As this reporter argued in an article in The National Interest published on January 23, 2025, the U.S. Navy’s Douglas SBD ...

Midway on June 4, 1942 was a decisive battle of the Pacific War. Lt. Richard Best is in Squadron Six(VB-6) of the USS Enterprise Air flying an SBD Dauntless bomber. The Americans are going up against ...

SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber. The SBD entered service in 1941 and was considered ... These characteristics caused TBDs to take very heavy losses from Japanese flak and interceptors. At Midway, all the ...

The SBD turned the tide of that campaign by sinking the Imperial Japanese Navy’s (IJN) four aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway ... the Dauntless stands out as the only WWII bomber ...

“Midway” referred to the small atoll roughly ... In its absence, scores of high-flying Dauntless dive bombers descended unnoticed to blast the Japanese carriers with near impunity.

There was bittersweet irony in Best’s accomplishment. It was his most successful mission, and also his last. As this reporter argued in an article in The National Interest published on January ...