Head-to-head: The Douglas SBD Dauntless vs. Curtiss SB2C Helldiver Bomber
What can be said about these iconic warbirds that hasn’t already been said? Let us tell you.
As was the case with torpedo bombers, the heyday of the dive bomber did not last beyond World War II. But during its comparatively brief moment in the (literal and figurative) sun, the dive bomber concept blasted its way into the pages of military history in a big way.
On the Axis side of the ledger, there was the infamous Nazi German Junkers Ju-87 Stuka and Imperial Japanese Aichi D3A “Val.” On the Allied side, there was the Soviet Union’s Petlyakov Pe-2 “Peshka,” Great Britain’s Blackburn B-24 Skua, and America’s Douglas SBD Dauntless and Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. Yes, the United States was lucky to have not just one but two highly successful dive bombers. So that raises the question: between the Dauntless and the Helldiver, which was the better warbird?
The Case for the Douglas SBD Dauntless
What can be said about this iconic warbird that hasn’t already been said?
The Dauntless made its maiden flight on May 1, 1940, and entered into official operational service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps later that year. Two years later, it cemented its place in history as the game changer of the WWII Pacific Theatre.
The SBD turned the tide of that campaign by sinking the Imperial Japanese Navy’s (IJN) four aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway, one of the most decisive naval battles in history. The “slow but deadly” warbird sank more Japanese shipping than any other Allied aircraft.
As if that wasn’t amazing enough, the Dauntless stands out as the only WWII bomber with a positive kill ratio against enemy aircraft, 138:43.
Out of 5,936 built, Fewer than thirty Dauntlesses survive today, and only one of those survivors is from the Battle of Midway. It is on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida (I toured it back in 2002 and can therefore personally vouch for it). Six of those surviving airframes are airworthy, and thanks to Commemorative Air Force Airbase Georgia Chapter, you can take a ride in one—an SBD-5 variant—for either $1,195, $1,650, or $2,195 (those dollar amounts cover the twenty-, thirty-, and forty-minute rides, respectively).
The Case for the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver
As beautifully as the SBD performed during WWII, its critics point out that it was already obsolescent by the start of the war, and the Navy brass concurred; the Helldiver completely supplanted the Dauntless on aircraft carrier flight decks by the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 (the Battle of the Philippine Sea was the Dauntless’s swan song in USN service, though it would remain in USMC service until the end of the war).
The Helldiver, which made its maiden flight on December 18, 1940, and officially went operational in December 1942, was indeed superior on paper to the Dauntless in terms of speed and armament: the SB2C was 40 mph (64.37 km/h) faster; packed a payload of 2,500 lbs. (1,020 kg) worth of bombs; and wielded two 20mm cannons, four Browning M2 “Ma Deuce” .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine guns, two M1919 .30 caliber machine guns, and eight 5-inch (127mm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets. The Dauntless had a comparatively modest 2,250-lb. (1,020-kg) bomb load, two Ma Deuces, and two .30 cals.
In actual combat performance, the Helldiver made its mark by its contribution to the sinking of the IJN’s biggest battleships, the Yamato and the Musashi, scoring six bomb hits on the former battlewagon and thirteen on the latter.
Nine Helldivers survive today out of 7,140 airframes built; only one is airworthy (though a couple of others are currently in the restoration process), courtesy of the Commemorative Air Force West Texas Wing in Houston.
And the Winner Is…?
Journalistic ideals of impartiality and objectivity notwithstanding, the SBD is my favorite WWII warplane and my second favorite warbird of all time (second only to the B-52 “BUFF”); this has been the case ever since I was eleven years old when I (1) built a plastic model of one and (2) read about the plane’s Battle of Midway exploits in Gordon W. Prange’s excellent bestselling book Miracle at Midway. Accordingly, I’ve had a personal bias against the Helldiver for that same amount of time.
But putting aside personal biases, the numbers don’t lie. Yes, the Helldiver had its fair share of successes, including those aforementioned contributions to the killing of the IJN’s super-battleships, but even then, those weren’t solo performances. The Helldiver shared kill credit with the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, and if anything, the Avengers probably contributed a greater portion to those battleships’ deaths proportionately speaking: nineteen torpedo hits on Musashi and eleven torpedo hits on Yamato, which caused major flooding far greater than that caused by the SB2Cs’ bomb strikes.
Moreover, whilst the Dauntless was beloved by the men who flew her, the Helldiver absolutely was hated. As noted by the Smithsonian’s info page:
“Some SB2Cs experienced structural failures that included the loss of wings in steep dives or tails breaking off mid-air or at landing … As a result, crews came up with new names for the Helldiver. They nicknamed it the ‘Beast’ due to its size and handling qualities. Irreverent naval aviators and air crewmen also called it an ‘S.O.B. 2nd Class,’ which was a profane play on the official Navy designation ‘SB2C’ and the Navy’s enlisted personnel ratings.”
Just how bad were the reliability issues of the so-called “S.O.B. 2nd Class?” It’s summed up in the title of a video from the Rex’s Hangar YouTube channel: “A Bomber So Bad It Took 800+ Changes To Fix.” Indeed, the narrator points out that the plane was “often considered the trigger-point for the downfall of Curtiss as an aircraft manufacturer.” That’s a pretty damning implication when you consider what an excellent reputation Curtiss-Wright had previously garnered thanks to the P-40 fighter plane that was immortalized by the Flying Tigers!
By contrast, you hear no such reliable horror stories about the Dauntless.
Winner: Dauntless!
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: Angel DiBilio / Shutterstock.com