The 5,396th Dauntless rolled off the line last week in the sprawling El Segundo aircraft plant in Los Angeles County. No. 5,396 was the last of an honored breed: the Navy's dive-bombing SBD (for Scout Bomber, Douglas).
The SBD has been the backbone of the Navy's air war in the Pacific. For a few months it will still be at war. But a more modern dive bomber has begun to edge the Dauntless out: Curtiss Corp.'s Hell-diver (SB2C). Over the months SBDs will gradually disappear from battle, be put out to pasture as advanced training planes. At the...
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