and cut off the wing of the third in a head-on pass with his wing tip.
The SBD's most important contribution to the American war effort probably came during the Battle of Midway in early June 1942, when SBD dive bomber attacks sank or fatally damaged all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers, three of them in the space of just six minutes (Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and later in the day Hiryū) as well as heavily damaging two Japanese cruisers.
At Midway, Marine SBDs were not as effective. One squadron, VMSB-241, operating from Midway Island, was not trained in the "Helldiving" technique; instead, the new pilots resorted to the slower but easier glide bombing technique, which led to heavy losses. The carrier-borne squadrons, on the other hand, were much more effective, combined with their F4F Wildcat fighter escorts. The success of dive bombing was due to two important circumstances: firstly, and most importantly, the Japanese carriers were at their most vulnerable, readying bombers for battle, with full fuel hoses and armed ordnance strewn across their hangar decks. Secondly, the valiant but doomed assault of the TBD squadrons from the American carriers had drawn the Japanese fighter cover away from the dive bombers, thereby allowing the SBDs to attack unhindered.
SBDs then participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, both from American carriers and Henderson Field on Guadalcanal Island. Dauntlesses contributed to the heavy loss of Japanese shipping during the campaign, including the carrier Ryūjō near the Solomon Islands on 24 August, damaging three others during the six-month campaign. SBDs proceeded to sink one cruiser and nine transports during the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
Douglas SBD Dauntless Technicals
General characteristics-
Crew: 2
Length: 33 ft 1¼ in
Wingspan: 41 ft 6⅜ in
Height: 13 ft 7 in
Wing area: 325 ft²
Empty weight: 6,404 lb
Loaded weight: 9,359 lb
Max. takeoff weight: 10,700 lb
Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-1820-60 radial engine, 1,200 hp
Performance-
Maximum speed: 255 mph at 14,000 ft
Cruise speed: 185 mph
Range: 1,115 mi
Service ceiling: 25,530 ft
Rate of climb: 1,700 ft/min
Armament-
Guns:
2 × 0.50 in forward-firing synchronized Browning M2 machine guns in engine cowling
2 × 0.30 in flexible-mounted Browning machine gun in rear
Bombs: 2,250 lbs
Survivors
Airworthy-
A-24B Banshee, s/n 42-54532 owned by the Commemorative Air Force in Peachtree City, GA
A-24B Banshee, 42-54682 owned by the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, TX as a SBD-5.
A-24A Banshee, s/n 42-60817 owned by the Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, OR
SBD-5 Dauntless, BuNo. 28536 owned by the Planes of Fame in Chino, CA.
On display-
A-24B Banshee (s/n 42-54582) at the National Museum of the USAF at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH.
SBD-2 Dauntless, BuNo. 02106 at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL.
SBD-3 Dauntless, BuNo. 06508 at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL.
SBD-3 Dauntless, BuNo. 06624 at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI.
SBD-4 Dauntless, BuNo. 06833 in its recovered condition in underwater exhibit at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL.
SBD-4 Dauntless, BuNo. 06900 at the San Diego Aerospace Museum in San Diego, CA.
SBD-4 Dauntless, BuNo. 10575 at Midway Airport in Chicago, IL.
SBD-4 Dauntless, BuNo. 10518 at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, CA.
SBD-5 Dauntless, BuNo. 36173 at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, SC.
SBD-5 Dauntless, BuNo. 36175 at Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, CA.
SBD-6 Dauntless, BuNo. 54605 at National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Under restoration-
A-24B Banshee s/n 42-54593 by Kevin R. Smith of Fredericksburg, VA.
A-24B Banshee s/n 42-54643 by Kermit Weeks of Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, FL.
A-24B Banshee s/n 42-54654 by the MAPS Air Museum in Akron, OH.
SBD-1 Dauntless, BuNo. 01612 by the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum in San Diego, CA.
SBD-3 Dauntless, BuNo. 06694 by the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi, TX.
BD-4 Dauntless, BuNo. 10715 by the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, CA.